A modern type of creative nonfiction is The Hermit Crab Essay which changes its form and takes another form from something different. The type was named, ‘hermit crab’ as it uses a vacant shell to use as its own home. The essay used to take its structure from another material, which might be a recipe, a dictionary, or even a list for shopping!

What is Hermit Crab Essay

The hermit Crab Essay is a method for writers to implement their creative experiments and structures to challenge their critical unique thinking power and convey their expertise to tell a story or deliver their words via different perspectives.

A very popular example of a hermit crab essay is “The Meanderings of the Boothbay Harbor Sewer Commissioner” by Annie Dillard. In this essay, the paper turns into a government report. Additionally, another famous example is the, “In Praise of the Listserv” by Brenda Miller, which changes to the form of an email thread.

Hermit Crab Essay Examples

A hermit crab essay is a type of creative nonfiction that takes on the form or structure of something else, such as a recipe, instruction manual or guide, or legal contract. Here are a few examples of hermit crab essays:

1. “How to Make a Baked Alaska” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil: In this essay, Nezhukumatathil uses the recipe format to explore her mixed-race heritage and the complexities of identity.

2. “The Language of the Game” by John McPhee: This essay takes the form of a glossary of baseball terms, but through each definition, McPhee explores the deeper meanings and cultural significance of America’s national pastime.

3. “The Fourth State of Matter” by Jo Ann Beard: This essay takes its structure from a scientific report, but through the details of a workplace shooting, Beard explores grief, trauma, and the complexities of human emotion.

4. “Legal Fictions” by Thalia Field: In this essay, Field takes the form of a legal brief to examine the history of her own family and how their stories have been shaped and erased by the legal system.

5. “The Body Paragraphs” by Elena Passarello: This essay takes the form of a five-paragraph essay, but each paragraph focuses on a different part of Elvis Presley’s body, allowing Passarello to explore his life and legacy from a unique angle.

These essays all use unconventional structures to explore complex topics and ideas, showing the power and versatility of the hermit crab essay form.

How to Write a Hermit Crab Essay

The hermit crab essay is an innovative form of writing creative nonfiction, in this type of essay the structure of the essay takes the face from something else. To write a hermit crab essay you have to follow a few steps to make it stand a wonderful essay. Here are the steps to write a hermit crab essay;

01. Decide a structure: The first thing that you must do before writing something is, you have to be clear about what is going to be the structure of your writing. And when it comes to writing a hermit crab essay it is mandatory to have a structure to borrow the main form. 

02. Select your topic: After finalizing your essay structure, you will need to find out and select the topic of your essay. It might be something like a life experience, historical; event, scientific thought school, or anything beyond.

03. Implement the structure in the essay: Now you are ready to implement your borrowed structure in your essay. Make the structure to frame your selected topic and guide the reader through your tone of telling.

04. Use creativity: A hermit crab essay is born from the writer’s imagination and creativity. So to write a successful hermit crab essay you have to dare and try your ideas and different structures, don’t be afraid to take risks in your writing as the risks can bring out something.

05. Editorial revision: Like all other writings, a hermit crab essay needs a couple of rounds of editing and revision. If you have finished writing your first draft, go to the starting and read it thoroughly with your critical eyes. Check it again if there is any portion that could be improved, or if there are any mistakes or inconveniences in the story flow. Try to make things more unique and creative, be aware of the language you have used, and try to add attractive details.

Remember, a hermit crab essay is totally about taking a common structure and taking it into a unique, and creative form. The process requires experimentation and a strong sixth sense of imagination. You can write a successful reader-catching hermit crab essay if you can think out of the box.

Hermit Crab Essay Ideas

Now we will give you some common ideas that have been popularly used to write hermit crab essays, those are talked about below;

1. A recipe: A popular pattern to write a hermit crab essay is the recipe shield. The writer uses a recipe to talk about an experience, like a family tradition, a holiday celebration, or cooking a favorite dish. Give a list of all ingredients, details step-by-step instructions, and personal anecdotes to make the essay not only informative but also engaging.

