As you draft your personal narrative, here are some tips to keep in mind:

KNOW THE HEART OF YOUR NARRATIVE. 

We don’t always know the “main point” of our piece when we start writing. Instead, we are guided by instinct: something tells us that a particular experience is significant and worth investigating. It is the process of writing itself that reveals to us the purpose for telling our story. So, while you don’t need to articulate a hypothesis or point before you begin your personal narrative, it’s useful to eventually step back and consider:

• What is powerful about the experience you’re portraying?

• What did it teach you?

• How has it changed you?

You might not answer these questions directly in your final piece, but thinking about them will infuse your writing with significance, communicating the broader meaning—the “So what?”—of your narrative.  

WRITE TO YOUR AUDIENCE. 

Your audience for this essay is a large, vibrant, supportive community… of mostly strangers! And strangers from across the world, no less, who don’t know what smog in your city looks like, or how it feels to have chronic pain, or what you can see from your bedroom window. Make sure to give your readers all of the details that they need to understand your experiences.

FIND A UNIVERSAL THREAD. 

Although you are telling a story that is personal in nature, are there elements you can develop to make it resonate with a broader audience? Here are some options to consider:

• Appeal to your readers’ emotions, allowing them to feel a particular experience. You can do this through dialogue and/or by “showing” rather than “telling.” Instead of naming emotion words (e.g. sad, happy), what scenes can you recreate on the page to conjure these emotions in readers?

• Demonstrate how the subject you’re exploring also impacts others, revealing how your personal experience connects to broader social or emotional truths.

• Demand readers’ attention by expressing the urgency of an issue or problem.

• Be particular. We naturally relate to a story when we can step into the shoes of the main character or narrator. Report your story with attention to specific detail and nuance.

• Show your foibles. Being honest about your weaknesses, insecurities, or mistakes cultivates empathy in readers.

BALANCE SCENE AND SUMMARY. 

As you develop your essay, consider your methods of delivery. Scenes will draw in your reader, build tension, and offer telling details. Usually, a personal essay revolves around 1-3 key scenes. Summary and reflection are also important. Summary efficiently delivers information and can set the stage for scenes, offering critical context, while reflection allows you to communicate significance to the readers—such as the universal truths your individual experience revealed to you—building their investment in your story.

CONSIDER TIME AS FLUID. 

Do the events in your personal essay unfold chronologically (the order in which they happened)? Or do they jump around in time, according to their connection to one another and their significance? Organizing your piece in a sequence that is not chronological can build suspense and a sense of purpose in your writing. It can also lend a creative structure. For example, you might throw the reader into a dramatic scene in the opening paragraph and then back up, filling in details to help ground the first scene in context. Jumping into the past is called “flashback,” and into the future is called “flashforward”—two techniques to keep in your toolbox. 

STEER CLEAR OF DIARY ENTRIES. 

Creative nonfiction is most powerful when it tells a story. Instead of treating this piece like a diary or confessional, focus on all the best elements of narrative—character, conflict, dialogue, setting, action, reflection, and resolution.