Have you ever considered experimenting with personal essay as a way to develop your craft as a writer?
I admit that the concept of a narrative or personal essay was not really on my radar until I read my friend Patrice Gopo’s beautiful essay collection, All the Colors We Will See. Since then, I’ve been rolling the idea around in my mind: “Maybe I should give it a try someday.”
Then one morning I received an email from Charity Singleton Craig, announcing the release of her new book, The Art of the Essay: From Ordinary Life to Extraordinary Words. I immediately replied to tell her how excited I was about this new resource, and asked if she would be willing to share a guest post for the Five Minute Friday community. She graciously agreed, and I’m so pleased to share her words with you here today.
Disclosure: Affiliate links have been used in this post.
I first met Charity online shortly after the release of On Being a Writer: 12 Habits for a Writing Life that Lasts, which she co-authored with writing coach and podcaster Ann Kroeker. I’ve since had the privilege of meeting her a few times in person at various writing conferences.
I also recently interviewed Charity and Patrice Gopo on the topic of essay writing:
CLICK HERE to watch our video conversation
If you’re curious about what is means to write a personal essay, I hope the following post will be an encouragement to you. Be sure to click here to purchase a copy of Charity’s book as well!
Here’s Charity:
I’ve been a writer for most of my life. I started writing when I was a child–poetry mostly, but also short stories. In high school, I mastered the art of the five-paragraph thesis–and the angsty teenage journal. Later in college, as a mass communications major, I learned about the inverted pyramid of journalism.
In my first job as a newspaper reporter, I embodied the urgency of “if it bleeds it leads,” frontloading my page one articles with the most gripping facts of the story. At that same daily paper, I also learned the rhythm of feature stories, teasing readers into the story and building to a satisfying conclusion. Later, when the urgency and rhythm of the reporters life fell flat for me, I tried my hand at feature articles for magazines, matching my tone and voice to the vision of editors and publishers.
After some success selling a few articles to a national publication, I turned my sights towards books. But it was 2006, and after attending a writing conference where blogs were all the buzz for anyone wanting to make a career from book writing, I started sharing snippets from my daily life, weaving in facts and quotes from my reading, thoughts from my Bible study, and lush descriptions of the neighborhood I called home.
The blog led to more writing, although not a book as I had hoped, and by 2012, I found myself attending a writing conference confused about the direction of my writing life. What was it I really wanted to write? I wasn’t planning to blog forever, though I liked writing about my life. I didn’t think writing feature stories for magazines was my long-term goal, though I did like the research and interviewing that journalism had taught me. And on and on I went through the list: I didn’t consider myself a poet, but I liked the emphasis on word play. I’d only dabbled in fiction, but I liked dialogue and the arc of a good story.
Then I stepped into a conference breakout session called The Magpie Form, where an editor, Brian Doyle, and a professor, Patrick Madden, were talking about essays. They described this type of writing as adept at both showing and telling; they talked about paying attention and catching the stories all around us; they painted a picture of taking the ordinary stuff of life and wringing out the extraordinary in our writing.
In the movie version of my life (which will probably never be made, but hey, I can dream), I see myself sitting in the lecture hall of this session as a turning point in the plot. Suddenly, the camera zooms in on me, and scenes from my writing life thus far begin spinning in the blur around me. Not only had all my experiences led to this moment of revelation, they had contributed to it.
See, the workshop leaders had chosen the name “magpie form” because of the way essayists, like the birds, are always borrowing and collecting things from life and weaving them into their work (nests, in the case of the actual magpies). Had I not written poetry and short stories, had I not been trained in journalism and feature stories, had I not written from the first person on my blog, attempting to connect what I read with how I live, had I not gathered and integrated all these styles and forms into my work, I might not have had the epiphany I did that day. After years of wondering what kind of writer I was, in that moment I discovered that I’m an essayist.
PIN THIS:
Maybe you are an essayist too, and this is the pivotal moment in the movie of your life, as all the writing you’ve done and the experiences you’ve had converge in that one word. Or maybe your writing life hasn’t led you to this revelation like you hoped it would. You want to be an essayist, but you aren’t sure where to go next. Or maybe you’re a writer without a form, and you’ve showed up here to find something called the essay and you’re willing to give it a shot.
Tips for Writing a Personal Essay
However you’ve arrived, here are a few tips for writing essays.
Start by trying. The word “essay” comes from the French word essais, which means to attempt or try. The word first came into use by the father of the modern essay, Michel de Montaigne, who left behind an elite career in law and politics in the 16th century to write. He started most of his essays with the word “of,” as in “Of Names,” “Of Sleep,” “Of Books,” and then he wrote–what he knew, what he didn’t know, what he thought, and what he learned. If you’d like to explore this essay form yourself, begin where Montaigne did–by trying to write about whatever you encounter. You might even try choosing one word, like family, and starting there: Of Family.
Write as a person. What I’ve called “essays” throughout this post some call “personal” essays, mostly because use of the first person is not only accepted but encouraged. But the word “personal,” here, doesn’t have to mean intimate or private. It simply means, as Bill Roorbach writes in Writing Life Stories, that the writer writes “as a person rather than a disembodied voice of knowledge.” Include stories from your life, but also opinions, concerns, and questions. Be honest, “admit that you are there behind the words,” as Roorbach advises.
