Personal Essays

Author and podcast host Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts discusses how exploring personal joy led her to write her new essay collection, Black Joy.

In this post, we look at what a hermit crab essay is, including what makes it different from other types of essays and when writers may prefer to use this style.

In this post, we look at what a graphic essay is, including what makes it different from other types of essays and when writers may prefer to use this style.

When writing real-life events, including interviews and first-hand accounts can enhance the writing. Here, author and essayist Hasanthika Sirisena shares two tups for adding reportage and cultural criticism into personal essays and memoirs.

In this post, we look at what a fragmented essay is, including what makes it different from other types of essays and when writers may prefer to use this style.

Here are a few tips for writing personal essays from the Publishing Insights column of the March/April 2021 issue of Writer's Digest.

The Writer's Digest team has witnessed many writing mistakes over the years, so we started this series to help identify them for other writers (along with correction strategies). This week's writing mistake is undermining your expertise in self-help writing.

Author Rajani LaRocca shares how she went from selling one middle-grade novel to releasing six books in a single year.

It's never too late to start your writing career. Shawn Nocher, author of A Hand to Hold in Deep Water, shares her journey.

While plenty of eulogies are delivered by a clergy member, the perspective provided by a close friend or family member can retell cherished memories of the deceased. If you find yourself needing to pen one, let this advice by Paul Vachon guide you.

No one can decide whether showing your memoir to loved ones before it goes to press is the right choice for you. However, if you're planning to approach your friends and family about it, let memoirist Ronit Plank give you 3 tips for doing so.

In this post, we look at what a personal essay (also known as the narrative essay) is, including what makes it different from other types of fiction and nonfiction writing, examples of effective personal essays, and more.

Novelist Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau describes what it was like to transition from writing in French (her native language) to publishing her debut YA novel in English.

Want to write for WD? Here are editor tips on how to submit to one of our most popular columns, 5-Minute Memoir.

Author Timothy Miller explains how his novel came together as he was recovering from a major medical incident—and how dedication to a story can make miracles happen.

Nonfiction author Mary Beth Sammons explores the questions that cause us to learn more about our ancestries and what we learn about ourselves and each other when we do so.

Danielle M. Wong believed that her story would be entirely free from her unwanted personal experiences and emotional obstacles—but learned a better approach along the way.

Follow these 9 simple steps for writing what you already know, and you could get your big break—and a paycheck to match—faster than you might think.