Seven Secrets to the Perfect Personal Essay

A beloved writing teacher and essayist lays out the rules for crafting a remarkable personal essay, the kind that tells a story, moves readers, and reveals insights into the human condition — the kind that AI can’t write

Everyone has a story, and for Nancy Slonim Aronie, helping people tell their story has been a life mission. In Seven Secrets to the Perfect Personal Essay, she reveals the secrets every aspiring writer needs to tell their own story as a personal narrative that moves, connects, and resonates with readers.

Building on the insights and guidance from her acclaimed Memoir as Medicine, this new guide tackles the short personal essay, providing prompts, direction, and wisdom as well as remarkable examples of her own and others’ writing to inspire and spur potential essayists to get their story down. With warmth, humor, and brutal honesty, she gives readers the inspiration and wisdom they need to write a story that readers won’t forget.

Writers will learn how to:

• begin with a compelling hook (“kill ’em with the first line”)
• build structure into a personal narrative
• use the words and insights of other writers to illustrate their own story
• show honesty and vulnerability in their storytelling

In a culture inundated with auto-generated junk text, a well-crafted personal narrative is more important than ever, a declaration of humanity, meaning, and personal connection.