Aim for “infinite suggestiveness.” This is the phrase Professor Madden used all those years ago in The Magpie Form session. It’s an invitation to explore, to meander, to refute, to wonder … not just as you prepare to write, but in the writing itself. It’s the freedom to be “meditative or associative or tangential,” as Madden has said.
Roorbach breaks it down more practically with this list of things that fit perfectly within an essay: “counterpoint in the exposition, quotes from other writers, arcane knowledge, odd comparisons, and grand metaphors.” Whatever it is, if you can connect it in some way with the writing, then it fits. That’s the beauty of the essay.
I’ve been a writer most of my life, but it’s only in the past few years that I’ve been an essayist, or at least thought of myself as one. That doesn’t mean I don’t still write poetry and fiction, journalism and blog posts. I do. All of it. But it also means every time I sit down to write an essay, I borrow whatever I need from poetry and fiction, journalism and blogging, and I write as a person, trying again for the infinitive suggestiveness that continues to turn my ordinary life into extraordinary words.
***
Charity Singleton Craig is an author, journalist, and essayist. She is the author of The Art of the Essay: From Ordinary Life to Extraordinary Words, a contributor to The Wonder Years: 40 Women over 40 on Aging, Faith, Beauty, and Strength, the author of My Year in Words: what I learned from choosing one word a week for one year, and coauthor of On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life That Lasts.
She writes regularly for various publications, including Edible Indy and In Touch Magazine. Her work also has been featured at Christianity Today Women, Tweetspeak Poetry, The Write Life, and Grubstreet Daily. She lives with her husband and three stepsons in central Indiana. You can find her online at charitysingletoncraig.com.
This was a great description. I think there is more of this type of writing now, and it is fun to write and read.
Glad you enjoyed it, Theresa! Thanks for stopping by!
I think you’re right, Theresa! I think essays make space for complexity and loose ends, which feels a lot like life in the 21st century. Maybe the form is mimicking the culture. Thanks for your comment!
Serendipity is the word that came to mind when I read Kate’s email about this guest post from Charity on the personal essay. About four years ago, I stopped working on a memoir. I’m in my 6th month of recovery from a major spine surgery and I still haven’t touched that manuscript.
My interest in writing has been drawn to essay, but I didn’t know where to begin. This post is helpful, wise, and motivating. Thanks to Kate for inviting Charity, and thanks to Charity for sharing her craft.
Oh wow, Sherrey! So glad you found this post! I’m sorry to hear about your surgery and lengthy recovery time . . . I hope you are fully recovered soon, and that you continue using the gifts you’ve been given through writing. And stay tuned, because I have a great conversation to share next week with Charity and Patrice Gopo! 🙂
Sherrey — You’ve been through so much over the last six months. I’m glad you are on the road to recovery!
You know, I think memoirs and essays are so closely connected. In my book, I draw a lot from the work of Scott Russell Sanders who says, and I’m paraphrasing here, that personal essay is often a memoir that looks around, engages the world, glances outward. I have a hunch that all the work you pored into your memoir will set you up well to begin work on some essays … maybe even a series or collection of essays.
And that word “serendipity”? It’s one of my favorites. Our lives are filled with these miraculous little collisions of just the right things at just the right time, especially when we go looking for them. I call it chasing wonder!
Thanks so much for your comment, and best wishes in your writing.
Dang. I guess I need to get these books because I’m still not sure I’m clear on the difference in blog vs. essay vs. memoir.
But at the same time, this resonates with me! I just purchased a book yesterday from the library “for sale” shelf and I couldn’t quite place what genre it is… and after reading this I think I’d say it’s essay. If so, I can say I thoroughly enjoy this type of writing and prefer to write that way myself… but I still want to understand more!
In that case, I think you’ll really enjoy this book, Ashley! 🙂 I’m still figuring out the overlap and differences between memoir and essay as well — and I already wrote one memoir! 😉 Hope you enjoy the book if you pick it up. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!
I’m not sure the distinctions are always completely clear, Ashley, so don’t worry if you aren’t sure. For instance, blog posts can be written in lots of different forms: devotional, memoir, essay, how-to article, journalism, etc. The differences between a personal essay and a memoir can be slight, but essay usually includes a least an outward glance that memoir lacks: connection to an article, a pop culture reference, even a reflection on how the life experience has a broader application. But there’s so much overlap, I wouldn’t worry too much about parsing them too closely. Just write what you love … and it sounds like you’re doing that.
Thanks so much for commenting. If you get the book, let me know what you think. I love talking to fellow writers.
Wow! I’m an essayist & didn’t know it! I have notebooks full of quotes, I also have journals of day to day happenings. I write about the things around me and receive frequent comments about my writing that say I take the simple everyday happenings and make them special.
Now I’m excited. I can combine those journals and quotes with my style of writing.
At 75 with health issues, writing from scratch requires more energy and concentration than I have. Linking what I already have can easily be accomplished in small blocks of time which I can handle.
This is so good to hear, Constance! I’m so glad you’ve made this connection, and that this post has generated excitement in you. That’s wonderful! May your writing life grow from strength to strength.
I love this revelation for you, Constance! It sounds like the essay form would be a perfect match your writing! Best wishes to you as you write.
I think my voice is strongest as an essayist. I just didn’t know it was a genre. My journals mirror this type of writing. The “thinking out loud but on paper” approach really provide readers with a transparency that, I feel, is appreciated. I hope to learn more about crafting this type of writing! Thanks for sharing and bringing clarity.