The personal essay has become a powerful and widespread genre. Writers use it to convey their opinions on a range of topics, telling stories in order to explain their views. A personal essay has persuasive qualities, even if it doesn’t make an explicit argument. This genre employs narrative and descriptive detail in order to connect with readers, and help them relate to the author’s circumstances and experiences.
Many different types (or sub-genres) of the personal essay exist. For example, literacy narratives focus on someone’s educational experiences, including reading and writing but also language and communication in general. A literacy narrative could describe someone’s development of basic literacy, but also how they learned another language, or learned to adapt to a new discourse community or environment.
In confessional essays, the writer may focus on trauma they’ve experienced or caused. They can deal with controversial subject matter like addiction and abuse. This genre does more than simply help the writer ease their conscience. By coming to terms with their trauma, they reflect on their efforts to overcome and move on. They also make a point of explaining what they want readers to know about the painful experiences. An addict might want readers to think differently about the role of substance abuse in American culture. A survivor of domestic violence by tell their story in an effort to spread awareness and advocate for reform.
Topic & Process
You can write a personal essay on any subject or issue that matters to you. The main goal is to tell a compelling story through which you reflect on your own experiences and observations. While doing so, you also want to describe your experiences and their significance to your readers, prompting them to reflect on their respective experiences. Readers may come away from your piece with knowledge and insights they didn’t have before. They may also get a window into another way of experiencing and interacting in the world.
Some of the best personal essays accomplish both of these goals. For example, Gloria Anzaldua’s essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” tells the story of growing up mutilingual, speaking varieties of English and Spanish that were looked down on in her day. Anzaldua’s writing connects with those who’ve shared her experiences, but it also promotes the importance language diversity to people who’ve grown up in more privilege, monolingual environments.
Writing a personal essay follows a similar process to other genres. You’ll probably want to start by brainstorming events or observations that are significant to you. You might even begin by writing about an event or experience in your life that confused you, or something you think about often. It might even seem like something trivial at first, a small recurring memory.
Your instructor might give you brainstorming activities in class. However, this part of the process can take days, and it will play a role throughout your drafting process. Even as you write and outline your essay, you may still want to brainstorm about a particular period in your life. Exercise and long walks can assist in brainstorming, especially when it comes to personal essays. So can listening to music. It may even help to play songs that you associate with your topic.
Most writing unfolds over many drafting sessions spread over many days. This principle especially applies to personal essays. You’ll want to devote at least some time to brainstorming or drafting for several days leading up to your first due date. Some days, you might just engage in brainstorming and expand your outline, or add notes to an app on your smartphone. Other days will be devoted to drafting your narrative, adding descriptive detail, or inserting reflective commentary.
Expression & Audience
It’s always important to think about audience, including when you write a personal essay. Many writers see the personal essay mainly to express themselves, and sometimes that creates conflicts between them and their readers’ expectations. Writers and readers don’t always share the same values or attitudes toward writing, and so communicating with an audience always involves strategy and negotiation.
Although you own your experiences, you should consider who you want to read your essay and why. You may want to accommodate some aspects of your readers’ expectations, but also challenge them as well. For example, many writers code-mesh in their essays, mixing in other languages and varieties into their prose. They do so in order to express themselves, to connect with like-minded readers, but also to challenge other readers to expand their expectations and to deal with uncertainty–like they’ve had to do.
Purpose & Evidence
Personal essays don’t usually make an explicit thesis statement, as you would find in an academic article. However, they do offer a purpose or stance, and identify their topic implicitly. They tend to do so through an opening anecdote, or by describing a problem they’ve dealt with. Other writers may choose to begin a personal essay with describing an object that means a lot to them, and will become important in their narrative. They might also introduce a character–someone from their lives–that serves as a focal point of their writing.
Your purpose acts as a skeleton for your entire essay. You might decide to write about a specific moment or invite in your life. Or you can choose to explore a theme–like love, family, work, or sports. When you write about a theme, you can describe several experiences you’ve had over a period of years. Some writers call these “vignettes,” and tie them together based on how they influenced their thinking on that topic over time.
Narrative writing still provides evidence in support of its main points. You won’t necessarily offer statistics or quotations. Instead, the level of depth and detail helps to extend and support your views. The most effective personal narratives include relevant detail that helps readers to visualize the writers’ experiences. They engage readers’ senses–sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch.
Reflection
Reflection serves a vital role in personal writing. Your opinion often comes through in the way you tell a story, and the direct statements to readers where you explain the important of events and descriptions. A story by itself may illicit emotions from a reader, but the writer’s job is to guide those emotions. Although fiction writers often use the cliche “show don’t tell,” essayists usually do both. They show readers through evocative descriptions, and then they explain their own interpretations about what they learned from the experience.
Essays don’t always need “Wonder Years” reflections that rehearse conventional wisdom. In fact, many writers tell stories and relate experiences that caused them to rethink conventional wisdom, and to uncover truths that might make people comfortable. They also find meaning in talking about subjects that are unpleasant, or that others may want to avoid–because they’re complicated, and may not involve storybook endings.
That said, remember that your writing for college classes will go public. It’s brave to explore difficult subjects in your writing, but only if you’re truly willing to share those private details with others. You can and should discuss discomfort about personal writing with your instructor. They can provide suggestions and feedback.