#1 Create a History

Every person has a past, so it is important to create a past for your character – even if you do not share the entire contents of that past. People evolve over the years because of their experiences and surroundings throughout their lives, and your fictional character is no different, so you need to develop a fictional past for him or her. When you are initially developing a new character, you are getting to know that character, just as your readers will get to know that character when they read your story. It is important to understand why your character will react or make decisions the way that he or she does, so it is important to have a back story that goes along with the personality that has been created for that character over the years.

#2 Show (don’t tell) His or Her Emotions

If you have not heard the phrase now, you will a lot throughout most of your English related courses: show, don’t tell. Simply saying that your character is feeling sad is not a proper description of a realistic character. People don’t feel the same emotions in the same way. Some people cry when they are sad, while others scream or go completely silent. You need to show how your characters are feeling, rather than just say how they are feeling.

Bad Example: Nora became angry after reading the letter. She just couldn’t stand it anymore.

Good Example: Nora’s face became hot after reading the letter. She viciously began to tear                       apart the envelope when she couldn’t look at its content any more.

Showing a character’s emotions through actions lets your readers get a better idea of what kind of personality someone like Nora has.

#3 Give Your Character Habits or Quirks

People are remembered for the little things they do that are different from anyone else, and everyone has something peculiar them that seems unique. Giving an interesting habit or strange quirk lends personality to your character. It can be as small as eating M&Ms all the time, but refusing to eat any other kind of chocolate. Or as big as having your character insist on eating at the exact same restaurant every day, and is thrown off if something disturbs this regimen. Whatever habit or quirk you give your character will allow your readers to get to know him or her better. Sometimes you can give an explanation for the behavior, but you don’t always have to. Either way, your readers will have another reason to think, “Hey, this character is interesting.”

#4 Show Relationships

We can learn a lot about individuals by the way they interact with others. If your character is very sociable, then you should show the character interacting with a lot of random people at work, talking on the phone, and even chatting with strangers on the street. But, if the character is more of a recluse and only has one or two friends, show the bond between those few characters, and maybe even show the uncomfortable feeling that character gets when dealing with new individuals.

#5 Reveal Character’s Hopes, Dreams, Aspirations

People live their lives with a particular purpose. They don’t just go through the motions of school or work without having some reason to do so. If you are going to show that your character is unhappy with his or her job, then be sure to explain why that character continues to keep that job – what is his or her motivation? Is she saving up for a car? Is he trying to pay off a loan? These are the kinds of questions that readers ask about characters who are interesting. And, if you are answering those questions, then your readers are going to enjoy your character and your style of writing that much more.

Step #1 Prewrite

Yes, you hear your instructors tell you all the time to prewrite, but do you ever listen to them? Prewriting (which is listed in another blog) is not just a way to organize your thoughts and get down ideas, it is another way to look at your writing project and force yourself to write. Getting past your writer’s block is often just a matter of looking at your task from a different perspective (or looking around your writer’s block, if you will). If you can brainstorm or outline some ideas for your writing, then you have a better chance at feeling confident and putting your pen to the paper to start writing. With all of the different methods of prewriting, there really isn’t any reason not to use at least one of them when you’re stumped.

Step #2 Write Backwards

Even after the prewriting is finished, you may still feel uncertain how you want to word your thoughts exactly. If that’s the case, jot down your ideas out of order – write the end first and the beginning last if you must. Sometimes your ideas may be scattered, which is why you are having trouble focusing on just one idea. Maybe your mind is blank with your introduction, but you know what you want to write for your body paragraphs. If that is the case, then just skip ahead. Write down whatever good ideas you think you have and reorganize them later.

