The Form is the Content, the How is the What

Finding your real subject is just the beginning of the memoirist’s/essayist’s process. Much of the rest is about point of view, proportion, time frame, and the blending of narrative and more reflective elements. The first sentence encodes the DNA of the whole and is not arrived at through reasoned deliberation. So how do we think our way into an essay? Bring the opening page of something that you have been working on.