What is an essay? For the moment, try thinking of an essay as a nonfiction piece of writing that contains a [[point of view]]. It is not a fictional story, and it is not a strictly factual report. It is an attempt to think through a question that may have more than one possible answer. Your voice is welcome in it. You can use “I” pronouns if you wish. We write essays not just to communicate a conclusion to others, but to make our own thinking more clear to ourselves. It is, as [Penny Kittle says](https://www.heinemann.com/products/e07817.aspx), “one writer’s views or wonderings, [...] written to make readers consider their own.” As [one of my favorite bloggers puts it](https://asundayofliberty.com/2025/10/09/a-correspondence-course/), “A topic addressed to *someone* sharpens judgment, trims digressions, and gives each sentence a target.” The word “essay” comes from a french verb meaning “to try,” which we’re going to do if you’re up for it—*try* to expand the boundaries of what an essay can be, while striving for clarity and integrity at every step of the process. This powerful, flexible form of writing is often at its best when it juxtaposes the personal, the factual, and the imaginative. > [!info]- What if we zoom in on the verb… > _(stress on the second syllable)_ _formal_ “many essayed to travel that way”: ATTEMPT, make an attempt at, try, strive, aim, venture, endeavor, seek, set out, do one’s best, do all one can, do one’s utmost, make an effort, make every effort, spare no effort, give one’s all, take it on oneself; have a go at, undertake, embark on, try one’s hand at, try out, take on; informal give it a whirl, give it one’s best shot, go all out, pull out all the stops, bend over backwards, knock oneself out, bust a gut, break one’s neck, move heaven and earth, have a crack at, have a shot at, have a stab at. ## First, browse through and read some of the suggested [[mentor texts for writing essays]]. ### Then, try doing one or more of the [[assignments for essays]]. You may wish to start by throwing away much of what we know about writing essays: I don’t want you to tell me what you’re going to tell me; I’d rather you just start telling me. I don’t want a hamburger. I don’t want you to shoehorn in a bunch of conspicuous transition phrases. I don’t want you to be afraid to say “I.” I don’t want you to tell me what “this quote proves.” I don’t want you to not have any fun. I don’t want you to perfectly balance logos, ethos, and pathos. Unless you want to. I don’t want you to be 100% certain that you’re right and someone else is wrong. Unless you are, and they are. But think about it. Promise me you’ll go back and think about it. I don’t want you to be afraid of words, of yourself, of other people’s voices, of your own voice, of being wrong, of looking foolish, of not having enough to say, or of not having anyone to say it to.  I want you to accidentally write something astonishing. I want you to let go of “writing” an “essay,” and fall in love with words, while really trying to explain, describe, explore, question, complain about, celebrate, or commemorate something, even if you aren’t yet sure what that something even is. I want you to make a dance, a fight, and a game out of finding [the words to say it](https://thatsthespir.it/of/nicolas-boileau-despreaux/whatever-is-well-conceived-is-clearly-said-and-the-words-to-say-it-flow-with-ease). You’re welcome to write a real essay, not a “school” essay. Look up all the different meanings of essay, and you can boil them down to this: TRY.  Let’s make delicious fish food for the invisible extraterrestrial magic trout that for some reason is fascinated by all the boring stuff we humans think and talk and dream about all day. Let’s make [a cup for another to drink from](https://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/tag/antonio-machado/). If someone demands to know why, you can ask ’em right back: You wanted me to learn creative writing, right? What good would it do you or me if I were to bully you into rewriting the same essay you've probably written dozens of times in your school career so far, if you don’t really have anything to say? I believe you do have something to say, and I don’t know what it is (yet). But you do. Or you will, if you give it a little time, attention, and love. Look, as your “teacher,” I can’t promise you I’ll always be right, or that my ideas will be any better than yours. No matter what I say, I’m going to leave out something important. But that’s OK, it just means I get to keep trying. And so do you.  In conclusion, please don’t end your essays by saying “In conclusion....” And that concludes (for now) my introductory essay about writing essays. This is merely the surface of the [ice shelf](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/antarctica-life-under-ice). Let’s be penguins and dive down and see what else we can find.