Step #3 Take Your Opposing Side

If you are really uncomfortable with your topic and feel you have absolutely nothing to write about, then you may want to take yourself out of your own head and put it into someone else’s. This has nothing to do with cheating. You are supposed to write the opposite of what you really feel. Or, think of what other people would say about your subject. It may be easier putting down what you think other people feel or believe than what you actually believe. Your confidence in your own ideas may be what stops your writing. Do not use this technique all of the time though. There are some assignments where you need to give your honest opinion, and this method of breaking writer’s block may not always be suitable.

Step #4 Just Write!

It may sound harsh, but sometimes you just have to force your pen to move on the paper or to have your fingers move across the keyboard. Often people refuse to write anything because they don’t think their ideas or words are good enough. Well, when you’re struggling, writing something is better than writing nothing. Put down whatever comes to mind whether or not you think it sounds good. You can always fix it later, which is how we come to Step 5 in breaking the writer’s block.

Step #5 Walk Away… and Come Back

Sometimes students are just not in the right state-of-mind to write. If there are a bunch of things running through your head, you may need to just set up your writing assignment as best as you can and walk away from it for a while. When you come back to whatever writing you have put down, you may feel more inclined to fix your ideas and even add more ideas down on paper. Depending on how much time you have for your writing, walking away from your assignment for an hour or a full day may be just what you need to come back to your writing and look at your project with a clear head. When you come back to your writing, look it over with a critical eye, as if it were someone else’s paper, and see what you do and do not like about it. And then, take your writing from there. Unless you are taking an in-class essay, this method can be a great way to clear your mind. Otherwise, you’ll have to rely on a different method of break down that writer’s wall.

Matthew Clark Davison is, among other things, a fiction writer, lecturer at San Francisco State University, an Artist Mentor with the San Francisco Performing Arts Workshop, a private writing coach, and teacher of a non-academic writing workshop called The Douglass Street Lab. He also is the Faculty Advisor for the SFSU graduate literary magazine Fourteen Hills. His novel manuscript ROADMAP won the Clark/Gross Novel-in-Progress Contest and was granted a Stonewall Alumni Association Award for excellence. His current novel manuscript, Letters to the Dead, was awarded a Cultural Equities Grant from The City of San Francisco. His short stories have been published in The Atlantic Monthly’s Unbound, 580 Split, and Lodestar Quarterly. These days he teaches eight classes a week, and yet nearly every night he still makes time to write. He agreed to offer some tips for young writers for this second installment of our series on Writing Careers—Real Tips From Real Writers.

What’s your background?

MCD: I discovered writing as a powerful art form in the basement of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco—in a workshop similar to the kind I teach now for Performing Arts Workshop. At the time, I was a gay teenage runaway; a high school dropout. It was San Francisco during the middle of the AIDS pandemic. The women teaching that workshop saw that I had stories to tell, and encouraged me to pursue my education. I earned both my B.A. and M.F.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, where I have been teaching for over ten years. I also have been teaching a private writing workshop called The Lab for the past three years. I am an Artist Mentor with the Performing Arts Workshop, where I teach creative writing and also give feedback to artists about how to improve their pedagogy. I’ve also been a cold-caller, a ESL teacher in Italy, a waiter, and a book-keeper (even though I am severely dyslexic when it comes to numbers.)

You define yourself as a fiction writer, educator and mentor. Who or what inspires you?

MCD: I’m really fascinated by questions that can’t be answered—the unanswerable questions. I’m inspired by everything—by every book I read, by the visual arts, dance, music, nature, exercise, observing people. I’m really interested in fiction that explores self-destruction. I’m endlessly intrigued by the contradictions inherent in the human experience. How passion defies logic. How people destroy themselves when they’ve been given information how not to—and how people sustain themselves when their circumstances seem to have set them up for the opposite. I’m also an amateur photographer. In between big projects, when I have to force myself to write at night, like now, I use the Macbook tool Text Edit, and challenge myself to write until I fill that little four in by four inch space with words. It’s not unlike taking a quick snapshot.

What has the novel process been like for you?

