Writing from personal experience can be both rewarding and challenging. It is difficult because many writers are not used to using the first person point of view. But done correctly, the personal essay can reveal life lessons that can be shared with all readers as part of the human experience. Using the elements of fiction such as plot, setting, character and theme can bring a personal essay to life.
What is a Personal Essay?
Typically, a personal essay shares an experience from the writer’s past that had particular meaning or taught a lesson. The essay should be set in the past, but the story should be told from a modern perspective.
Imagine you are looking at a photograph of yourself. If you were to describe that photograph, you would explain the story behind it from your point of view today, looking back at what the picture means and why it is important to you today. Use this same approach when writing a personal essay.
Show, Don’t Tell
The most important thing to remember when writing a personal essay is to show the reader the story, don’t just tell the story. Your reader should feel like a participant, so avoid sweeping generalizations such as “My mother was a kind woman.” Instead, give the readers specific examples of her kindness. Take them into a scene. Use dialogue and imagery to paint the picture.
Plot
Your personal essay should tell a story, so try to follow a basic plot outline. Begin with your exposition, or introduction of characters and setting. Then develop rising action and conflict to move your story along and increase tension. The climax of your story should be the point of highest tension and action. Finish with your resolution, or wrapping up of loose ends and perhaps explaining your lesson learned.
Setting
Set the scene for your readers as much as possible. Use imagery to paint a picture in their minds. Try to utilize all five senses in your descriptions. What did you see? Hear? Smell? Touch? Taste? If the geography of your story is important to the plot, explain why.
Character
Just because your story is about real people doesn’t mean you don’t need character development. Show what your characters look like, how they act, and what they say. Use dialogue to bring them to life. Give your characters a voice.
Theme
Theme is not only the most important element in a personal essay, but it is also the most difficult to achieve. You can write the most interesting and detailed story about your childhood dog, but if you don’t explain the impact that dog still has on your life, your readers will not care. Without a theme, or lesson learned, you are just sharing a memory. You are not telling a story.
When choosing a topic, make sure you keep your theme in mind. Your theme should feature a larger meaning that readers can relate to. Try to develop a universal message that readers will share. For instance, if your childhood dog stayed by your side during your horrible bout of the flu, your lesson learned could be the power of unconditional friendship.
Using elements of fiction in your personal essay will bring your writing to life and give your readers something to take with them after they have read your writing.
 |
