How to Write a Mini-Essay

The first 500 people to use my link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare:

Mini-Essays are a style of note that blends speed and novelty with the depth you need to understand ideas.

They're an invaluable tool not only for exploring your curiosity, but also for putting in the reps for your writing habit. Write just one or two every day, and in a year, you'll be unrecognizable from the writer you once were.

But how do you get started?

Mini-Essays are a unique format, so it can be tricky to get stuck in. This video offers some rough direction for writing your own, for whatever goals you have. We're all different, and mini-essays have to reflect this by staying flexible, fun and tailor-fit to your approach.

Here I cover:
-Four rules to keep your mini-essays useful (and not a pain in the ass to manage).
-Techniques to write an enticing intro.
-Tips for writing the body text in a clear and logical way.
-How you can wrap it up with a punchy conclusion.
-How you can use storytelling to write mini-essays that make you feel.

Enjoy!

Join the Newsletter:

Other Mini-Essay Video:

Organizing Your Mini-Essays With Obsidian (Zettelkasten):

Art used in thumbnail is 'Ernest' by Roeland Kneepkens

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00-00:27 Mini Essays
00:27-1:16 Personalized Writing
1:16-8:26 The Four Rules of Mini-Essays
8:26-9:04 The Three-Part Structure
9:04-10:35 What Makes a Good Intro?
10:35-13:15 Steal These Intro Styles
13:15-16:10 Writing the Body Text
16:10-17:47 Writing a Powerful Conclusion
17:47-18:03 Newsletter Plug
18:03-20:35 Using Storytelling in Mini-Essays (Story Notes)
20:35-23:43 Storytelling Examples
23:43-23:59 Outro

[rohanbidi]

Two points resonated with me the most -

1. Do not overwrite, just because you are entering more words does not necessarily mean you are transferring more knowledge. I used to be guilty of this in the past, but of late I have been trying to type keeping brevity in mind
2. Conclusion must provide a sense of closure. I think while the headline is what gets people to start reading a text, the conclusion plays an equally important role in cementing the idea in the reader's mind, thereby enabling them to remember it better.

[comegetzome]

My biggest struggle with making an essay on books i read or movies i watch is that eventually, it feels like i'm just rewriting the damn book. It's personally difficult for me to synthesize the points I found interesting in a book without feeling like i'm rewriting the book in my own words. Frankly, the books are always fine as they are. So, in order to limit myself in a way where I still write the things i want to write is very simple: I try to summarize it in 2-3 sentences. This restricts me enough to force myself to write with accuracy & precision. Great video mate. I love writing personal essays despite my challenges with them.

[anegriproductions]

Your videos are just what's needed. Not a second is wasted. I hardly learn anything from youtube lately, yet your videos have provided me with my most important tool since journaling. Mini-essays, however trivial they may seem, are helping me a great deal with sorting out my reflections. I hope you will keep going

[mohcineennoury]

You said one thing which seems very powerful to me when it comes to writing and its limits which is : "even creativity benefits from some level of restriction".

[datbi]

5:19 “System of organization, that makes sense” *shows the entire galaxy*

[TS-furd]

Hey just wanted to say I love your videos, I remember in high school a friend and I always discussed wanting to be polymaths and trying to learn multiple disciplines proficiently. And while it is a struggle it's nice to see someone who shares that same view rather than this constant mind numbing message of just push out content and do stuff to get money. So keep it up and God bless you.

[arnavgautam]

I changed 3 universities before landing on the one I did, then had no friends since the class had already been divided into groups and pairs, I was alone. Every group project I did alone (due to the only people left are freeloaders, most kinds are in some group with their friends).
Knowing the fact that I was isolated, over-pressured with no friends, not even in a degree I wanted to do (I wanted to do Aerospace Engineering, not Computer Science) I quickly went into depression as I saw that after all that, I was not scoring good grades and becoming more & more isolated due to not being a good student. I finally found this one girl who had faith in me (she eventually became my girlfriend) but now in 3rd year of my degree, I discovered your channel and the grades are finally on a upward swing. It is not enough to change much, I am still going to score something equivalent to 2.3 or 2.5 (when converted to American 4-point grading system, the actual GPA on 10-grade point, it is 5.2 right now, expected to go upto 5.5) but at least the grades on an upswing & I wanted to thank you for the help in this journey.

[nivalandia]

“Lacking something hurts in the moment, but it gives room for appreciation when it does come around” - the muse who changed my life 😂

[graphway]

i remember watching your video on mini essays when it came out, it got randomly recommended to me. today, i found out that you made a video talking more about how to write them and, again, because it got randomly recommended to me. going to take it as the universe telling me to try it out lmao.

[alejrandom]

I saw a comment about writing an essay about how to write essays. At first I thought it was a joke, but it's actually a good place to start

[rohithreddy]

11:41 this mini essay is something mentioned in bhagavat geetha that if you do evil you start getting used to it and habitualise it and after a while its impossible to remove it and becomes disease which cant be removed.

[hurricanenila]

Thank goodness the YouTube algorithm brought me to you. I have been struggling with my writing skills ever since I was in high school, even though I wanted to become a writer. I always felt like I did not have the proper structure and learning about grammar always threw me in a loop. Now that I'm in college, I've been wanting to explore writing in different topics and writing mini-essays sounds like the perfect step for a beginner like me.

[sajabell]

I just found you and your videos yesterday, I love the way you use the Zettelkasten and the Mini-Essays, its exactly what i needed, thank you so much for sharing your prosess!
Just wrote my first one, its about this video and writing Mini Essays to improve - I really appreciate this a lot.

[ecavalcantes]

Great video! In Brazil we are trained in school to produce only "mini-essays", ranging from 190 to 220 words, and they are cold, we are not alowed to creat emotion or write metaforicaly. Unfurtunatly we are not encouraged to produce longs essays, like in US.

[zacharynolan]

your videos are oddly exactly how i imagine the tone of the ones i imagine making but never do. i love the candid, informative content. your consistency and drive is paying off. ill join you soon in that! i hope

[ZackWalker-hlie]

Ur straight outta Ravenclaw there bro…. Loved listening to this you employ a manner of speaking which is at once informative and deeply relaxing

[cotteneyebill]

This came at the perfect time. I was just wondering yesterday if you ever made a video about, how to actually write the mini-essay.

Thanks so much for all the inspiration and guidance. I started my daily 1h writing habit last week - thanks to you.

[RadioSpec]

I have been looking for a way to gather thoughts for videos about praising good forms of media (books, shows, movies, etc.) and appraising bad forms as well. This is perfect. Thank you for the work you are putting into your channel sir.

[gilmsgabriel]

Just applied the concept to this video. Now it actually feels like I learnt instead of "eh, I watched a video about it"

[IslamBenzarti]

I came across your channel a few weeks ago, and thanks to you, I discovered Obsidian ( which is an absolute game changer for me) and after watching this video, I got inspired to write notes from books I am reading ( this way I can learn better from what I read).

And I am already subscribed to your newsletter, good job buddy.