MCD: My recently-completed novel, Letters to the Dead, started as a short story. I called this story my “No, But—” story, because every time I submitted it, the editors would say, “No, we won’t accept this, but do you have anything else?” and then they’d publish the second story I sent. Sometimes the themes need more space to spread out.  Short stories are impossibly difficult to do well. It’s like decorating a tiny space. Novels have more square footage. It took me five years to write my first novel, and three years to write my second novel. I loved the process of it—I started to really think as my character, Janis, as a friend, or an extension of myself. I wrote extensive journals from her point of view. Sometimes I’d be at a party and I’d sneak into a bathroom to write. One time, my cousin asked me my opinion on a restaurant, and I said, “Oh my god, Janis loves that place!”

You’ve taught classes such as the Craft of Fiction for many years. What has teaching taught you about writing?

MCD: Everything. I learned to speak Italian while teaching English; by listening to Italian people make mistakes in their English because they are translating word for word. Teaching is the same thing. In the Craft of Fiction, we do experiments, and with 35 students in the class, patterns emerge in their writing that I can see in my own work. Although it’s the same class every semester, I always assign new stories; I’m always looking for new work. With the Lab, we use art forms outside of creative writing, such as essays and video excerpts and music written by visual artists or architects or musicians or dance choreographers. In this session of The Lab, we used architecture concepts to talk about how plot is formed in fiction and memoir.

What tips can you offer for young writers?

MCD: I would remind them that revision is their friend, not their enemy. That the subject matter has to be interesting to you, and if it’s not, then you need to risk more. I can’t stay interested in any subject long enough to go through the revision process if there’s not some part of the subject that scares me. I’d also say imitate the writers you think are brave. That said, it’s better to be the best you than a bad imitation of someone you admire. Imitating is good as long as your goal is to find your own voice in the process, rather than appropriate someone else’s. Find what you love. Take care of yourself so you can sustain a writing practice. Practice all the time. Read your work out loud. Be open to feedback, but try not to become dependent on it. What you write is up to you.

The Raven, from http://xkcd.com/

By Julia H. Jackson

Imagine that your significant other has recently fallen ill. You are an orphaned adult. Everyone who is close to you is slowly dying of tuberculosis, or as you call it, consumption. You can’t sleep. You fidget. You wait by your writing table and contemplate the slow descent of humanity. And suddenly, there is a knock at your door.

I should mention that you are a sometimes-successful editor of literary magazines. It is 1845.

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.’”

You are Edgar Allan Poe. This is the first stanza of perhaps your most famous poem, The Raven, a poem that English teachers and professors across the globe will soon be expecting students to analyze and understand. And just how exactly are they supposed to do that?

In this second installment of Write Like You Mean It, we offer a few suggestions for digesting such literary classics as Edgar Allan Poe, and invite you to craft Raven-esque poems of your own. Here are three tips to help you break down The Raven:

Context.

Sometimes it is hard to understand older works of literature because the author’s   vocabulary and cultural cues are different from what new readers are used to. If the text appears unrecognizable upon first read, return to the writer’s background and setting. When and where was the author writing? What major historical events were happening? What victories or tragedies were occurring in his or her personal life at that time? In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe was struggling to make ends meet as an editor of literary magazines. He had lost both his parents at a young age, and two years later his wife, a cousin fourteen years his junior, would also die. Given that, the following two lines carry even more weight:

“Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.’”

Terms.

Where is the “Plutonian Shore?” Who is “Pallas,” and why is it important that the raven sits upon his statue? What is a “nepenthe?” You’re a student—use your dictionary. While it certainly  isn’t helpful to look up every other word, it can be useful to note terms that could refer to important historical figures or myths. Poe has constructed this poem carefully, and these key words are little hints to the reader to think critically.

Style.

