Paper 1: Composing: Personal Essay
Some students find it hard to get their heads around the difference between a short
story and a personal essay. If you write a personal essay then YOU aged 17 or 18,
doing the Leaving Certificate, are writing about yourself. You can exaggerate, even
make stuff up, but ultimately you are tied to offering the perspective of a teenager.
If you write a short story, your main character can be anyone – a homeless person,
pilot, animal, drug addict, sportsperson, zombie, baby in the womb, spy, slave, alien
or angel. Yet, personal essays are where you write about yourself. Short stories are
completely fictional and can be set anywhere, anytime and be about anyone.
In Summary:
v A short story has a plot, setting and fictional characters!
v The style of writing is DESCRIPTIVE
v A short story could be ONE EPISODE of a TV series.
Ø A personal essay is a series of related ideas (or personal anecdotes) which
reveal your personality, opinions, memories & feelings.
Ø The style of writing is up to you – you can use descriptive writing in one
paragraph,
Ø rhetorical questions & persuasive writing in another, humour,
exaggeration and reflective writing style in another.
Ø Each paragraph uses ONE core idea/point.
Ø A personal essay COULD NOT be made into a TV series as there is no plot.
When writing a personal essay your personality must take centre stage – your
attitudes, feelings, hopes, desires and beliefs are revealed. The quirkier the better
– the last thing you want is to come across is generally bland and the same as
everyone else in our class!
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