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On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character - P. Lopate


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Phillip Lopate

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On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character

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In personal essays, nothmg is more commonly met than the letter I. I think it a perfectly good word. one no writer should be ashamed to use. Especially is first person legitimate for this fonn, so drawn to the particulars of character and voice. The problem with "l" is nor that it is in bad taste, but that fledg­ ling personal essayists may think they've said or conveyed more than they actually rove with that one syllable. in their minds, that "I" is swarming with background and a lush, sticky past. and an almost too fatal specificity, whereas the reader, encountering it for the first time in a new piece. sees only a slender telephone pole standing in the sentence, trying to catch a few signals to send on. In truth, even the barest "1" holds a whisper of promised engagement, and can suggest a caress in the midst of more stolid language. What it doesn't do. however, is give us a clear picture of who is speaking.

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Aug 14
Melissa E Melissa E (Aug 14 2020 9:48AM) : Introduction more

Lopate’s introduction is both engaging and informative.

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Aug 14
Benny L Benny L (Aug 14 2020 9:58AM) : Inroduction more

With this paragraph the author tells what writers try and use “I” for and explains why the word “I” can be a problem.

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Aug 14
Iysis S Iysis S (Aug 14 2020 10:14AM) : Introduction more

Phillip Lopate speaks on the letter I and what it does for a nonfiction personal essay, and manages to do it in a way that’s engaging, including use of figurative language.

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Aug 14
Melissa E Melissa E (Aug 14 2020 9:49AM) : The "I" of CNF more

I enjoy how Lopate consistently uses the “I” to stand for the writer’s perspective/ego/involvement in their own CNF.

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Aug 14
Ian M Ian M (Aug 14 2020 9:53AM) : Typo more

Misspelled “nothing”

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Aug 14
Melissa E Melissa E (Aug 14 2020 9:57AM) : another typo more

Yeah, the conversion from PDF to this did not go perfectly. There will be a couple of those. I tried to find and fix most, but there was a lot.

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Aug 14
Madison M Madison M (Aug 14 2020 9:55AM) : i always question wether I use I way too much more

This comment makes me more relaxed about using the letter “I” as much as I do

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Aug 14
Ian M Ian M (Aug 14 2020 9:55AM) : grammatical error more

“It” should be it’s

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Aug 14
Amelia W Amelia W (Aug 14 2020 9:55AM) : Error more

I don’t know of the author did this on purpose or he meant it to be imperfect.

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Aug 14
Rayven J Rayven J (Aug 14 2020 9:58AM) : mispunctuation more

They put a period where it doesn’t belong.

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Aug 14
Melissa E Melissa E (Aug 14 2020 9:53AM) : TYPO ALERT more

this should say “have.”

There may be some typos in here because I had to convert it from a PDF, and it was….complicated.

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Aug 14
Dez D Dez D (Aug 14 2020 9:58AM) : This sentence is explaining how the word I is more commonly found in 1st pov which isn't a bad thing
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To do that, the writer needs to build herself into a character. And I use the word character much the same way the fiction writer does. E.M. Forster, m Aspects of the Novel, drew a famous dis­tinction between "flat" and "round" characters-between those fictional personages seen from the outside who acted v.ith the predicable consistency of caricatures, and those whose complexities or teeming inner lives we came to know. But whether the writer chooses to present characters as flat or round, or a combination, the people on the page-it scarcely matters whether they appear in fic­ tion or nonfiction-will need to become knowable enough in their broad outlines to behave "believably," at the same time as free willed enough to intrigue us with surprises. The art of charac­ terization comes down to estabhshing a pattern of habits and actions for the person you are writing about and mtroducing variations into the system. In this respect, bUilding a character is a peda­gogic model, because you are teaching the reader what to expect.

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Aug 14
Alle L Alle L (Aug 14 2020 9:57AM) : Comparison more

I love it when writers compare something to something else, but I especially love it when you’d think both things would nothing to do with each other, until the writer explains the simularity.

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Aug 17
Iysis S Iysis S (Aug 17 2020 9:33AM) : Characterization more

Lopate speaks of building yourself into a character by thinking of it as if it’s a fictional novel, as characterization is normally highlighted and most spoken of in fiction.