Poe achieved literary gymnastics with The Raven by writing it in trochaic octameter, a complicated meter that few poets have attempted since. The word “trochaic” refers back to “trochee,” a two-syllable word with emphasis on the first syllable. “Octameter” can be broken down into “octa” (eight) and “meter” (the pace or beat of the poem). As if that weren’t enough, he also use internal rhyme (the middle and third word of the first and third lines of each stanza rhyme; think dreary – weary, etc.), but he also rhymed the second, fourth, fifth and sixth lines rhyme as well (lore, door, more). For a full explanation of Poe’s rhyming scheme, check out this article from Shmoop.com.

Become Poe, Write Your Own.

No wonder Poe was feeling dreary and weary. Poetry is a lot of work! The Raven is an example of a narrative poem, meaning that it has a clear plot and typically uses a set form or meter. Now that you have grasped the cultural context for The Raven, looked up new terms, and examined the stanzas for their literary acrobatics, you are all set to write your own narrative poem. Here are some tips for getting started:

1. Keep it simple. Trochaic octameter is not necessary for telling a good story. If you want to try meter, maybe start with a basic rhyme scheme.
2. Remember that poetry is about word economy. Try writing what you feel in a sentence, and then parsing the idea down to a statement half its length.
3. Metaphors and similes are often more powerful than multi-syllabic adjectives. Instead of saying the sky is dark, say that the sky is spilled coffee. Own your metaphors.

In honor of Halloween, we challenge you to write to your own ravens. Frightened? Never say never –or should we say, nevermore.

What do Jane Austen, sea monsters, high school girls, and zombies have in common? I’ll give you a hint: “bloodline” takes new meaning when classic books are re-envisioned.

In honor of Halloween, we at Eduify have decided to investigate a new phenomenon: the burgeoning popularity of dark humor in popular literature, television and film. And by dark, we are referring to the macabre, sinister, and surprisingly funny sides of human nature. Looking for a way to spruce up your latest English paper? Need a new hook for that short story you’ve always meant to submit? In our first installment of Write Like You Mean It, we offer a creative writing prompt that jumpstarts your approach to writing. Today’s concept: crafting fiction, vis-à-vis elements of humor and horror.

Take a cue from Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Grahame-Smith, whose other credits include The Spider-Man Handbook: The Ultimate Manual and The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies, took an original approach to the Austen classics. Grahame-Smith explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that Austen might have subconsciously outlined “the perfect groundwork for an ultraviolent bone-crushing zombie massacre.” Why not add a little flare to the otherwise polished romantic masterpiece? Novelists, playwrights and poets have made their careers by imitating great works of literature. In the great quest for originality, maybe there is some hidden genius in the injection of monsters into otherwise traditional or realistic stories.

The advent of zombie- and vampire-inspired stories has been growing in the past few decades, including such favorites as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (first films and later a television show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar), True Blood, Twilight, and the new thriller from Diablo Cody, Jennifer’s Body. Many of these stories border the line between comedy, horror, and satire. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright , writers of the self-proclaimed “zombie romantic comedy” Shaun of the Dead, are excellent examples of twenty-first century writers who embrace the relationship between horror and humor. How often do these movies take themselves seriously? Just what exactly does this say about the future of fiction? And when does gratuitous violence become outright silly?

In an interview with the Huffington Post’s Marshall Fine, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody describes her latest film, Jennifer’s Body, as a “horror-thriller-comedy mash-up.” How does one blend such different genres? And why exactly does it work?

Maybe the relationship between humor and horror has to do with an ingrained survival skill; by making light of tragedy or violence, writers like Cody or Grahame-Smith are exposing bloodshed for what it really is: an unnecessary human act.

