Interested in creating a personal essay? First, understand that a quality personal essay must be able to impress, move, and even inspire readers. In addition, a good personal essay must also be able to make the reader feel curious and wonder after reading it; in other words, write a personal essay that leaves more questions than answers in the reader's mind. To write an effective personal essay, you first need to understand the general structure of a personal essay. After that, gather the ideas you have and develop them into a deep, meaningful, and memorable essay subject, both for yourself and for your essay readers.
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Part 1 of 3: Planning a Personal Essay
Step 1. Determine the point of view of your essay
Don't worry if your life isn't filled with intense and interesting life stories or dramas. Trust me, your personal essay will still be of interest to the reader if you are able to write it from the right point of view. For that, try to find experiences or events that are unique and interesting in your life; after that, try to package the experience from a certain point of view so that it becomes the subject of a deep and meaningful essay.
For example, try sharing an experience that changed your perspective on failure, such as when you couldn't do your homework in high school. Even though at that time your schoolwork felt less important, later you realized that the failure forced you to reassess your life goals and motivated you to graduate with better grades. If viewed from this point of view, these small failures are actually effective in making you a more diligent, diligent, and hard working person
Step 2. Write down the moments that are important and valuable to you
A personal essay should be able to explore the unique and complex experiences of your life through writing. In other words, your personal essay can be used as a gateway to understanding why and how the experience bothered and/or hurt you. Use your personal essay as a space to discuss an important event and reflect on its impact on your life.
- The event you choose can be a short, simple moment that manages to influence or shape your life for years to come; for example, the first time you were abused as a child or confessed to being gay to your mother. Through the essay, try to dig deeper into why you feel upset, angry, sad, or annoyed about these moments.
- Remember, events that involve high intensity emotions are often more interesting for the reader to consume. For that, choose events that are very memorable and/or meaningful to you so that you can tell them better and in detail.
Step 3. Bring up the event that provoked an emotional response in you
If you want, you can also explore a specific event that made a big impression on you. Oftentimes, personal essays serve as mirror reflections of important events that occur in a person's life. Therefore, think of events that are unique and personal to you; the more unique the event, the more likely it is to attract readers.
- For example, focus on an incident when you first found out your father was having an affair, or when you experienced grief after the death of a loved one. Think of a meaningful experience that can shape your current personality and character.
- You can also write about lighter topics or events, such as the first time you ride a roller coaster, or the first time you go on an ocean trip with your partner. Either way, make sure the event you choose is able to provoke an emotional response such as anger, confusion, or immeasurable happiness within you.
Step 4. Think of a name with which you are on bad terms
In your essay, try to explore your relationship with the person; think about why you can't be close or feel alienated from the person. Explore in detail to answer these questions in your essay.
For example, think about why you and your mother stopped talking intimately a few years ago or why you stopped communicating with your childhood best friend. You can also reflect on the failure of your previous romantic relationship and understand the reasons behind it
Step 5. Respond to current events
A good personal essay is able to package the current issues, whether you experience it yourself or experienced by those closest to you, through your personal perspective or point of view. Try to focus on current events or topics that interest you, such as abortion or refugee camps, and then offer your personal point of view on the issue.
- Ask questions about current events you found: How do they relate to your personal experience? How do you explore current issues or events using your personal experiences, emotions and thoughts?
- For example, you might be interested in writing an essay about the mass evictions in the United States. If you are also a victim of eviction in Jakarta, try to find a correlation between the eviction incident and your personal experience; also explain that your personal experience as a victim of eviction can shape you into who you are today. Try to explore current events from your personal perspective, instead of simply reporting on the events using the usual reporting methods.
Step 6. Create an outline of the essay
Generally, personal essays are packaged in several important parts, namely an introduction or introduction, content, and conclusion. In more detail, the sections carry the following information:
- The introduction or introduction serves as a “fishing tool”; In other words, the essay must begin with a sentence that is able to provoke the interest of the reader. The introduction to the essay should also be a short narrative that begins an important event, or explains the main theme that connects your personal experience with the content of the essay as a whole.
- The body or body of the essay should contain evidence that supports the narrative and/or main theme you described in the introduction. Usually, you present the evidence in the form of a narrative that reflects your experience. Make sure the body of the essay is also equipped with a clear timeline so that the reader knows when the event occurred.
- The conclusion of the essay must contain a resolution or conclusion from various events and experiences that have been discussed previously. Include any relevant story morals; in other words, reflect on the life lessons you learned from the experience or how the experience changed your life.
- In the past, a good essay should have had five paragraphs: one introductory paragraph, two body paragraphs, and one conclusion paragraph. Today, however, there is no longer a limit to the number of paragraphs you must follow, as long as your essay contains the three important sections described above.
Part 2 of 3: Writing a Personal Essay
Step 1. Begin the essay with an interesting opening scene
Open your personal essay with an opening paragraph that captures the reader's attention. In the opening paragraph, introduce the characters as well as the main theme of the essay; it's also a good idea to include important questions or major issues that you will discuss in the essay.
- Do not start your essay with a sentence that is too direct and denotative, such as, “In this essay, I will tell you about my relationship with my mother which is not good.” Instead, make an implicit introductory sentence, able to make the reader curious, but still informative.