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Aug 14
Victoria N Victoria N (Aug 14 2020 9:57AM) : The author is saying that when writing something in your point of you you need not use I which can be isolating but instead build yourself into a character so that the reader will be able to connect to the essay and see deeper into the writers point of vi [Edited]
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Aug 14
Braelyn G Braelyn G (Aug 14 2020 10:00AM) : I feel like this is important because in order for a story to be good, the author needs to act like she is the character to show more of an emotion and thought.
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Aug 14
Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 14 2020 9:55AM) : Write like fiction more

This makes a lot of sense to me. Easley mentioned how many CNF authors are encouraged to write with the urgency of fiction, and I think this is part of that. Make yourself a character, that way you are forced to write about the experience in a manner that communicates it more clearly. Easley again mentioned that because the experiences are so intimate to us, we often do not explain them as clearly, because we know what happened, and what Lopate is suggesting is a solution to that issue.

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Aug 14
Benny L Benny L (Aug 14 2020 10:15AM) : self to Character more

This consept to me is a difficult feat. But it does make sense if you are able to do this, looking at yourself as a character then your story will be claer

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Brooke D Brooke D (Aug 14 2020 9:58AM) : Flat and Round Characters more

I like that they mention that in first person the author has to work harder on what kind of character they want and what will work with the story.

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Aug 14
Alyssa L Alyssa L (Aug 14 2020 9:58AM) : The art of characterization is to make a pattern of habits an action for the character.
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So how do you tum yourself into a character? First of all, you need to have-or acquire-some distance from yourself. If you are so panicked by any e:xamination of your flaws that all you can do is sputter defensively when you feel yourself attacked, you are not going to get very far in the writing of personal essays. You need to be able to see yourself from the ceiling: to know, for instance, how you are coming across in social situations, and to assess accurately when you are charming, and when you seem pushy, mousy, or ridiculous. From the viewpoint of honest essay writing, it is just as unsatisfactorily distorting to underrate yourself all the time, and think you are far less effective than you actually are. than to give yourself too much credit. The pOint is to begin to take inventory of yourself so that you can present that self to the reader as a specific, legible character.

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Aug 14
Amelia Z Amelia Z (Aug 14 2020 7:14AM) : Important more

It’s important to distance yourself from yourself when writing to show the full picture

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Aug 17
Mary B Mary B (Aug 17 2020 6:31AM) : info more

This is saying what you have to do in order to write a personal essay.

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Aug 14
Amelia Z Amelia Z (Aug 14 2020 7:14AM) : enjoyable. more

I think this sentence makes a good point about how a lot of us try to only showcase the best parts of ourselves when what makes us us is the worst parts

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Aug 14
Braelyn G Braelyn G (Aug 14 2020 7:14AM) : I absolutely agree with this because you have to really go in depth with your feelings when it comes to a personal essay so the reader can feel how you feel.
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Aug 14
Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 14 2020 7:15AM) : Distancing onself more

You can not write an accurate or engaging story if you are trying to defend and justify yourself or your actions at every turn. Your flaws are what make you interesting. I agree.

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Aug 14
Brooke D Brooke D (Aug 14 2020 7:16AM) : Perfection more

Don’t put yourself on a high pedestal or make yourself seem perfect. And always expose flaws and take responsibility of them

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Aug 18
Serenity S Serenity S (Aug 18 2020 10:49PM) : "You need to be able to see yourself from the ceiling" Interesting take on explaining to see yourself as who you really are, or how people see you in different situations.
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Riley G Riley G (Aug 14 2020 7:12AM) : Relates the idea of building a realistic yet fictional character to when you are writing with yourself as the main protagonist and using the same tools. [Edited]

A good place to start is your quirks. These are the idiosyncracies, stubborn tics, antisocial man­nerisms, and so on that set you apart from the majority of your fellowmen. There will be more than enough time later to assen your common humanity, or better yet, to let the reader make the mental bridge berween your oddities and those of everyone else. But to establish credibility, you would do well to resist coming across at first as absolutely average. Who wants to read abom that bland crea­ ture, the regular Joe? The mistake many beginning essayists make is to try so hard to be likable and nice, to fit in, that the reader, craving stronger stuff (at the very least, a tone of authority), gets bored. Literature IS not a place for conformists, organization men. The skills of the kaffeeklatsch­ restrainmg one's expressiveness, rounding out one's edges, sparing everyone's feelings-will not work as well on the page.

