I would also add that the unique details of a personal experience that only you could possibly know will make personal stories really shine. I often write about difficult times with my daughter who has cerebral palsy. I try to avoid obvious generalized statements about it and instead get into the specifics about how it made me feel or what I saw in the moment.
For example, I once wrote a sentence like "No parent should ever have to see their child intubated once, let alone twice." While true, literally anyone could write that and no-one would argue with them. It's an obviously true sentence, but there's no emotional weight to it. After receiving feedback from a friend, I changed it to a few sentences describing what it felt like to see a plastic tube shoved down my two-day-old daughter's throat in a chaotic room filled with a half-dozen nurses and doctors barking orders at each other. Most people have no idea what that feels like, but the more specific version will make them feel closer to how I did.
Fantastic advice in here, thanks!
I would also add that the unique details of a personal experience that only you could possibly know will make personal stories really shine. I often write about difficult times with my daughter who has cerebral palsy. I try to avoid obvious generalized statements about it and instead get into the specifics about how it made me feel or what I saw in the moment.
For example, I once wrote a sentence like "No parent should ever have to see their child intubated once, let alone twice." While true, literally anyone could write that and no-one would argue with them. It's an obviously true sentence, but there's no emotional weight to it. After receiving feedback from a friend, I changed it to a few sentences describing what it felt like to see a plastic tube shoved down my two-day-old daughter's throat in a chaotic room filled with a half-dozen nurses and doctors barking orders at each other. Most people have no idea what that feels like, but the more specific version will make them feel closer to how I did.
Love that snippet from David Sedaris. I like personal essays and it was a great summation in very few words.