The Building Blocks of Personal Essay

This week we will put a handful of classic personal essays under our critical lens to discuss the DNA of creative nonfiction—concrete details. We will also discuss some strategies for developing evocative descriptions. Students will be asked to complete a 500-word optional writing assignment that puts these strategies into practice.

What makes an effective scene? How do they heighten the stakes of our stories? How is a scene different from exposition? For which moments in our stories do we use scenes? Many times we as essayists try to avoid scenes because we can’t remember exactly what was said or what happened. This week we will talk about how to account for those gaps in our memory and how to construct scenes that both propel the plot and add emotional depth to our stories.

Our best stories usually hinge upon a clear conflict–a thwarted desire, an unexpected complication, a frayed relationship. This week we’ll talk about the importance of having a clear conflict and the differences between internal and external conflicts. We’ll also discuss strategies for ensuring that our characters aren’t stock caricatures but exist on the page as real people. Students will participate in a short exercise about sketching characters.

One of the most difficult things to achieve as an essayist is a compelling narrative persona. This week, we’ll talk about developing an authorial sensibility that effectively mirrors who we are as people. We’ll also discuss how different subjects will require different narrative voices and how we can recalibrate our narrative approach to suit these particular topics. Finally, we’ll devote a portion of this week to looking at nonstandard narrative perspectives, such as using the second- or third-person point of view to dramatize other people’s stories. Students will be asked to complete a 500 word optional writing assignment on narrative voice. Students will also turn in the first of three 2,500 essays.

This week’s discussions will be centered on the various ways we can organize our essays. As one might expect, different structures can yield different effects, so we’ll discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using fragmented chronologies, braided storylines, topic-based structures, and other forms. Students will read a variety of essays that use some of these structures.

One of the most persistent questions that comes up in creative nonfiction classes is “what do we mean by nonfiction?” How do we as essayists claim to approximate the truth? What authority do we have in doing so? How can we present a subjective interpretation or reality without intruding upon the sanctity of facts? How can we present our memories even though they might be skewed by emotion or warped by time? This week, we’ll talk about how to navigate such questions as we write about potentially sensitive topics. Furthermore, we’ll address the ways in which the haziness of our memory can take our essays in interesting structural and thematic directions. Students will turn in the second of three 2,500 essays.

This week we’ll discuss the most crucial phase in the writing process—revision. We’ll review common mechanical and conceptual issues, and discuss strategies for pruning our prose of fluff, re-structuring the paragraphs, and locating and cultivating larger themes in our work. Students will be given a checklist to guide them during revision. Students will also submit their final 2,500 essay of the term.

Entering the literary marketplace can be daunting, so this week’s lecture will be devoted to demystifying the experience. Aside from reviewing the basics of how to write a cover letter, how to interpret rejection letters, and how to pitch your work to agents and publishers, we’ll also talk about finding and submitting to literary magazines that match our aesthetics and sensibilities.