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Aug 14
Mary B Mary B (Aug 14 2020 10:12AM) : You need to not be afraid of being yourself in your writing. more

You need to allow yourself to write abut things that your scared to write about because that is where you are able to connect. Most times when your scared to write about something, it’s because you have lived it and experienced it.

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Aug 14
Amelia Z Amelia Z (Aug 14 2020 10:11AM) : this is a call out
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Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 14 2020 10:13AM) : This connects to writing like fiction [Edited] more

This connects to writing with the urgency of fiction. The reader does not know you, just like they do not know your story, but you know yourself and your story so intimately, and so you have to translate yourself, make yourself a caricature so that the reader understands who you are. Just like you have to translate your story into reader “speak”.

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Amelia Z Amelia Z (Aug 14 2020 10:12AM) : Important? more

I think this is an important thing for readers to have. A lot of my favorite books have characters I feel like I can connect to, or have a “mental bridge” with

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The irony is that most of us suspect-no. we know-that underneath it all we are common as din. But we may still need to maximize that pitiful set of quirks, those small differences that seem to set us apart from others, and project them theatrically, the way actors work with singularities in their physical appearances or vocal textures. In order to tum ourselves into characters, we need to dramatize ourselves. I don't mean inventing or adding colorful traits that aren't true; I mean posi­tioning those that are already in us under the most clearly focused. sharply defined light. It's a sub­tractive process: you need to cut away the inessentials, and highlight just those features in your personality that lead to the most intense contradictions or ambivalence.

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Aug 17
Iysis S Iysis S (Aug 17 2020 9:44AM) : Dramatization more

Lopate speaks of despite most people being rather common, a lot of people have differences that make them unique and instead of having to make up traits, it’s best to dramatize unique traits that are already possessed.

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Aug 17
Gracie L Gracie L (Aug 17 2020 9:36AM) : Din?
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Melissa E Melissa E (Aug 17 2020 9:41AM) : Typo more

supposed to be SIN*

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Melissa E Melissa E (Aug 17 2020 9:47AM) : DIRT more

my bad, it’s dirt

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Aug 17
Benny L Benny L (Aug 17 2020 9:44AM) : What we writers think of our selves more

As much as I hate it, I have to admit that this is true. When I sometimes look at my quirk or traits I due tend to not see any thing worth writing about or anything I want to write about

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Aug 17
Timothy P Timothy P (Aug 17 2020 9:41AM) : It brings an interesting point that if you really think about it, most characters of good stories have their already existing emotions dramatized.
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Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 17 2020 9:45AM) : Characters more

Yes! I think this also ties in again to writing like fiction. Fictitious characters usually aren’t perfect and that’s what makes them seem human and interesting! Make yourself a character.

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Braelyn G Braelyn G (Aug 17 2020 9:41AM) : I feel like this is what some of the authors do to make their stories more interesting.
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Alyssa L Alyssa L (Aug 17 2020 9:42AM) : To make ourselves a character we have make our personality dramatic so we din't be boring
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Aug 17
Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 17 2020 9:43AM) : You're boring, and that's okay because you can fix it more

He’s effectively advocating to sell yourself like an infomercial. Pick out the flaws and the interesting bits and tell the reader. “You can get THREE flaws, YES THREE, for only $100.99” “That means you get short temper, Stubbornness, ANND PERFECTIONISM”. You are the sum of your flaws in the story, and that is okay, because your mess-ups and mistakes are what make you interesting. The reader doesn’t want perfect, they want to be interested. You are common, your flaws are interesting. Market those.

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India B India B (Aug 17 2020 9:45AM) : Point out the flaws in yourself and know your characteristics more

In order to form a good story you have to point out the parts of yourself that you probably don’t like but others might be able to relate. Don’t make yourself unbelievable but own up to your flaws and characteristics.

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Aug 17
Riley G Riley G (Aug 17 2020 9:40AM) : This is an important sentence as it separates from the idea that you would have to make up traits to have them be interesting, a common misconception.
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Brooke D Brooke D (Aug 17 2020 9:42AM) : Situation more

The author does a great job of pointing this out and conveying it,you have to put yourself in a situation where the quirk is in conflict with the situation.

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Mary B Mary B (Aug 17 2020 9:39AM) : info more

This is how you crate depth and and make you characters interesting even if you sometimes don’t look that interesting.

