A few years ago, I started to get bored.

I felt like every essay I wrote was exactly the same as the one before. My writing felt dry and uninspired—the same old, same old, same old, same old. The stories were still there, spinning around in my mind, but I just couldn’t figure out a good way to tell any of them.

Enter the Hermit Crab essay.

I bought a book called The Shell Game: Writers Play with Borrowed Form which was a compilation of different essays that took different shapes and forms. There were essays disguised as recipes, manuals, and multiple choice tests, and even just flipping through the book, I felt inspired to start writing. This take on the game MASH was one of my first attempts, but I also played around with it in some Instagram poetry and hid an essay inside an actual well-child check form.

Could you, like me, use some writing inspiration? Do you want to practice playing around with form? Here are some tips and tricks I picked up along the way to help you get started!

What is a Hermit Crab Essay?

Hermit crab essays are essays that use a borrowed form. The options are literally endless. In addition to things like recipes or multiple choice tests, there are also permission slips, daily survival logs, exit interviews, shopping lists, email exchanges, text message group threads, etc., etc., etc. (you get the picture).

What are the benefits of borrowed forms?

It allows us to get out of our own way. When the form leads the way, there are less choices to make about style.
It creates a clear path for voice and humor.
It creates a shared space between the writer and the reader without needing obvious explanation.
It can help us write about the too-big or too-small because it gives us a clear container to put the story in.
It creates white space (the place in our writing that allows the reader to sit and think about what we have said without over-explaining it).

Additional Resources:

Do you want to dig a bit deeper into the Hermit Crab Essay? Here are two of my favorite resources, both of which have helped shape some of my own pieces:

Borrowed Forms in Nonfiction by Kim Adrian (In this piece, Kim Adrian gives some helpful tips to keep in mind when writing a hermit crab essay.)
The Shared Space Between Reader and Writer: A Case Study by Brenda Miller (In this one, Brenda Miller breaks down one of her own Hermit Crab essays, piece by piece.)

Now, Try It!

All that’s left is for you to give it a try. First, start by making a list of all the different forms your writing could take. I’ve already given you a few ideas, but I’m sure you can come up with some more. From there, pick one, and let the form dictate your story. Commit to the form, see where exactly it takes you, and then share what you create so we can all be inspired too!

“[By allowing form to dictate content,] we get out of our own way; we bypass what our intellectual minds have already determined as “our story” and instead become open and available to unexpected images, themes and memories. Also, following the dictates of form gives us creative nonfiction writers a chance to practice using our imaginations, filling in details, and playing with the content to see what kind of effects we can create.”

- Brenda Miller