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Anthology Stories: Personal Essays
Author: Shirley Kawa-Jump
Personal essays can be a great way for writers who to communicate their viewpoint or share a special moment in their lives. Many magazines, in all industries and areas, run essays. Collections, like the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, are always on the lookout for great essays, on topics ranging from golfing to romance.
If you want to try your hand at an essay, follow the tips below and then take a stab at the writing exercise!
Find a topic you care about:
This is one of the most important steps. If you don’t care about the topic, then the writing will suffer. You need to find a topic that you care about, enough that you can create an entire essay about it. It should be something that was a big event in your life; a moment that changed you.Find a topic that the reader will care about, too:
Ideally, if this is a moment that has been a life-changing one for you, then it will be one the reader can learn from, too. Readers read essays because they can relate to the writer and hopefully live vicariously, either learning something new or finding a way to deal with a common problem. Some essays are issue-based (like those in Newsweek) others are more lesson-based (like those in the God Allows U Turns anthologies) and some are simply there to provide a heartwarming moment (like the essays in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series). Decide which kind your reader expects, and make sure you are writing about a topic that fits those parameters.Construct the essay in the familiar pattern:
Most essays are circular. They start with the problem, or life-changing event, then go through the history of the author, finally returning to that moment in time and wrapping it up with the solution or life lesson.
Some essays blend in dialogue, others do not. The best way to determine if you should have dialogue in your essay is to read other essays in the publication you are targeting (if you are planning on sending it out). This step can’t be stressed enough - editors will reject an essay that doesn’t fit the style, tone and approach of the publication. Editorial staffs work hard to maintain a differentiation in their magazine from the competition. Everything, right down to the essays, has to be part of that image. It’s like decorating a house in French provincial, then having the living room done in Art Deco--it simply won’t match. If you are targeting a women’s magazine, then pick an issue important to women; if you’re targeting a senior’s magazine, then talk about something effecting that demographic, etc.Be sure to have a strong conclusion:
One of the main mistakes writers make in essay writing is skimping on the conclusion. This is where you want to leave the audience thinking. It’s important that you create a strong ending that paints a picture or drives your point home.Choose precise language:
Precise language makes all the difference in painting a strong picture in your writing. “I plopped into the familiar comfort of my father’s La-Z-Boy recliner” gives a far more powerful image than saying “I sat in a chair.” Describing a favorite aunt as smelling of Jergen’s Lotion paints an immediate sensory picture for the reader. The more details you can work in, through the use of precise language, the stronger the entire essay will be.Take the time to do it right:
Don’t try to rush through an essay. In general, you have less than a 1000 words to work with. Essays have to capture a moment in time, a life lesson and a strong image, all within the prescribed word count. Choose each word carefully, because it needs to deliver a powerful punch. When you are editing, try to keep all of the above tips in mind.
Finally, read the essay over, not just on the computer, but also in a printed version and out loud. Those three steps will help you catch any typos, awkward phrasing and rough patches. Make doubly sure that your essay has made the point you wanted to get across, and then, if you feel it’s ready, send it on out to the publication, or if you’d rather, just save it for posterity.
Exercise:
Try writing an essay of your own. If you intend to send it out to a magazine, then study the market first and see what kind of essays they run. Either way, for fun or publication, find a topic or moment that is important to you and write about it. Try to be precise in your language, and try to use all five senses in your writing. Make us see, taste, hear, smell and feel the moment!
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