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Aug 17
Amelia Z Amelia Z (Aug 17 2020 9:41AM) : lit more

I think this is an interesting approach, and this really highlights the importance of being able to separate yourself from your character. I think we have a tendency to talk about a lot of different aspects of ourselves, except for the core ones, so subtracting is really the way to go.

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Victoria N Victoria N (Aug 17 2020 9:42AM) : Make yourself stand out more

Make yourself interesting and focus on what make you you so you don’t seem boring and basic

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seane p seane p (Aug 17 2020 9:43AM) : I feel like this could be good advice to find yourself and set yourself as a specific character for people to remember when reading your stories.

An essay needs conflict, JUST as a short Story does. Without conflict, your essay will drift into static mode, repeating your mltial observation in a self-satisfied way. What gives an essay dynamism is the need to work out some problem, especially a problem that is not easily resolved. Fortunately, human beings are conflicted animals. so there IS no shortage of tensions that won't go away. Good essayists know how to select a topic in advance that will generate enough spark in itself, and how to frame the topic so that it will neither be too ambitious nor too slight-so that its scale will be appropriate for satisfying exploration, If you are serenely unconflicted when you first sit down to write an essay, you may find yourself running Out of steam. If you take on a problem that is too philosophlcally large or historically convoluted, you may choke on the details and give up.

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Benny L Benny L (Aug 17 2020 9:42AM) : No Conflict = Static Story more

I agree with this 100% as a reader I find myself needing something like a conflict in some way becuase without one I do find that thise reads tend to be a bit dull

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Alle L Alle L (Aug 17 2020 9:42AM) : Been there... more

This has happened to me before, while I was writing a story. There wasn’t any conflict for a while, and it started to get boring to write.

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Iysis S Iysis S (Aug 17 2020 9:45AM) : Conflict more

He speaks of the need for conflict in a personal essay just like a fictional story would need conflict. Without conflict there would be no problem to solve therefore a really basic, boring one dimensional story.

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Aug 17
Amelia Z Amelia Z (Aug 17 2020 9:38AM) : "static mode" more

I think this is a good way to phrase it.

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Gracie L Gracie L (Aug 17 2020 9:39AM) : Mltial?
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Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 17 2020 9:40AM) : Conflict more

Conflict is a necessity for the reader, there is no real story without it. AGAIN! WRITING LIKE FICTION.

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Aug 17
Benny L Benny L (Aug 17 2020 9:45AM) : real stories need conflict more

This is true if I askes anyones that has ever read a story did it have a good conflict they would nine times out of ten say yes.

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Rayven J Rayven J (Aug 17 2020 9:41AM) : conflict more

I never realized how boring something can be without conflict.

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Aug 17
Alle L Alle L (Aug 17 2020 9:44AM) : "static mode" more

When I read that, my mind instantly went to TV static.

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Aug 17
Alyssa L Alyssa L (Aug 17 2020 9:45AM) : Everything needs a conflict so it doesn't get boring.
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Ian M Ian M (Aug 17 2020 9:45AM) : Parts of a story more

This is an explanation of parts of a story w conflict being a key component.

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Aug 17
Dez D Dez D (Aug 17 2020 9:50AM) : This isn't saying a essay/story should be full of drama but don't try and hide the honest truth because if s story has no conflict it would be boring to read.
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Gracie L Gracie L (Aug 17 2020 9:41AM) : He's saying to select a topic for an essay that creates its own conflict more

I think he’s also saying that an essay is not a writing about a conflict, its more of a conflict that you explore with your words.

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Braelyn G Braelyn G (Aug 17 2020 9:44AM) : This is true because in order for your essay to be good you have to be motivated to write or else you're going to be stuck.
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Aug 17
India B India B (Aug 17 2020 9:41AM) : Don't make your conflict too strong to the point that you get lost into perfecting the details. more

As writers we tend to get caught up in the idea of a making the perfect character and the perfect conflict resolution that we lose creativity in the little details

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Brooke D Brooke D (Aug 17 2020 9:45AM) : Finding Balance more

I agree with the author don’t bite off more than you can chew and don’t do to little. Find a balance between a conflict that is interesting but not something too hard.

Still. these are technical issues, and 1am inclined to think that what stands in the way of most personal essays is not technique but psychology: The emotional preparedness. if you will, to be honest and open to exposure.

