Decide on a topic for your essay. For example, you may choose to write about a memory from childhood or adolescence, a unique experience with your family or in your community, or an aspect of history, culture or the arts. You may even choose to write about some aspect of the natural world or the environment. Choose a topic that resonates with you and has strong sensory associations for you, such as specific smells, sounds and tastes.
Write a first draft of your essay as an exploratory draft. Focus on recording the details and the impressions that come to mind as concretely and specifically as possible. Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola, in "Tell It Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction," explain that first drafts should be viewed as "discovery drafts." They note that as you write about the details associated with your topic, the theme for your essay will reveal itself to you.
Read through your first draft and look for the primary theme that emerges from the details that you describe. For example, if you write about traveling to a foreign country for the first time, you may have experienced an unexpected sense of personal vulnerability or you may have discovered the people you encountered were friendlier than you anticipated. Write down this theme at the end of your essay in a sentence or two.
Rewrite the essay to center around your discovered theme. You may need to move around sections of your essay so that you have a compelling beginning, an effective middle and a memorable ending to the essay. Miller and Paola explain that you may not need all the details that were included in the original draft. In fact, you only need to include the details that will best communicate your theme to your readers.
Review and edit your essay to strengthen your use of language. Remove general, vague adjectives and adverbs, such as "beautiful" and "wonderful," and change passive verbs into active ones, such as revising "I was hungry" for "I craved hot pancakes." Then, read your essay aloud to yourself. Laurie Rozakis, in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing," explains that "reading your words aloud helps you pick up bumpy patches and smooth them out."