Here’s the next step for writing a personal essay. Of all the genres of creative writing this is the most accessible and most publishable. Each and every one of you out there has a personal essay to write.

Step Two: Narrative or Scenes?

      What is the door into your essay? Is there a scene to write  rendered with the devices of fiction – dialog, setting, action?  Or is your story more of a narrative with bits of experiences that form a whole?  My essay mentioned in the last post had to cover a lot of ground – not only because it had to be longer than the short essays I usually write, but also because of the subject. My dreams as a kid and my journey from that point to now covers a lot of time. In the end I wrote a series of vignettes, most of which had a few lines of dialog. However another recent essay, a short one of only 500 words, covered a thirty minute health crisis my husband had, and I wrote it in the present tense, all in scenes with action and dialog, and then a few lines of conclusion at the end.

      Obviously there’s no rule to how you’ll invite your reader into your story, but remember the old cliché: show don’t tell. If your essay feels flat, maybe a scene with dialog and action will liven things up.