Seven Secrets to the Perfect Personal Essay: Crafting the Story Only You Could Write

by Nancy Slonim Aronie

ISBN: 9781608689309

Published: 2024-10-22

Invaluable advice for writing a knockout essay — for college admissions or self-expression — that moves readers and reveals insights into the human condition Everyone has a story, and helping people tell their stories has been Nancy Slonim Aronie’s life mission. Building on her acclaimed Memoir as Medicine, this new guide tackles the short personal essay. With warmth and humor, Nancy provides prompts, inspiration, and hard-won wisdom to empower you to write an unforgettable narrative. You’ll learn to begin with an irresistible hook (“kill ’em with the first line”) and employ compelling direct quotes, drama, vulnerability, universal themes, and self-reflection to get readers into your corner. Nancy illustrates her advice with remarkable examples of her own and others’ essays. You’ll read about actor Tony Shalhoub’s unlikely canine savior, Kate Taylor’s collaboration with Peter Asher and Elton John in the musical crucible of Los Angeles in 1970, Nancy and her beloved husband’s...