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

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 adventures in polyamory, and much more.

In a culture increasingly inundated with generic AI-generated text, a well-crafted personal narrative is more important than ever, a declaration of human connection and meaning. Use Nancy’s secrets to stand out from the crowd and get your one-of-a-kind story onto the page.

Nancy Slonim Aronie is the founder of the Chilmark Writing Workshop on Martha’s Vineyard and the author of Memoir as Medicine and Writing from the Heart. A regular commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered, Aronie has taught at Harvard University and conducted writing workshops and lectures at Kripalu, Omega, Esalen, Rowe Conference Center, Wainwright House, and the Open Center in New York City. She was a visiting writer at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and a recipient of the Eye of the Beholder Artist in Residence Award from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. She lives with her husband on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

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