The Personal Essay: What YOU Think It Is

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1 , What the Personal Essay is: According to Annie Dillard: There is nothing you cannot do with it; no subject matter is forbidden, no structure is proscribed. You get to make up your own structure every time, a structure that arises from the materials and best contains them. The material is the world, which, so far keeps on keeping on. Personal essay is to writing long-form creative nonfiction what the short story is to fiction. Personal essay: -- From you -- On any topic -- From the French assay a try, an effort to look at some topic in a new way. Personal essay is God s gift to the writer of creative nonfiction because you can do SO much with it. Mastering it will give you a lot of other literary options. Great compositional tool to have in your toolbox. -- Most successful blog posts are essentially personal essays. -- A series of personal essays can form the scaffolding for long-form creative nonfiction, such as memoir. Comparison of personal essay to the short story, according to Tim Bascom (Creative Nonfiction, Issue 49, Summer 2013): The essay is a figure locked in a too-large lump of personal experience, and the good essayist chisels away all unnecessary material. -- Fiction is about building something from nothing -- Essay is about deletion What the Personal Essay is not: Five-paragraph essay Personal statement in college application Article Necessary Elements of the Personal Essay: (according to Lee Gutkind, who emphasizes showing over telling) Characters mainly the narrator Scenes where conflict is developed Conflict External and Internal Dialogue Sensory detail Action something has to happen/has to be change (according to Phillip Lopate, for whom telling is just fine) Voice Driven by curiosity Page 1 of 8

2 Forms of the Personal Essay: Internally focused Contemplative --Phillip Lopate/Virginia Woolf/Charles Lamb/Joan Didion ( On Self Respect ) --May have begun the creative nonfiction form: St. Augustine and other medieval mystics --Reflective --Meditative --Meandering but the reader still wants to have a sense that narrator knows where he/she is going Spiritual --Anne Lamott ( Traveling Mercies ) --According to Dinty Moore: What unites the spiritual essay is the quest to explore life s basic mysteries. --Certainty will kill the spiritual essay --Should be motivated by curiosity about what essayist does not understand. --Should be brutally honest --Conflict is likely to be internal --Rilke: Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.... Lyric --Lia Purpura ( Glaciology ) --Definition by Deborah Tall and John D Agata in an issue of the Seneca Review (1997): The Lyric essay partakes of the poem in its density and shapeliness, its distillation of ideas and musicality of language. It partakes of the essay in its weight, in its overt desire to engage with facts, melding its allegiance to the actual with its passion for the imaginative form. --Uses poetic devices such as figurative language, alliteration, rhyme, etc. --Sometimes internally, other times externally focused Externally focused Travel --Ernest Hemingway/Cheryl Strayed/Elizabeth Gilbert Gastronomical --Michael Pollan ( Unhappy Meals ) Nature --Annie Dillard ( Living Like Weasels ) Humor --David Sedaris ( Six to Eight Black Men ) --Humor has to be born out of story. Story must come first. --Chance to make fun of oneself --Humor must also be born out of honesty --Kathryn s blog post on Nose Blowing in Ecuador Both internally and externally focused Memoir --Protagonist the self the essay is about --Narrator the self-telling the story now, looking back --Scene and reflection are necessary --Sensory details help to recreate the past --According to Judith Barrington s Writing the Memoir, the genre includes 3 kinds of writing: scene, summary, and musing Page 2 of 8

3 --Conflict must be both internal and external in terms of what happened and the feelings faced by the protagonist --Protagonist must change over the course of the memoir --Mary Karr, The Art of Memoir --Kathryn s Huffington Post essay on Paper and Pencil Shavings Basic Structure of Personal Essay: Beginning -- Draws reader in -- Establishes tone -- Sets up conflict -- Where to begin: Beginning, End, Middle en Medias Res (In the middle of things) Middle --Builds conflict, both Internal inside characters, narrator most importantly External in terms of action/a problem to be solved End --Resolves conflict --Often looks beyond the essay Complex Structural Options for the Personal Essay: (from Tim Bascam, Creative Nonfiction, Issue 49, Summer 2013): Narrative with a Lift Whorl of Reflection --Takes the narrative march through time --Uses conflict to create rising action and, thus, plot --Anne Lamott ( Traveling Mercies ) --Used often in reflective essays --Phillip Lopate describes the reflective/contemplative essay wheeling and diving like a hawk --Circle and circle a subject then zoom into focus --Joan Didion ( On Self Respect) --Virginia Woolf ( Death of a Moth ) Page 3 of 8

