The creative nonfiction essay is one of the hardest forms of writing to master, but when you nail it, the payoff is big. Some of the greatest pieces of literature out there are spectacular works of creative nonfiction, a broad umbrella term that encompasses narrative nonfiction. Perhaps the best way to think of creative nonfiction is by reflecting on some of the best “feature” writing you have read, most likely in major general interest magazines like The New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine.
Creative nonfiction ranges from small 500 to over 2,000 word pieces. But it’s hard to talk about the different forms of creative nonfiction if you haven’t read some examples of the best of the best so you can get a better idea of what makes this genre jump off the page, your heart wrench, your soul sing, and your mind pause and reflect on social or political commentary. Below are some tips on the different one subgenre within the trickiest—and arguably most overlooked—area of literature. Fortunately, you can read all the example essays online for free, so make sure to read up on how the masters craft their masterpieces.
Writing the personal essay
Perhaps the best place to start is with the personal essay. You may find this the most challenging essay to write because you are trying to get other people to feel the way you do or did. What moves the personal essay is often an element of reflection on past events, so you will most likely conjure up nostalgia, bittersweet longing for once was, or a revelation of what was but cannot be again. For example, you could write about universal experiences like the first person you ever loved and the trajectory of that relationship, or you could focus on a period of time that had a story arc within its own right, including a beginning, middle, and end.
Examples of Personal Essays
No one touches on this type of personal essay more than Joan Didion in her bittersweet essay “Goodbye to All that.” Didion’s narrative looks back on the first chapter of her adult life in New York City until the bubble burst and the magic wore off. Watch for Didion’s measured style and self-critical observations about herself—two key elements to writing a successful personal essay.
Two other good examples of the personal essay come from F. Scott Fitzgerald and George Orwell, famous first and foremost for their novels and on a secondary level for their essays.
- In Fitzgerald’s “The Crack-Up,” we hear about the author’s descent into the place known as rock bottom. How do you write critically about something very painful to you? One way to do it is to incorporate others' discussions with you in order to provide first-person examples of how you were, as Fitzgerald does in "The Crack Up."
- Another great essay along these same lines is George Orwell’s “Such, Such Were the Joys,” which details his time at boarding school. School is a self-contained universe, a microcosm of life, and capturing that world perfectly requires skill.
If you’re stuck to find a subject for the first essay, think about something that fits into either of these categories: the quotidian and the exceptional. Do you feel like you are especially good at empathizing and sympathizing with others? Are you able to relate to your friends when they experience joy or heartbreak? This would be a good place to start with an essay about something like losing a pet or finding love at first sight. Or do you have something in your life that is extraordinary? Maybe you won a sporting event that is a big deal, or you were the lead in a dramatic show. Think big and go for it.
Either way, you can always find something inside you that is waiting to be told. Remember, a personal essay is every much about stories as it is about poignant reflection.
Sarah Davis - Sarah writes about film, literature, and television. Email her at filmandlitgirl (at) gmail.com
