# How to Write a Personal Essay with Joyce Maynard

Canonical URL: <https://www.creativelive.com/classes/how-to-write-a-personal-essay-joyce-maynard>

## Overview

[Bundle this class](/memoir) with How To Write a Full-Length Memoir and save!

How many times have you read the Modern Love column in The New York Times and thought, “Wow, I wish I could write an essay like that!” If you feel you’ve got an incredible story to tell but don’t know how to transform it into a powerful piece that can win a prized spot in the Times or another major publication, this is the class for you.

Celebrated essayist and memoirist Joyce Maynard will take you on a guided journey through the process of writing a kick-ass personal essay that will get you noticed and published.

Maynard will go through the steps of figuring out your big theme, creating a strong outline, identifying the beats of your narrative and writing a compelling column. By the end of this course, you’ll not only have an amazing essay, you’ll have a whole new skill set that will make your writing the best it’s ever been.

In this class, you’ll learn how to:

- Identify a single big idea and weave it through your narrative.
- Focus on a small event or moment to make your abstract theme concrete.
- Build an outline so you can structure your story and identify the beats.
- Figure out the stakes, conflict, discovery, transformation and redemption.
- Create interesting characters and understand their motives.
- Wander off course but not too far—and only for a good reason.
- Add cinematic elements to your story, including a climactic turning point.
- Write a concluding scene that emphasizes your final discovery.

## Instructors

### Joyce Maynard

Joyce Maynard first came to national attention with the publication of her New York Times cover story, “An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life”, in 1972, when she was a freshman at Yale.

## Pricing

**Tuition:** $149