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Sometimes I can be dense when
it comes to realizing the potential of my own life
experiences as essays for magazines. I, of course, fully
believe that everything in my life is newsworthy, but
sometimes have trouble figuring out which experiences will
hit home with other people.
I recently learned the
secret, and it can be summarized in one word: Really?
My friends know that I can
talk. I mean, I can talk! Get me on the phone and Im
likely to tell you all about my day, from my breakfast to
my editors latest comments to my insomnia. I dont inflict
my tendency toward verbosity on everyone, but at least a
few trusted souls get to bear the brunt of my solitary
lifestyle and my need to dish.
Their reactions tell me
whether or not I have the material for a marketable
personal essay.
My all-time best-selling
essay is a simple story about a boy who won a stuffed
animal for his little sister in a crane machine. When I
saw it happen, I was so touched I almost cried. When I
retold it to my mom, the tears welled up again. I got to
the climactic momentAnd then he bent down and gave the
stuffed animal to his little sister and kissed her on the
foreheadand my mom asked, Really? Thats so sweet!
Bing. Really? translates to
Thats a great story.
When I tell mom about the
new toy I bought for my cat, she never asks, Really? She
doesnt press me for details. She probably cant wait for me
to shut up so she can hang up the phone and do something
productive that doesnt involve listening to my escapades
with my cat. But when Ive hit on something that might
actually warrant an article, her reaction wont be a simple
Mmm-hmm, or Thats great. Itll be a question, or a plea to
share more.
The reactions to listen
for, in addition to Really? are:
- Then what happened?
- What did you do?
- How did you (/he/she)
react?
- Tell me more!
- Thats amazing!
- Thats so cool!
A few weeks ago, I was
talking to Jamie Blyth (Im helping to write his book, Fear
Is No Longer My Reality) about how far Ive come in beating
my anxiety disorder. One of the things I mentioned was
that I used to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder
related to food. He wanted to know more. I explained that
I went through a two-year phase where I ate nothing but
canned foods and other food with really long shelf lives.
Really? he asked.
Oh. I hadnt thought about
that phase of mine in quite some time, and had forgotten
that it might be intriguing to people whove never
experienced OCD. OCD as an overall topic has been done
many times, but this detailthe canned foods and my almost
deadly diethasnt. It doesnt belong in a how-to article. It
works because of the telling, because of the personal
nature of the story. And as I sat down to write it, a
beautifully marketable essay formed almost effortlessly.
Think about what details of
your story set it apart from similar stories. Countless
essays have been written about alcoholism, eating
disorders, miscarriage, drug abuse, abusive marriages,
finding God, giving birth... that doesnt mean you cant
tell your story. You just have to find a unique angle, a
new way of telling it, a nugget that people will remember.
The same effortless type of
story formed when I told people how Anthony and I bought
our house. We fell so in love with it that we kept coming
to visit and take pictureswe would sit on the other side
of the lake, facing the owners backyard, and just hug and
dream of what it would be like to live there.
When it came time to make
an offer, we were immediately outbid by thousands of
dollars and couldnt match the price. We went to say
goodbye to the owners, and they told the Realtor to take
it off the marketwe were the people they wanted to live in
the home theyd loved for 40 years. They had seen us from
their back window all the times we came to admire the
house from afar, and they knew we would appreciate the
gardens, the greenhouse, the lake. So they took a loss of
thousands of dollars because they wanted us to live our
dream.
Quick, what was your
reaction to that story? I hope it was Thats amazing!,
because thats the reaction I got from nearly everyone who
heard the story. Within a couple of weeks of moving in, I
sold the essay to A Cup of Comfort and sent the anthology
to the previous owners of the house.
If someones eyes light up
when you tell a story, chances are excellent that theres a
market for it. If one person finds it interesting,
inspiring, hilarious, or moving, others likely will, too.
Consider your friends and
family your test audience. Test out your experiences on
them. If they dont press you for more details, either the
story isnt there, or you need a more compelling way to
tell it.
You can also test by
e-mail; send a few friends a note about a recent
experience of yours and see how many of them react to it.
Note, too, how quickly they react. If they respond right
after reading it, their interest levels are probably high.
If they respond a week later and mention, By the way, that
was a nice story, it likely didnt pass the test.
Personal experiences dont
need to be earth-shattering to be worthy of print. They
just need to be interesting, insightful, and
emotion-provoking in almost any sense of the word. Your
story may make someone happy, mad, upset, horrified,
shocked... as long as you can elicit a strong emotion, you
can draw readers. And editors like writers who can draw
readers.
Go forth and share your
experiences. Personal essays are wonderful gifts to share
with the world. Really!
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About
The Author
Jenna
Glatzer is the editor-in-chief of Absolute
Write (www.absolutewrite.com).
She has written for hundreds of national
and online magazines, and her latest book
is MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE
WRITER, which you can find at www.jennaglatzer.com.
Find out how to get a FREE editors' cheat
sheet with this book!
Copyright
2004 Jenna Glatzer. All rights reserved. |
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