- Try starting your essay with a specific event experienced by the main characters in the essay; make sure the event is also able to open a room for discussion related to the main theme or issue that you raise. By doing so, you have successfully introduced the main character and problem in the essay at the same time.
- If you want to write about the relationship between you and your mother, try to focus on an unpleasant event between the two of you; for example, when the two of you fight or argue about family secrets or about less important topics.
Step 2. Pack the essay in a unique perspective or point of view
Even if the essay is personal, you still have the freedom to package it in a unique perspective or way of writing. Like other writing genres, personal essays will be better able to attract readers if they use language that is both informative and entertaining. In other words, use diction, syntax, and sentence tone to make the story more interesting.
- You may choose a communicative writing style; in other words, write as if you were speaking to a close friend or relative. You may also choose a more exclusive and reflective writing style by questioning your personal assumptions and thoughts regarding the subject of the essay.
- Many personal essays are written in the first person format (using the expression "I"). Interested in writing an essay in English? If you want your essay to sound more contemporary, try using the simple present tense format; however, if you want to write an essay that reflects on a specific time or event in the past, try using the past tense format.
Step 3. Develop the character of the essay until it feels complete and detailed
Make sure you describe your character in both sensory and physical detail. Even if the essay contains your personal experiences, stick to storytelling techniques that highlight the plot and character appeals; Doing this method is effective in trapping the reader's interest as well as making the sentences in the essay sound more fluid.
If you want, you can also create character dialogues based on your memories of the event. However, make sure you don't include too much dialogue, as this can turn a draft essay into a work of fiction
Step 4. Arrange the plot of the essay
A good essay should have a logical plot or storyline; make sure your essay contains a series of moments that culminate into conflict and have a resolution.
In order to better structure your essay, you can also make a plot outline first. Within the outline of the plot, include facts that you can use as evidence to support the main theme or issue of the essay
Step 5. Focus on uncovering the greater truth
That is, try to analyze your experience more deeply, especially in terms of what it means to you. Discuss your experience honestly; also show your curiosity, as if you were trying to uncover a truth that you didn't know at the time. Often times, quality personal essays seek to expose truths that the writers themselves find uncomfortable or difficult.
- Understand that even though your experience contains various forms of very intense life drama, chances are that such dramas are already familiar to the reader's mind. To that end, try not to write about experiences that are familiar to most readers; do not try to attract the sympathy of the reader with cliché statements.
- If you are writing an essay about the sudden death of a loved one, of course the meaning of the essay will feel more and more important and deeper to you. However, it's likely that readers already know the outline of an essay on that theme, and the essay won't feel relevant to them either because they don't know the person who left you.
- Instead, try writing something deeper than "I feel so sad when a loved one leaves me." Think about the meaning and influence that person has in your life, both positively and negatively. Understanding them will help you uncover deeper truths and produce a more meaningful personal essay.
Part 3 of 3: Completing the Essay
Step 1. Experiment with different writing styles and techniques
Enrich your writing by creating a writing style such as incorporating metaphor, repetition, and personification. Show that you can tell a good story to strengthen the quality of your essay.
For example, you could use a metaphor to describe your mother's reaction when she heard that you were gay. For example, you can analogize your mother's face as "a solid brick wall that is impossible to penetrate." You can also use a simile like, "When I heard that, my mother froze, as if lightning had just struck her."
Step 2. Read your essay aloud
After creating your first draft, try reading it while evaluating it. You can do it in front of the mirror or in front of those closest to you as an audience.
As you read it, try to mark sentences that sound confusing, unclear, or not as strong as other sentences in the draft. Also make sure the character development, as well as the structure and plot of your essay is good. Evaluate whether you have reached the desired depth of story or not; if not, think about what you can do to achieve it. Strengthen your essay through the revision process
Step 3. Revise your essay
After you've finished your final draft of your essay, try reviewing it and making any necessary revisions. Also consider the notes you include in your draft as you practice reading it and the suggestions you receive from readers.
- When revising your essay, consider whether the content of your essay is fit for public consumption; Also think about whether you've actually written about a topic or subject you're passionate about, and whether readers can understand your writing. Do not make the reader confused and lazy to read your essay to completion.
- Also make sure the focus and theme of your essay is clear. A quality personal essay uses the author's personal experience as the focus or main theme of the essay; make sure you do that too.
Tips
- To better understand the essay genre, try reading some of the published examples of personal essays. Some examples of personal essays that are often used as examples in academia are "Notes of a Native Son" by James Baldwin, "The Death of a Moth" by Virginia Woolf, "Shipping Out" by David Foster Wallace, "The White Album" by Joan. Didion, and Sallie Tisdale's "We Do Abortions Here".
- While reading the sample essay, ask yourself a few questions, such as: How did the author introduce the subject of the essay? How does the author explore the perspective of the subject of his essay? What is the main theme of the essay? How does the writer relate his personal experience to the main theme? How does the writer insert humor into the essay? What kind of story moral do you want to highlight? Do you feel satisfied, dissatisfied, curious, or even all three after reading the essay?
