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

Writing is hard, and writing an essay that exposes yourself (i.e., a personal essay) is harder still. This book aims to make it easier to write about you in your voice and authentically share your experience. This book distills key ingredients of a compelling personal statement into seven categories. The each of the substantiative chapters explores one of these ingredients.

Each chapter starts with roughly a paragraph introduction, followed by an essay that embodies that characteristic. The author’s response follows the first essay. The chapter ends with half a dozen other essays that showcase the same theme. Prompts for each essay are included at the end of the essay. The layout allows readers to first understand the essay element, then witness its application in essays. In addition, readers can also see how the different elements work together in the various essays.

The table of contents lists not just the essay characteristic, but also the titles of the essays in the chapter. It would be helpful if the table of contents also included the essay prompts for each essay. An easy way to cross-reference the essays would be helpful. Overall, it is an excellent reference for those looking to write personal essays, or needing a nudge to start writing.