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The student essayist is tom between two contrasting extremes:

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A. "1 am so weird that 1could never tell on the page what is really, secretly going on in my mind."

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Aug 17
Benny L Benny L (Aug 17 2020 9:52AM) : Werid People are more

This I agree but I do have to say weird can sometimes be good. I think, maybe

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Aug 17
Benny L Benny L (Aug 17 2020 9:55AM) : Werid people can sometimes have another view of them selves. more

I am an example of the crazy and weird. Now yes some of us might think this is true, but once we get to know ourselves more we find that the wrid and crazy is just fun and adventures and very emotional

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Aug 17
Alle L Alle L (Aug 17 2020 9:57AM) : . more

I have CONSTANTLY had to deal with this while writing. My characters are usually out of the ordinary, so it’s kinda weird to pick into their brain and write what they’re thinking.

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Aug 17
India B India B (Aug 17 2020 9:58AM) : Embrace it more

Everyone has a “weird” side whether they admit it or not. Sometimes writing out your thoughts could help the next person gather up the courage to admit they’re weird quirky traits.

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Aug 17
Amelia W Amelia W (Aug 17 2020 10:04AM) : Replying to India more

I completely agree because you’re right that everyone does have that weird side and don’t want to embrace as they should.

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Aug 17
Amelia Z Amelia Z (Aug 17 2020 9:53AM) : ~quirky~ more

this gives me the “i’m a weirdo” speech from riverdale vibes

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Aug 17
Brooke D Brooke D (Aug 17 2020 9:57AM) : so convoluted that you feel like the ideas are not getting accurately translated onto the page

B. "1 am so boring, nothing ever happens to me out of the ordinary, so who would want to read about me?"

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Aug 17
Mary B Mary B (Aug 17 2020 9:57AM) : relatable more

i think that most people start at this place as write, I know I did, and you need someone to look at you and say “this is cool” or “I never would of geuess you do that” in order for some people, really me, to see my life as anything other than mundane.

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Brooke D Brooke D (Aug 17 2020 9:59AM) : Relatable more

Ordinary lives are more relatable so more people would want to read about it. Something that you think is boring about you, could be interesting to someone else.

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Aug 17
Timothy P Timothy P (Aug 17 2020 10:00AM) : This speaks to me on so many levels. more

Who really wants to right stories about their personal life if we think it’s boring since we see the extremes of people’s lives all the time.

Both extremes are rooted in shame, and both reflect a lack of worldliness. The first response ("I am so weird") exaggerates how isolated one is in one's "wicked" thoughts, instead of recognizing everyone has strange, surreal, immoral notions. The second response ("My life is so boring or I'm so boring") requires a reeducation so that the student essayists can be brought to acknowl­edge just those moments in the day, in their loves and friendships, in their family dynamics, in historical moments, in their interactions with the natural world, that remain genuinely per­plexmg, vexing, luminous, unresolved. In short, they must be nudged to recognize that life remains a mystery-even one's own so-called boring life. They must also be taught to recognize the charm of the ordinary: that daily life that has nourished some of the most enduring essays.

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Aug 17
Alyssa L Alyssa L (Aug 17 2020 9:56AM) : no one is truly ever not interesting people just think that out of self pity
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Aug 17
Benny L Benny L (Aug 17 2020 9:57AM) : The truth is in the writing more

This is true, but also in the sense that we weird people sometimes take the most smallest detail and in our head it becomes such an exagerated weird thing that even we find it weird and shameful

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Aug 17
Iysis S Iysis S (Aug 17 2020 10:00AM) : Daily Life more

In this paragraph, Lopate speaks of how basically there’s charm in the daily life and one who may think they’re so out of the ordinary may not realize that a lot of people are secretly like them. Just as well as people who think they’re boring may not realize that they’re actually perceived as mysterious. Daily life is a helpful tool in personal essays, just as how I could speak of how my daily life at one point was being completely alone for three weeks in a Houston apartment, catching rides from a random family for band camp.

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Aug 17
seane p seane p (Aug 17 2020 10:03AM) : Life [Edited] more

What I get from this paragraph is to stop locking yourself in your thoughts thinking about only you and look around at how many others you can relate with vice versa. To also see how interesting daily life can really be when you look at it.

