As with narrative writing, using strong verbs and nouns in your personal essay helps the reader experience the emotional impact of your writing. Using concrete descriptions that incorporate all five senses will energize and engage the reader. Personal essays, however, often contain an element of self-disclosure that is not always present in narrative writing. Personal essays use narrative elements such as sensory detail, but they must not focus exclusively on description or storytelling so that the reader loses focus of why the writer wrote the essay or the writer's opinion on the experience presented in the essay.
The typical structure of a personal essay follows an introduction, then a story or narrative followed by an ending that answers the question set forth in the introduction or that supports the author's opening statement or opinion. Narrative writing in books and short stories can be non-linear and begin in media res, meaning that the author starts the story not at the beginning but in the middle of the action and often fills in the beginning parts later through the use of flashbacks and other literary devices.
Although writers of personal essays have the freedom to communicate their personal opinions with no need to present their thoughts or experiences objectively, they must still convey to the reader a purpose or point of the essay. Narrative writing in books or short stories can be written merely for entertainment value, but personal essays must communicate a purpose in addition to entertainment value. A personal essay must answer the question of "so what?"
The point of view in a personal essay is typically first person, using "I" as the pronoun. Narrative writing includes first person, but can also include third person, second person, omniscient or all-knowing, or it may use multiple points of view. Because of the variation of viewpoints to choose from, narrative writing can show more than one character's point of view.