4 Segmented Essay Dipping Into The Well --Often used in thematic essays --Offers a series of discrete scenes connected by a thematic thread --Sometimes there is a bit of a narrative that connects the scenes, as well, but not always --Example: Virginia Woolf s Street Haunting /Scenes connected by story of narrator going out to purchase a pencil and the things/scenes along the way. Layered Essay --A horizontal movement through time, but also a vertical descent into meaning. --Bascam also says that these descents/dips can call for exposition (telling rather than showing), which is appropriate sometimes. --Example is Wendell Berry s essay An Entrance to the Woods. Seemingly about an overnight camping trip but also thematically about the fragility of nature. According to Bascam, Berry uses reflective commentaries that seem temporary digressions that pull the reader away from camping narrative (the forward movement of the plot), only to resurface and pull the reader forward. These loops seem to construct a second layer of plot. Accor ding to Basca m, The lyric (layered) essay is devoted more to image than idea, more to mood than concept. It is there to be experienced, not simply thought about. And like many poems, it accomplishes this effect by layering images without regard to narrative order. A lyric essay is a series of waves on the shore, cresting one after the other. It is one impression after another, united by tone. And it seems to move in its own peculiar direction, neither vertical nor horizontal. More slant. --This may make you think of Emily Dickinson saying, Tell all the truth but tell it slant. --Lia Purpura ( Glaciology ) Braided Essay --Here the essayist weaves/braids together two or more strands of story, so that the narratives interact in interesting ways. This is also used in lyric essays sometimes. --Judith Ortiz Cofer ( Silent Dancing ) Page 4 of 8

5 Coming Full Circle --Here the ending of the essay circles back to where it began, often via image, or sometimes returning to a scene from the beginning of the essay, or maybe returning to a theme set forth at the start of the essay. --The best essays, when they circle back, also point beyond the essay itself. --Bascam uses Annie Dillard s Living like Weasels as an example of this. The essay opens up when Dillard writes, I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your own necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you. The essay begins with an eagle dangling a weasel skull from its neck like a pendant, so Dillard returns to that image in closing. Tips for Turning Personal Essays into Blog Posts: Abbreviate most successful blog posts run around 500 words or fewer. Use shorter paragraphs makes it easier for readers to quickly scan content. Add images internet audiences expect photos to illustrate text. Example Kathryn McCullough ( Head Cold Hell ) Tips for Using Personal Essays to build Long-Form Creative Nonfiction such as Memoir: Allow each essay you write to serve more than one purpose. Be strategic. If you are writing a memoir, write essays that focus on individual events and scenes that will be inevitable parts of the longer work. Think small. This will allow you to mine the most from each, allow you to garner the most insight and help you understand how to build the arc for a longer narrative. The parts will give you insight into the whole. The more of these shorter pieces you write, the greater your ability to hone the focus for the longer memoir. These pieces will allow you to develop individual characters more fully, so that they are well-rounded and believable. Some writers feel overwhelmed thinking about a book-length manuscript, but feel confident they can write about a single scene. Once you have accumulated a number of these it will become clearer at which point to enter your story. Most contemporary memoirs don t begin at the beginning in the chronologic sense. They open the memoir with a scene that has enough action to grab the reader s attention, introduce the main characters, and introduce themes. Example Kathryn McCullough ( Redemption in Paper and Pencil Shavings ) Page 5 of 8