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Aug 17
Amelia Z Amelia Z (Aug 17 2020 9:52AM) : ~shame~ more

in this household we thought-shame ourselves

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Aug 17
Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 17 2020 9:58AM) : Emo more

Thought-shame the reader too, might make a good story.

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Aug 17
Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 17 2020 9:54AM) : HE roasted all of us more

He’s basically saying that both stem from being unaware of the people and the world you exist in.

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Aug 17
Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 17 2020 9:56AM) : Emo children [Edited] more

This feels like the mentality that a lot of people have, where they are “too strange” to ever communicate their thoughts and emotions, but it’s really just a lack of awareness, especially in relation to other people’s emotions. Narcissism? Maybe. Like gosh darn PATRICIA we get it you’re different, now write about it so that we can read it and relate to it.

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Aug 17
Gracie L Gracie L (Aug 17 2020 10:00AM) : Here, the writer is illustrating a direct contrast between the way a writer should and should not think.
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Aug 17
Madison M Madison M (Aug 17 2020 10:01AM) : my thoughts more

the author is basically saying thougts like this can stop a writer from writing something people might actally like but the negative thoughts are holding them back

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Aug 17
Mary B Mary B (Aug 17 2020 10:02AM) : being weird of cool more

I don’t know is this is just my experience, but in my house if someone calls you weird or a-weirdo we respond by saying thanks. We take pride in it. I think that most people who see themselves as weird think they are alone and that’s the least true thing I’ve ever heard.

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Aug 17
Riley G Riley G (Aug 17 2020 9:57AM) : The author does a good job of showing the multiple ways a person learning to write must keep their balance, from their interest in themselves and their quirks to the interest or non interest a person can have in their work itself.
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Aug 17
Braelyn G Braelyn G (Aug 17 2020 9:58AM) : I agree with this because even if people's lives are boring it tends to have some spark in it.
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Aug 17
Gracie L Gracie L (Aug 17 2020 10:01AM) : "There's always a conflict to write about" basically
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Aug 17
Dez D Dez D (Aug 17 2020 10:00AM) : When writing people must understand that not everything must contain drama or action, you have to learn to focus on the regular day struggles of life itself without something extreme happening.
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Aug 17
India B India B (Aug 17 2020 10:01AM) : Write about it more

Everyday life is what makes us the same. We have different experiences everyday but sometimes many other people might’ve been in the same situation or felt the same emotion. There is beauty in everyday life

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Aug 19
Serenity S Serenity S (Aug 19 2020 1:58AM) : Interesting to think that a simple day written into an essay actually can be interesting. Although almost every person does value the simple things in life, it is how we are.

The use of literary or other models can be a great help in invoking life's mystery 1 like to remmd myself, as well as my students, of the tonal extremes available to us. It is useful to know we can rant as much as Dostoyevsky's Underground Man or Celine's narrators, that we can speak-as the poet Mayakovski says-"At the Top of My Voice." That we can be passionate as Hazlitt and Baldwm, or even whine, the way Joan Didion sometimes does, albeit with self-aware humor. It is useful to remind students, enamored of David Lynch or Quentin Taramino movies, that some of that bizarre sensibility can find a place in their essays-that "outlaw" culture does not have to be left outside the schoolhouse. At the same time, it is necessary to introduce them to the sane, thoughtful, considered, responsible essayists like George Orwell or E.B. White, From both sets of models we can then choose how reasonable or hysterical we want to come across at any time: in one pIece, seem the soul of reason; in another, a step away from the loony bin.

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Aug 17
Benny L Benny L (Aug 17 2020 9:59AM) : A writer's mystery more

There are some many different ways to write the writing let us not forget that.

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Mining our quirks is only the beginning of turning ourselves into characters. We are distin­guishing one from another as much by our pasts, the set of circumstances we are born into, as by the challenges we have encountered along the way, and how we choose to resolve them, given our stations in life. It means something very different to have been born the second-oldest boy in an upper-middle-class Korean family that emigrated from Seoul to Los Angeles than to have been born the youngest female in a poor Southern Baptist household of nine.

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Ethnicity, gender, religion, class, geography, politics: these are all strong determinants in the development of character. Sometimes they can be made too much of, as in the worst kind of "iden­tity politics," which seeks to explain away all the intangibles of a human being's destiny by this or that social oppression. But we must be bold in working with these categories as starting points: be not afraid to meditate on our membership in this or that community, and the degree to which It has or has not formed us.