For the first of our Eduify Write Like You Mean It prompts, we challenge you, fearless readers, to compose a farcical comedy-horror mash-up of your own. How do you do that? Here are some tips to get you started:

1. If you decide to imitate a classic, a la Grahame-Smith, keep in mind the author’s original intent. The advantage to rewriting fiction is that the characters and plot are already sketched out for you; your challenge is to add unique perspective. Maybe Sherlock Holmes’ detective instincts are actually based on a supernatural ability to sniff out vampires. Perhaps the Hunchback of Notre Dame was really just a façade for a revolutionary, flesh-eating monster. The sky’s the limit.
2. In brainstorming your own characters, focus on what each character desperately wants and fears. The link between desire and dread can make for a compelling story; one worthy of mummies or deep sea monsters.
3. Satire is an excellent mixture of knowledge and humor. When crafting a scary scene, see what elements of political or social commentary you can sneak in. It could be as simple as what brand of tennis shoes your villain wears, or what kind of cereal he or she eats for breakfast.
4. Remember that specific details add spice to your story. What color is the sky when Sherlock Holmes gets up in the morning? How many age lines are on his forehead?

Feel free to share your zom-rom-coms with us. For those of you interested in submitting your work, check out magazines such as Zombies Quarterly or 23 House.

By Julia Jackson

When I was a senior in high school, a real live writer came to my English class. She was a successful novelist, a middle-aged woman who later went on to win a series of literary awards. After she spoke about her latest novel, my teacher opened the class up to questions. I raised my hand and asked, “What advice do you have for young people who want to support themselves as writers?”

The author, who has since gone on to become a renowned writer and somewhat of a local hero in my hometown, smiled grimly and said: “Marry rich.” I put my hand down and before I could respond, someone else asked a question. Class resumed and it seemed that no one else was bristling as much as I was. How could this be true? This was the twenty-first century! Surely there were better ways of being a professional writer and a healthy individual in the world. The author both crashed my confidence and instilled a lifelong desire to prove her wrong, all in one fell swoop.

Just how do you become a professional writer? And how do writers combine their technical skills with careers that support themselves? Well, there are a lot of ways to do it. Welcome to Writing Careers: Real Tips from Real Writers. Over the next few weeks, we will be profiling professional writers who work in various media.

Our first featured writer is April Halprin Wayland a farmer turned author. Her newest book, New Year at the Pier—a Rosh Hashanah Story, received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. Her novel in poems, Girl Coming in For a Landing, won Pennsylvania State University’s Lee Bennett Hopkins award for Poetry and the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry. She has written three other books for children: To Rabbittown, The Night Horse, and It’s Not My Turn to Look for Grandma. She’s the co-founder of Authors and Illustrators for Children and of the Children’s Authors Network, has taught in over 400 schools in the United States and abroad, and has been an instructor at UCLA Extension’s Writer’s Program for over a decade. She took time out of her busy schedule to sit down with Eduify and answer some questions about her life as a writer.

What would you define as “good” writing?

AHW: Good writing is writing that tells the author’s deep truth—it’s the author-in-the-raw. I love Anne Lamott’s writing—it’s as if she is standing at the top of a mountain and rips off her shirt, shouting “Look, here are my scars!” As I read about hers, I reach up and touch my own.

It seems that the more embarrassed I am to share something (however disguised as it is in fiction or poetry), the more it strikes a nerve in my readers. My mentor, renowned children’s book author Myra Cohn Livingston, with whom I studied for twelve years, said “Tell me something new. Or tell me something familiar in a new way. Make it fresh.”  When poet Deborah Chandra wrote about a “storm / caught on a paper cone,” I could never look at cotton candy again.

What has been your favorite project? How did you achieve your objective?

AHW: My favorite is always the one I’m working on or the one I just sent off. I just sent off a novel in poems to my agent. My objective was to write something that touches young adults who are struggling with issues of fat, food, faith, friends or family. A pretty broad constituency! I hope I achieved my objective. How? By being honest, honest as I possible could be. Period.

Who or what inspires you?

AHW: I am inspired by great anything—by the layers of greens and grays on the trail I hiked last week, by great writing and funny writing and children’s authors and poets, and also by political cartoons because they are visual haiku; so condensed. I am inspired by the young adult novel When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. I also just finished reading the adult novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett, a rich, satisfying read and her first novel.