6 Places to Publish Personal Essays: The information below is from Meghan Ward s website ( New York Times Modern Love Start by reading a lot of Modern Love columns to get an idea of what they re looking for. You may even want to buy this Modern Love collection. Don t miss the Media Bistro article on how to turn your Modern Love column into a book, and be sure to visit the Modern Love Facebook Page for submission tips from the editor, Daniel Jones. New York Times Lives The New York Times Magazine Lives column is another great place to get published. The best way to submit to any large publication is to have someone put you in touch with the editor of the column. The rest of us can our essays to the Lives section at lives (at) nytimes (dot) com. Newsweek My Turn Start by reading How To Get a My Turn Essay Published in Newsweek Magazine. Then read some of the past essays that have been published to get a good idea of what they are looking for and what s already been done. UPDATE: Submit My Turn essays to editorial (at) thedailybeast (dot) com. Christian Science Monitor Home Forum The Christian Science Monitor is a highly respected international newspaper and is not religious-based. It s Home Forum page includes a personal essay that can run from 400 to 800 words. After you read the Monitor s contributor guidelines, check out this article for advice on how to beat the odds of getting your essay published. The Sun A monthly magazine, The Sun pays from $300 to $2,000 for essays and interviews. They receive a thousand submissions (including fiction and poetry) for every issue, so don t be surprised if you have to wait six months for a response. The Smithsonian Magazine The Last Page of The Smithsonian is a humor column running 500 to 650 words and pays $1000. For more information, read the submission guidelines. Salon From what I ve read, the pay is low for Salon essays ($150?), but it s better than nothing and a great way to get exposure. Check out this list, and then click around the different departments (Life, Sex, Poetry, etc.) to see what they re publishing. Finally, see their submission guidelines, which aren t all that helpful. Slate Slate publishes some essays, but I was so distracted by their targeted banner ads (Camping gear! Children s outdoor play equipment!) that I gave up on my search before I got very far. The Rumpus An online culture magazine, The Rumpus [tries] to maintain high standards even though we don t have any money and can t pay for writing. For details on submitting essays or book reviews, see their writer s guidelines. 7 7 Another West Coast publication, 7 7 has an Urban Ledger column for which readers can pitch their personal essays. They pay $1 a word, and their essays run about 1000 words. For more information, contact the editorial department. Skirt An online women s magazine, Skirt accepts submissions up to 1500 words, but like most online publications does not pay. For more info, read their contributor guidelines. Page 6 of 8

7 Granta A British literary magazine, Granta publishes original memoir pieces between 3000 and 6000 words. They do not accept submissions. Read a few copies of the journal (you can find most journals at a library) and then read their guidelines. Tin House A literary journal, Tin House accepts essays as well as poetry and fiction from Sept. 1 to May 31. The suggested deadline for their Spring 2012 issue, themed Weird Science, is Oct. 1. The real deadline is Nov. 1. Click here for submission guidelines. Zyzzyva You have to live on the West Coast to publish in Zyzzyva, but it s another literary journal that accepts personal essays. The best way to learn what any publication is looking for is to read several issues of that publication, and Zyzzyva is no exception. Start by buying a copy. Then read the submission guidelines. Traveler s Tales Traveler s Tales is currently accepting submissions in the women s travel humor and travel humor categories. Visit their website for submission details. The deadline is TODAY (Sept. 21) for their Fifth Annual Solas Awards, so get it in fast if you have something ready. Otherwise, you can submit year-round and your submission will be held for the following competition. Literary Mama An online literary magazine for the maternally inclined, Literary Mama is looking for revelation so stark that it hurts. Pathos can reveal, but so can humor and joy; superior craft (clarity, concrete details, strong narrative development); and ambiguity, complexity, depth, thoughtfulness, delicacy, humor, irreverence, lyricism, sincerity; the elegant and the raw. View their submission guidelines for more info. Brain, Child The magazine for thinking mothers (as opposed to literary mamas), publishes essays between 800 and 4500 words, which are the signature pieces of the magazine. They pay as much as we can, although our fees are still modest for now. View their writers guidelines. Chicken Soup for the Soul It doesn t seem like there s anything left to publish in this series, but there is! There is! And here are the submission guidelines. Seal Press Anthologies Seal Press publishes books By Women. For Women. They aren t currently accepting submissions, but check back periodically for upcoming books. Adams Media Books Adams publishes nonfiction books, including some anthologies. Right now they re taking parodies of Jane Austen writing for an anthology titled Bad Austen. Books on the Personal Essay: Vivian Gornick, The Situation and the Story Lee Gutkind, The Art of Creative Nonfiction, You Can t Make This Stuff Up Dinty Moore, Crafting the Personal Essay Phillip Lopate, To Show and to Tell Writing Prompts: Use scene to show gesture communicating more than dialogue. Write about something you had long forgotten. Write about people in terms of a dichotomy (ex: those who borrow/lend). Use scene to show your greatest foible. Write about childhood in terms of color. Write about life as an oxymoron (ex: Hazlitt, On the Pleasure of Hating ). Write about weather mirroring an inner conflict/or not. Use scene to describe a disastrous shopping trip. Page 7 of 8

8 Write about the role spaghetti (food) has played in your past. Use scene to show humor in a past mistake. Page 8 of 8