the personal essay, part two:

So, today in class, we discussed at length Annie Dillard's "Total Eclipse" (which is completely different from this total eclipse [though I recommend watching the video; it will be nearly the best five minutes of your life]; and even different from this total eclipse [the best two minutes of your life]). No, Dillard's eclipse was much more serious than either of these. The conclusions to which we arrived? A little bit of this and a little bit of that: human understanding of fears; human contemplation of events much larger than us; the inability of language to describe such events. We beat dead horses. Dillard's dead horses.

But clearly we read the essay for a reason. It's an example of a personal essay--something you'll be writing very shortly. Dillard had her outside subject (solar eclipse); she had her research (history of solar eclipse; other astronomic events); she had her deeper subject (see above).

So go ahead and do what she did. Except tailor your essay, clearly, to your likes and dislikes, your interests and nerdiness--of which, I dearly hope, there is much.

To help you, I've outlined below what your first essay should look like:

Essay the First: The Personal Essay:

What it is:

This essay should explore a subject that is interesting to you, in a way that is compelling to both you and your readers. I’m not placing limitations on you—I only ask that you pick a subject that is quite separate from your existence. For example, your boy/girlfriend is not a subject quite separate enough from your existence. However, if your boy/girlfriend has something going on that is interesting and defines your relationship in unexpected ways, talk to me.

I would like to see you thinking about a long-held obsession—you love Nerf and all its products; you’re an amateur physicist; you dearly long to be a USPS mail carrier—and what it means to you, and what it means in relation to you.

Some things to think about:

The history of this obsession (when did it start for you? how old were you? is it something you should have outgrown, and haven’t? is it something you have outgrown and wish you hadn’t?); the obsession’s own history (when were Nerf balls invented? how? by whom? when did they spike in popularity? why?); some defining moments with your obsession (shooting out a car window with your Nerf gun; breaking your brother’s nose with your Nerf football; the time you spent away from your Nerf toys because you were grounded due to the aforementioned things).

Specifics:

1. 4 pages, double spaced, at the least, for your rough draft.

2. 12 point standard font (Times New Roman, Garamond, Book Antiqua [although that one looks better in 11 point font]).

3. Standard(ish) formatting (no title page; title centered above text; name and date left adjusted above title).

Your essay may take the form of something we started/looked at in class, such as:

Word!: an essay.

Pick a single word that is important to you. It should be from your interests, hobbies, passions, dorkishness, something you geek out about. Something you’re really interested in. This should be a noun—“fishing,” “umbrella,” “agate,” “rubber band”—though it can be a verb—“to fish,” “to find,”—or an adjective—“stuck-up,” etc. Write three to five developed and detailed scenes revolving around this word that come from your experience with this word. Write this in present tense so that the remembrance of this event is extremely focused and fresh.

Next, contemplate your word as it exists outside of your experience. Research the word’s derivation; its etymological history; its presences in historical and popular fiction; its appearance in art, film, television, music; its religious significance; its mythological roots. Write two to four sections in which you meditate upon that word. Then, interject the word between the scenes, so that the final essay looks like,

scene – white space – word contemplation – white space – scene – white space – word contemplation – white space – scene. etc.

Mix up these scenes and contemplative sections as you see fit. Usually, you’ll want to order your sections so that they build in weight, with the heaviest being the climax of your essay—much like the most fraught part of the short story.

FINALLY, I'll post our workshop guidelines:

Workshop Guidelines:

1. Each writer, the class before her workshop, hands out a copy of her essay to each person in the class.

2. Your homework: read the piece for strengths and potential areas to clarify. Make notes on the copy: if a section is phenomenal, write “This is phenomenal.” If a section is unclear, write, “This is unclear.” Try for at least one comment per page.

Strengths

-Vivid details that appeal to all five senses

- New or unusual use of language

- Deliberate rhythm and flow of lines and sentences

- Surprising ideas or ideas presented in new ways

Areas for Improvement

- Unnecessary or vague words

- Clichés / common sayings

- Form or sentence usage that muddle the writer’s ideas

- Unclear ideas, or ideas that need more development

3. Begin your written critique with what this piece is about. This is very important. If the writer thinks he knows what his essay is about, but you get something totally different than he expected, he has something to work on.

4. Group (but not the writer whose work is being critiqued) comments on the strengths of the essay, discusses the main ideas of the essay and the creative / effective ways the writer communicates these ideas.

5. Group discusses specific weaknesses or confusing aspects of the essay, and asks questions of the piece.

While group members should be specific about confusing words or less effective choices the writer has made, remember that the writer owns his or her work, and it’s not your role to try to rewrite the essay.

6. Writer whose work has been critiqued may respond to the group or ask any unanswered questions about the essay.

Note: Class members hand their critiques to me so that I can evaluate and note your responses. Responses will count for a significant portion of your participation grade.