Step Three 

      Emotion is at the heart of your personal essay. You need to feel deeply about your subject, whether it’s crazed frustration over something trivial, or a deeper emotion about a serious subject. This emotion can come out of wanting to maintain dignity while things beyond your control are falling apart (often the source of humor) or it can come out of your need to find meaning, understanding and perspective in an experience.

      Show us what’s at stake. Be really clear about what it is you want or need in the essay, and who or what is in the way.

      If you write your essay with enough specific detail, and are honest about what you were feeling and needing, your readers will identify even though the details of their situation might be very different from yours.