Personal reported essays are journalism with a personal twist.
Interested in journalism but with a personal touch? A personal reported essay allows you to use storytelling to help readers connect emotionally with a topic that is important to you. Your essay will include your own story, a thesis addressing a complicated issue, interviews, and research to support your thesis. In this class, you’ll learn how to write a thesis, structure your essay, find people to interview and reliable facts. You’ll walk away with a strong pitch to send to editors.
In-person class: This workshop will take place at The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh St, Bethesda MD.
In this workshop you’ll learn:
- Learn what makes a personal reported essay and discuss and brainstorm essay ideas. Homework: Read reported essays (provided).
- Explore which ideas are strong and relevant. Discuss balancing our voices with the topic. Homework: draft pitches.
- Workshop pitches in class.
- Outline articles. Think about which outlets would be the best fit for each and explain how pitching works.
- Learn how to find good sources for interviews, how to interview sources, and reliable places to find facts that support your thesis.
Time requirements
- 3-4 hours outside of class.
Materials
- All reading materials will be provided.
Who should take this workshop?
- This workshop is for writers who want to connect their stories with other people’s stories.
If you need an accommodation for this workshop, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.