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When you are writing a memoir, you can set up these categories and assess their imponance one by one, and go on from there. When you write personal essays, however, you can never assume that your readers will know a thing about your background, regardless of how many times you have explained it in previous essays. So you must become deft at inserting that information swiftly and casually-"l was born in Brooklyn, New York, of working-class parents"-and not worry about the fact that it may be redundant to your regular readers, if you're lucky enough to have any. In one essay. you may decide to make a big thing of your religious training and very little of your family background: in another, just the opposite; but in each new essay, it would be a good idea to tell the reader both. simply because this son of information will help to build you into a character.

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Aug 18
Karvarius C Karvarius C (Aug 18 2020 10:16AM) : Tells you what you're supposed to do
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In this sense. the personal essayist must be like a Journalist. who respects the obligation to get in the basic orienting facts-the who, what, where, when, and why-as close to the top of every story as possible.

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So now you have sketched yourself to the reader as a person of a certain age, sex, ethnic and religious background. class,and region, possessing a set of quirks, follies, strengths, and peculiarties. Are you yet a character? Maybe not: not until you have soldered your relationship "With the reader, by springing vividly into his mind, so that everything your "I" says and does on the page seems somehow-oddly-piquantly-characteristic. The reader must find you amusing (there, I've said it). Amusing enough to follow you, no matter what essay topic you propose. Whether you are writing this time on world peace or a bar of soap, readers must sense qUickly from the first para­graph that you are gomg to keep them engaged. The trouble is that you cannot amuse the reader unless you are already self-amused. And here we come to one of the main stumbling blocks placed before the writing of personal essays: self-hatred.

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It is an observable fact that most people don't like themselves, in spite of being, for the most part, decent enough human beigs-certainly not war criminals-and in spite of the many self-help books urging us to befriend and think positively about ourselves. Why this self-dislike should be so prevalent is a matter that would require the best sociological and psychoanalytic minds to elucidate; all I can say, from my vantage point as a teacher and anthologist of the personal essay, is that an odor of self-disgust mars many performances in this genre and keeps many would-be practitioners from developing into full-fledged professionals. They exhibit a form of stuttenng, of never being able to get past the inital superficial self-presentation and diving into the wreck of one's personality with gusto.

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The proper alternative to self-dislike is not being pleased with oneself-a smugness equally distasteful to the reader-but being curious about oneself. Such self-curiosity (of which Montaigne, the father of the essay. was the greatest exemplar) can only grow out of that detachment or distance from oneself about which I spoke earlier.

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Aug 18
India B India B (Aug 18 2020 10:16AM) : Getting a better understanding of yourself. more

Many have so much self doubt that they fail to realize some of the things they are capable of. If you don’t have a good understanding of yourself when writing you will begin to get the bigger picture of who you are.

I am convinced that self-amusement is a discipline that can be learned; it can be practiced even by people (such as myself) who have at times a strong self-dislike or at least self-mistrust. I may be tired of myself in everyday life, but once I start narrating a situation or set of ideas on the page, I begin to see my "I" in a comic light. and I maneuver him so that he will best amuse the reader. My "I" is not me, entirely, but a character drawn from aspects of myself in somewhat the same way (less stylized or bold, perhaps) that Chaplin drew the Uttle Fellow or Jerry Lewis modeled the arrested-development goofball from their experiences. I am willing to let my "I" take his pratfalls; maintaining one's dignity should not be a paramount issue in personal essays. But first must come the urge to entertain the reader. From that lmpulse everything else follows.

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Aug 18
Lauren B Lauren B (Aug 18 2020 10:12AM) : Amusement more

I agree with what he is saying here. Knowing your flaws and being vaguely amused by them is possibly the best way to function with self-hatred, especially in writing. This is also pretty helpful. Maybe it’s because if you can laugh at yourself, it’s easier to write about that.

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There is also considerable character development in expressing your opinions, prejudices, half­ baked ideas, etc., etc., provided you are willing to analyze the flaws in your thinking and to enter­tain arguments against your hobbyhorses and not be too solemn about it all. The essay thrives on daring, darting flights of thought. You must get in the habit of inviting, not censoring, your most far-fetched, mischievous notions, because even if they prove cockeyed, they may point to an ele­ment of truth that would otherwise be inaccessible. When, for instance. I wrote my essay "Against Joie de Vivre," I knew on some level that it was an indefensible position, but I wanted to see how far I could get in taking a curmudgeonly stance against the pursuit of happiness And indeed, it struck a chord of recognition in many readers because lots of us are "so glad to be unhappy," at least as much as we "want to be happy." (To quote two old songs.)