Really wonderful mosaics, my mother’s command of classical piano music, original, playful landscaping, songwriters whose words move me, whimsical art, banjo players, business people who think completely outside the box and make me think “Wowee—what a great way to look at that!”

I heard former President Clinton speak recently; he showed me how to think about world problems from a completely different framework.

All of this inspires me.

What tips can you offer young writers?

AHW: 

1) Take a deep breath.

2) Dive down to a place where you’re most embarrassed to go.

3) Bring onto the page what you find there.

4) Turn things on their heads—find a new way of looking at them.

5) Hold nothing back. Be very, very generous to your audience, your teachers, and your  fellow writers.

Know that you’re not alone—we’re all scared. Who do I think I am? Why would anyone listen to what my insane brain is thinking? I’m a fraud and they’re going to pull all the covers off me. Believe me, we all think those same thoughts.

When I had writer’s block one year, someone said to me, “Aspire to be what you’re most afraid to be. I realized I was really afraid of writing something ordinary. So I put a sign on my door that read “Aspire to mediocrity.” And anyone can write mediocre stuff, right? It got me to write again. I do a lot of what I call circling-the-chair—working on everything but my current project—but eventually I settle down. BIC—Bottom-in-chair—is the only way I get work done.

What piece of advice do you wish someone had given you?

AHW: After my first book, To Rabbittown, was published, I discovered that children’s book authors make money by publishing…but also by doing school visits. I love doing school visits—teaching, traveling, and, let’s face it, getting treated like a movie star by teachers and students. So I did a LOT of traveling, speaking, teaching and PR stuff early on.

I wish someone had taken me by the shoulders and said, “Stay in your writing garden, plant more books, don’t jump into the speaking waters so quickly.”

Or, BIC for short.

There you have it—the best way to succeed is to keep your bottom in your chair! April has an excellent wealth of resources for young writers on her website at www.aprilwayland.com. While you’re there, check out her previous publications, as well as her links to literary and political organizations.

Credits:

Illustration: Upside Down: See the World in a New Way drawing by April Halprin Wayland

Photo Credit (top) for picture of April Halprin Wayland. Taken by: Webb Burns

Stay tuned for our next Real Live Writer!

There’s no doubt about it: scholarship essays are a tricky matter to approach. Scholarship competitions often arrive at your doorstep during the last half of the school year, by far the most hectic time in the academic year when students are already bogged down with extracurriculars, final exams, looming end-of-year grades, not to mention stress-inducing standardized tests. More often than not, high-schoolers focus on their “real schoolwork” and procrastinate on the “optional schoolwork” of scholarship applications, to the point where they end up scrambling, up to the final hours, to turn in shoddy, half-hearted applications, essays, and personal statements to a host of scholarship competitions they actually would have had a good chance of winning, had they simply believed in themselves more and taken more time to do a job well done.

There are easy tricks to consider when penning a scholarship essay — a feat which is definitely less challening than students may think. Considering the sheer number of students who write “fluff essays” to scholarship competitions, half-heartedly listing their accomplishments and not ever really investing their full energy into the application process, even putting forth any effort at all immediately puts you above the average crowd. Here are some simple tips on how to channel your inner wunderkind and win that big scholarship, without stretching yourself too thin or causing you too much stress. We promise.

Consider the organization

So what’s the deal with the organization that is giving you this free money? Because it would probably benefit you to do some research. Is this the Alaskan Oceanography Society? Because, if it is, you probably should not write your essay about how you think offshore drilling is a good idea. Is this the National Rifle Association giving you this money? Don’t tell them about your liberal belief that gun control is the only moral way. Be smart, think about where the money is coming from, and sell yourself out. You heard me. Sell yourself out.

