Writers are judged, in part, in how unique the subject matter of the essay is. For example, caring for family members with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia is a topic I see a lot with the essays. It’s a heartbreaking thing to go through, and a lot of us here can relate to it within our own families. But to effectively write an essay about it, you should consider your essay’s approach, and in addition to how it has affected you personally, what you want your reader’s takeaway to be.
Carolyn Campbell took first place in the WOW! Q2 2024 Contest with her essay, “Blinking Lessons,” where she penned such lines in a list format as, “When your dad asks you to come back east because your mother has lost her mind in ways it can no longer be found, don’t blink. Pack. Fly. Drive.” Or “When your mother asks, “Are you the lady from church coming to take me for a ride?” it’s okay to blink. She’s kind to strangers.”
I also read a lot about trauma in essay submissions, and I’ve used creative nonfiction myself to try and process trauma and frightening things that have happened in my own life. But it’s one thing to share 1,000 words of trauma on a page, and it’s another thing to organize it creatively in a way that leaves the reader impacted personally by the end. When I read “The Fist,” by Julie Lockhart, I loved the way she chose to structure it as a police report (also known as a hermit crab essay).
Once I read the essay, which was a runner up in the Q3 2024 Contest, I completely understood why the suspect in the incident was listed simply as “The Fist.” She so succinctly described the mob mentality that can prove so dangerous, in this case, at the site of a campground with two rambunctious adolescent young men riding ATV’s and how the “crowd” were sure her husband was responsible for one of the boys wrecking his vehicle. It brought to mind other incidents featuring mob mentality in our collective history, like what happened in the aftermath of the Rodney King trial in the 1990s and most recently, the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Being a true crime writer, Tess Kelly’s “A Good Guy,” from the Q3 2024 Contest, struck me because I believe we all have people in our lives with deep, dark secrets, and we wonder if a person with violent tendencies can ever really change. Another essay that stood out to me a few years ago was “The Trailer,” by Mary Jumbelic, who wrote about entering the home of a 12-year-old suicide victim during her job as a county medical examiner. The details she shared about what she found inside the home and how she envisioned the boy spending the last hours of his day made were haunting.
Other things that make an essay stand out are creative structure (I especially love essays arranged in recipe form!), sensory details, perspective, powerful opening and closing sentences, and a story that either makes me laugh out loud, nod vigorously, or shed a few tears.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you think makes a great essay.
Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer and host/creator of the true crime podcast, Missing in the Carolinas.
What excellent examples! I only wish I was as capable. Hats off to everyone who writes amazing essays.
ReplyDeleteMy first instinct was that emotion makes a great essay but I've altered my answer. Emotion is the start of many essays but what makes them great is shaping those emotions into something more. Raw emotion isn't enough. We have to examine it and decide what makes that emotion, that experience important.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Renee! Thank you for highlighting all of those amazing essays!
ReplyDeleteTo me, the most important element that makes an essay great is a “shift”--either a shift in the narrator or a shift in the reader’s understanding. It doesn’t have to be a major character change or arc, although that’s wonderful; it can be more subtle. The writer can even play with metaphor to make the meaning shift from beginning to end. But without it or a bigger theme, the piece could become an anecdote, and then there’s the “So what?” question.
Another important element is a great narrative voice that fits the tone of the piece. Emotion, like Jodi mentioned, is always good, and the author has the choice of whether they want it shown by the character on the page, which creates empathy in the reader, or to leave emotion off the page, which makes the reader feel the emotion instead.
Other elements like choosing the best story container to fit your story’s theme and pacing are super important in CNF. A good balance of scene vs exposition and backstory, sensory detail, characterization, and more will enhance the reading experience, but I personally love those shifts because they create surprise in the reader.
To apply these elements to the pieces you mentioned above, Carolyn’s narrative voice made “Blinking Lessons” a standout--her instructions and deadpan delivery, use of second person, and the repetition of When at the beginning of each paragraph. Julie implements a shift in “The Fist,” where you think it’s about recounting this traumatic event, but it’s really about how the trauma strengthened the couple’s love. Tess’s essay “A Good Guy” also uses a shift, her perception of what it means to be a “good guy,” and how if her friend could kill someone, anyone could. In “The Trailer,” Mary leaves the emotion off the page and recounts all the tragic details, down to the note, which creates a chilling experience for the reader.