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Aug 18
Brooke D Brooke D (Aug 18 2020 10:15AM) : Being Honest more

By making a dark side or a more unconventional side to a character it makes the character more relatable and therefore likeable.

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Finally, it would do well for personal essayists to follow another rule of fiction writers, who tell you that if you want to reveal someones character, actions speak louder than words. Give vour "I" something to do. It's fine to be privy to all of "I"'s ruminations and cerebral nuances, but conciouness can only take us so far in the illumination of character. Particularly if you are writ­ing a memoir essay, with chronology and narrative, it is often liberating to have the "I" step beyond the observer role and be implicated crucially in the overall action. How many memoir pieces suffer from a self-righteous setup: the writer telling a Story in which Mr. or Ms. "I" is the passive recipient of the world's cruelty, the character's first exposure to racism or betrayal, say. There is something off-putting about a nonfiction story in which the "1" character is right and all the others wrong, the "I" infinitely more sinned against than sinning. By showing our complicity in the world's stock of sorrow, we convince the reader of our reality and even gain his sympathy.

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Aug 18
Alle L Alle L (Aug 18 2020 10:13AM) : "Giving Your 'I' Something to Do." more

I wish I could do more with this. I have problems putting everything “I” want to do in a single, normal sentence.

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How much more complicated and alive is George Orwell's younger self, the "1" in "Such, Such Were the Joys" for having admitted he snitched on his classmates, or James Baldwin's "I" in "Notes of a Native Son," for acknowledging how close he came to the edge with his rages about racism in restaurants. Character is not just a question of sensibility: there are hard choices to be made when a person is put under pressure. And it's in having made the wrong choice, curiously enough, that we are made all the more aware of our freedom and potential for humanity. So it is that remorse is often the staning point for good personal essays, whose working-out brings the necessary self­ forgiveness (not to mention self-amusement) to outgrow shame.

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1 have not touched on some other requirements of the personal essay, such as the need to go beyond the self's quandaries, through research or contextualization, to bring back news of the larger world. Nor have I spoken of the grandeur of the so-called formal essay. Yet even when "I" plays no part in the language of an essay, a firm sense of personality can warm the voice of the impersonal essay narrator. When we read Dr. Johnson and Edmund Wilson and Lionel Trilling, for instance, we feel that we know them as fully developed characters in their own essays, regardless of their not referring personally to themselves.

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The need thus exists to make oneself into a character, whether the essay uses a first- or third­- person narrative voice. 1would further maintain that this process of turning oneself into a character is not self-absorbed navel gazing, but rather a potential release from narcissism. It means you have achieved sufficient distance to begin to see yourself in the round: a necessary precondition to tran­ scending the ego---or at least writing personal essays that can touch other people.

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Aug 18
Rayven J Rayven J (Aug 18 2020 10:14AM) : pov more

i feel like i would an example of how to do it third period because struggle with writing in pov most.

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DMU Timestamp: July 23, 2020 19:52

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Aug 14
Melissa E Melissa E (Aug 14 2020 9:47AM) : About the Author more

Phillip Lopate is a proud curmudgeon and has earned a large following. His CNF craft work is widely lauded.

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Aug 14
Madison M Madison M (Aug 14 2020 9:56AM) : a tip [Edited] more

this is more of a tip to me while writing this would be good advice for someone whos writing

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Aug 14
Alle L Alle L (Aug 14 2020 10:13AM) : The Regular Joe? more

The writer makes an excellent point with that question. It really makes you think about stuff you’ve probably read of in the past, and if that character was really interesting.

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Aug 17
Madison M Madison M (Aug 17 2020 9:41AM) : making the essay intresting more

the author is saying how you can have conlfict in an essay because most writers wouldn’t think about using it. this is a really good tip

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Aug 17
Madison M Madison M (Aug 17 2020 9:45AM) : a good point more

the author is saying that when writing you should present yourslef in a dramtic manner

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Aug 17
isiah H isiah H (Aug 17 2020 9:48AM) : I think its trying to say just be yourself and dont try to be something or someone your not
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