Analyze the scholarship application questions and prompts beneath the surface level

Really. It won’t take you take much time to analyze a simple question to a slightly deeper level. If you are willing to walk 10 feet, you might as well go the extra, I don’t know, 5 feet. Although the best thing to do would probably be to take a little more time and walk a mile. Most students are so bored with scholarship essay writing that they spend as little time as they need to, to think of answers to essay prompts that are neither piercing, intellectual, nor remotely interesting. Spend a little more time thinking about the question than you otherwise would. Analyze. Study. Even research, if you need to. A good think will take you a long way when it comes to getting your hands on that cash.

Edit, Edit, Edit

Maybe it’s not a good idea to have your classmate who is applying to the same scholarship edit your essay, but it’s a good idea to show it to a teacher or a parent or a tutor, to get a fresh perspective on what you’ve written. Don’t just write a hasty essay and mail it off to that Impressive Scholarship Committee without having it looked over once, twice, ten times if need be.

Brag

So this scholarship money is supposed to go to the ‘most qualified candidate’ right? So show them how qualified you are! Wow them with your accomplishments, your honors, your academic record. But do it in a graceful way. Don’t boast pompously about how much brighter you are than your lowly peers. Tell the committees, straightforwardly, why you believe that you are a good candidate. Not why they should think you are. Frame it as a personal belief only. And don’t try to be annoyingly modest. False modesty brushes people the wrong way as much as straight-up bragga-lagging, so just be real as possible. Ya heard?

What are 4 things to do on your college visit and 3 things to avoid doing? Read our tips after the jump!

Do socialize

Talk to other students, ask plenty of questions, and most importantly, make sure you stay with a current student during your visit to get a real sense of campus life! As we wrote in 5 things to ask yourself when picking a school, “A variable that often gets overlooked when you apply to school is your inherent personality. Your happiness definitely matters when going off to school, and there is no worse feeling than going to a school you dislike, where you don’t get along with the student body and are unhappy. One thing you have to ask yourself is, in general, what the student body will be like in the ideal school you attend.” It’s important to socialize with other students during your campus visit in order to gauge whether the types of students you meet at the college you are visiting are the type of people you want to spend the next 4 years of your life with.

Do eat

Whether the food is good shouldn’t be one of the bigger deciding factors of choosing a college (because, chances are, the food won’t be good). However, eating at the school cafeterias is a great way to talk to currently enrolled college students. This goes back to our socializing point. Go to the cafeteria, grab a snack, and strike up a conversation with someone. Generally, students are understanding of visiting high schoolers (they were there at one point too!) and are more than happy to answer some general questions. I’m not saying you should monopolize their precious mealtime, but there’s no harm in sparking up a short chat.

Do learn

You are going to school to learn, and the departments and curriculums that interest you are definitely a relevant factor in ultimately picking a school. College visits are a great way to sit in on classes and see/hear what the whole shebang is all about. For those who are extra ambitious, see if you can schedule a meeting with a professor during office hours! Just make sure you have a list of relevant questions in hand as to not waste anyone’s time.

Do explore

Ditch the parentals and go off exploring on your own! This is your college visit and it’s totally your prerogative! BUT, don’t get lost. Make sure you have a map, a guide, or a clear understanding of your surroundings. You don’t want to be THAT high schooler who flies out for their college visit only to get lost in a neighboring town.

Don’t get arrested

It goes without saying that getting arrested or getting caught doing anything illegal should be number one on your “don’t” list. If you are caught before matriculating doing anything of questionable legality, the administration won’t hesitate to rescind your acceptance. Better not take any chances. After all, you’ve worked so hard for the past four years to get in, so it’d be a tragedy to lose it all in an instant.

Don’t be parented

Don’t let your parents dictate your opinion of the campus too much. Say they want you to go to Wharton, but you’re totally set on the Fashion Institute of Technology. It’s your life, your career, and your responsibility to choose the right school for YOU. Their input should be minimal!

