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Every Kickass Personal Essay Has This One Thing in Common
And sometimes a bonus that makes it even more powerful
When a friend first mentioned the words “personal essay,” I instantly pictured a flowery story about self — or one’s reflection on ladybirds’ reproductive habits, right after analysing the reason behind the differing number of spots on their wings.
In my mind, it almost resembled an extended social media caption — something I lost interest in reading years ago.
I stick with fiction, thanks, I wanted to say. Or any story, really. It can be non-fiction, but no self-advertising, please.
Then I read a piece on this platform written by Linda Caroll, and everything I’d thought about writing until then shifted. I fell in love with her work. Her article about an online friend who’d passed away, stayed with me long after I finished reading. How can words do that to you? It was raw. I remember sitting in my living room, weeping over someone I hadn’t known or met — yet his death broke my heart.
Linda is one of those writers who can write about anything vividly. Possibly even the evolutionary adaptation of ladybirds — and her piece would still leave you an emotional train wreck. She is the reason I started writing personal essays myself.
