The Art & Craft of Personal Essays
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I teach a lot of classes on personal essay writing and find students are often a bit befuddled by the words I’m using. So I’ve created this rundown of the common lingo that relates to the art and business of writing personal essays. (NOTE: along the way I’ve tossed in terms of my own, made up by me).
Why are personal essay prompts often so . . . blah? I’ve sometimes found myself scouring the internet trying to find something valuable in the way of a prompt, maybe to share with students, and been disappointed by the results. But after a deep dive into some…
The term “memoir essay” is used to describe something akin to a personal essay. Definitions bleed every direction, but I tend to think of a memoir essay as decidedly NOT like an op-ed, and definitely not a reported personal essay. It’s a pure narrative from the author’s life.
What’s a personal essay? It depends on who you ask. Here, I’ll discuss essays intended for publication and sharing with an adult audience. Not college essays, but types of personal essays typically found in magazines, newspapers, and literary journals.
These online personal essay classes allow you to learn the technical tools and skills for sharing your life’s experiences and stories with a wider audience. I love teaching personal essay classes, and I’m always surprised that there aren’t more essay classes out there—so many people have wonderful stories that deserve publication.
n preparation for my first self-guided class (Writing Your Modern Love), I read scores of Modern Love essays. For those who haven’t heard of it, Modern Love is the popular NYT weekly column, which has spawned countless books since its inception in 2004. For the class, I didn’t only read all of the essays from this year, and essays about the essays, but a lot of attempts at the Modern Love by clients and students.
Here are 10 personal essay competitions to help you break into print publication, boost your writing confidence, and build your writing resume.
There are dozens of contests for personal essays around the world, and many offer a great way to begin to build your writer’s resume. Here are the secrets to entering a writing competition.
My favorite personal essays showcase a vivid personality and clear mind or perception of the world. I find these qualities more engaging than really amazing material. There are good essays focusing on horrifying or remarkable stories—a hitchhiker who survives an encounter with a serial killer targeting hitchhikers, for example.
Insider tips and advice on what editors are really looking for when seeking out essays, including best essay topics, revision techniques, and more.
The Writer’s Digest Personal Essay Awards deadline is approaching fast—here’s how to enter and hopefully win. Let’s explore why entering essay award contests is a smart strategy, the benefits of this one, and how to review rules and winning entries to get a leg up.
The difference between an op-ed, literary personal essay, and personal essay for a general-audience magazine or newspaper are vast—and narrow. All share a desire to communicate a point or perspective that may be a novel destination for the reader, using personal experience as a map of sorts. All the better if you’ve shared that experience before, too.
What NYT opinion editor Peter Catapano looks for in personal essays.