Best Tips for Creating a Perfect Personal Essay

8 Tips for Writing A Great Personal Essay

A personal essay is an essay that tells about you and your real life experience. It is a genre of writing that is really difficult for most people. But you should know that learning to write this type of essays is very important. You might need it at any point in your academic and professional career, so you better know how to write personal essays successfully!

Remember, even though writing a personal essay is hard, it is not that hard if you understand the basics. Read on to learn the main ingredients of creating perfect personal essays!

1. Do you know anything about good storytelling and well-written fiction? We bet you do! So go for it – come up with a plot, create a setting and develop characters that act in the sequence of events you are talking about. Use colorful descriptions and add details that will help the reader get right into your story.
2. Create the combination of the personal details with the universal ones. Even though it is the story about your life and your feelings, you should show it from a larger perspective. Reveal a deeper truth behind your story with the help of your plot and your characters.
3. For your essay to be successful, it is important to find your voice. You can change it from piece to piece if required. Your voice is the language you use, the feelings you put into your writing, and the tone you create in your essay. It can vary from anxious to playful, from breathless to funny, from solemn to ironic.

1. Alternate your focus on the events you are describing. As if you are taking a video camera in your hands, focus on certain moments to better communicate the purpose of your writing and show the importance of these particular pieces.
2. Avoid generalizing things. Better be specific. Do not write about the notion of love; write about the person who you consider the love of your life. Do not write about sunsets; write about a particular sunset you will remember for the rest of your life. Whatever you are writing about, add specific details that create meaning for you.
3. Experiment in your writing. Turn it into a game by trying various techniques and literary devices, such as metaphors, personification, zeugmas, etc. Set your imagination free and let it help you write a great essay.
4. Revise and edit your paper. Do not only pay attention to spelling and grammatical errors. See that your theme is clear, the purpose of your writing is conveyed, and your essay looks like a single piece of writing.
5. Read. Read all the time. Remember that this is what writers always do – they read a lot. But they do not only read. They also pay attention to the style of the writer and then try to apply it themselves.

Use these tips and your personal essays will start shining!