2. A user manual or guide: Use the structure of a user manual or guide to explore a personal habit, ritual, or hobby. Include sections on “Installation,” “Operation,” “Maintenance,” and “Troubleshooting,” and use humor and anecdotes to make the essay both informative and entertaining.

3. A legal paper or paper: Use the structure of a legal paper, such as a contract or a brief, to explore a personal or cultural issue, such as identity, heritage, or injustice. Use legal jargon and formatting to give the essay a formal tone, and include personal anecdotes and historical context to give it depth.

4. A scientific report or invention: Use the structure of a scientific report to explore a personal or cultural experience, such as a trip, a hobby, or a natural phenomenon. Include sections on “Introduction,” “Methods,” “Results,” and “Discussion,” and use descriptive language and personal anecdotes to make the essay both informative and engaging.

5. A personal experience: Use the tone of a personal experience, such as a dating profile or a classified experience, to express a personal or cultural issue, such as loneliness, connection, or community. Apply proper humor and self-deprecation to make the essay both relatable and entertaining, also try to include personal anecdotes and philosophical musings to make it deeply meaningful.

A Natural History of the North American Hermit Crab Essay

The hermit crab essay is a very new form to write creative nonfiction that has gotten into the spotlight in recent years. It is a classification of essays, in that the writer brings the main character from a different or irrelevant object to tell the story and convey his idea to others. It is like the hermit crab is used as a metaphor to write the essay, and the writer takes the shell or cover of something else to introduce a new character or new individual. 

Finding inside the history, the hermit crab essay can be tracked in the 1970s, which was the first time when the term, ‘hermit crab’ was introduced in the writings and the literature society. But though it was introduced in the 1970s, it didn’t get well known in the market before the 1990s and early 2000s. Brenda Miller, one of the pioneer writers of the hermit crab essay, used the theme of a grocery list to tell a story about her mother’s passing away in her essay named,” We Regret to Inform You.”

This was the start after the hermit crab essay started to get popularity as a form of creative nonfiction. Writers started to use a wide variety of structures to make their subject matter. Some popular examples of borrowed structures were the recipe, the diary entries, the obituary, and the instruction manuals.

The style of hermit crab essay was commonly used to express personal life experiences and incidents, but it was also used for large social issues or exploring scientific concepts. It is a form that gives the writers the access to be playful and experiment with different types of thoughts in their writing. As the writers get the facility to cover the actual soul inside another unexpected object so it could talk about things that a common person can not easily talk about.

The hermit crab essay is a unique method of creative writing that is obtaining high popularity in recent times. By using the facility to cover the main topic inside another genre, writers take a stand for some valuable and essential talks. The process of the hermit crab is essential to take the creativity inside the writers.

Can a Hermit Crab Essay Be a Play?

Yes, of course, a hermit crab essay can be a play event it can become a superhit.

Depending on the hermit crab essay template a hermit crab essay can be a creative play. The hermit crab essay is a methodology of writing an essay or story that covers the real character behind another unexpected object, most of the time so irrelevant. The writer has to showcase his creativity in thinking and expressing logical words via an unexpected face.

If the hermit crab essay is written successfully and the production is well skilled then it can become a successful play too. There are a lot of examples of successful plays made over hermit crab essays.

For example the play,” The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” by Writer Mike Daisey. This play was based on Daisey’s experience of investigating the working conditions at Apple’s industries in China. This story he wrote using the form of a monologue for his one-man show.

Another example is the play, “The Moth Radio Hour” which was based on the popular podcast of the same name. The podcast used to take out true stories told by normal people, and the play adapted those stories into a live performance form.

There are more examples of a hermit crab essay adapted into a play and there are successful plays that have been taken from the inspirations of some hermit crab essays. 

Final Words

Hermit crab essay is a method of writing creative and nonfiction essays by using a cover to hide the lead characters of the essay into a different unexpected objective. There are some common ideas to write a hermit crab essay such as the recipe, user manual, legal document, or scientific reports as the metaphor character.

Though the hermit crab essay form was first introduced back in the 1970s, it got popular during the 1990s to 2000s. Some of the successful plays are also made from the popular hermit crab essays. This is all about the writer’s creativity and critical imagination to present his thoughts to the readers in a different way.