- The meditative essay, invented by Michel de Montaigne in the 16th century. In a personal essay, the writer is the focus but in a meditative essay, the topic is the focus.
- Creative criticism. Offers a deep reading of a text to uncover personal and human experience.
- The narrative essay. Tells a story for readers’ entertainment or catharsis, distinguished from personal essays that include anecdotes.
- The opinion essays, which ponder as much as they persuade.
- The feature essay. Mostly adjacent to the standard editorial feature essay, except often contains elements of the personal essay.
From What Does It Mean to Write on Substack?, Sarah Fay