Don’t judge

You are on a college visit to gather information, and not to disperse it. Keep an open mind and don’t judge. If you’re a die hard straight edger and you witness some college students getting rowdy at a kegger — keep in mind that they are living their lives according to their own desires, not yours. Likewise, if you are a social butterfly and can’t fathom why the campus is full of science nerds who live in the library — don’t judge. Colleges all come with their own personalities. You are looking for one that you fit in with, not trying to fit them to you. That distinction is crucial if any good is to come out of your visit!

So you’ve been accepted to a university.  It’s smooth sailing from here on out, right?  You’re going to breeze through your senior year, live it up during your last summer at home, and move off to your college town.  It’s a good plan, but if you  actually want it to work, you’re going to have to dodge the senioritis storm.

Though it’s not an actual clinical disease (as the name suggests), senioritis is real.  Perhaps it’s caused by the boost of confidence you get when you receive that college acceptance letter or maybe it’s that there are so many distractions during your senior year…you know, with prom, graduation, and, of course, the parties.  And you should be confident and proud and you should enjoy the festivities that go along with senior year, but it’s important to stay focused on your academic and professional ambitions as well.

Eduify has prepared the following list of things you can do to avoid senioritis and to make the transition into college smooth and seamless.

Balance Your Time

All of the other items on this list are predicated on your having a balanced and well-managed schedule.  Aside from helping you organize your social life, a good day planner will help you stay on track during your busy and often-hectic senior year.  Use a computer program such as Microsoft Outlook to help you manage your time and stay in touch.

Challenge Yourself Academically

You’ve been grinding it out for the last three years so you would be able to take it easy during your senior year.  But, really, what’s another year?  You are, after all,  going to college where the standards are higher and the classes are more difficult, so why not challenge yourself with a couple of classes that will help you prepare your brain for college?  If you take a year off (mentally) from school–which is often a symptom of senioritis–you’re going to have a more difficult time making the transition to college.

Speaking of transitioning to college, why not get a head start by taking some college courses at the local community college?  This is a great way to get some college credit while you’re still in high school.  And you thought you had an open campus when they allowed you to go to McDonald’s for lunch.

Befriend Your Counselor

A big part of your school counselor’s job is to answer your questions about college.  They can be an invaluable resource for you when you’re planning your senior year and post-graduate options.  Among other things, your school counselors can help you figure out your course of study for college;  give you information about college classes that are available to high school students (above); help you find scholarships, financial aid, and student loans; help you fill out college applications; and, perhaps most importantly, they can help you stay on track during your senior year.  As a policy, their doors are always open, so stop in and introduce yourself–you won’t regret it.

Get Some Experience/Volunteer

Though you may not be sure what you want to do as a career or even what your major will be in college, it’s a good idea to get some real-life experience under your belt before you make any long-term commitments. Like animals?  Spend some time volunteering at an animal shelter or by answering phones at a veterinary clinic.  Such experiences will help you decide if you want to make a career out of helping animals.  This, of course, is only one example, but you get the idea.  Your school counselor might be able to help you find an internship at a local company or organization that fits your interests.  Senior year is a great time to explore and discover the options that you are going to have after graduating from college.  Another benefit of work and volunteer experience is that it looks great on a resume.

Extracurricular Activities

Joining student clubs and groups, running for student office, and playing sports are all great ways to stay focused during your senior year, and each, in its own way, will help you develop important skills that will not only help you in college but also in your life after college.  As an added bonus, these activities are great ways to meet new people and make the most of your time in high school.

Here’s a tip: start an online group for your classmates who are planning to go to the same college as you. This is a great way to meet people who are going to be around you for the next four years, and it never hurts to have a friend in a strange place.  Spread the word in your school’s newspaper and on bulletin boards.

All college applications require recommendation letters from your high school teachers. Colleges want to see what your teachers are saying about you, not just to learn about you from a fresh perspective, but also to gauge your personal and academic potential. The great thing is, unlike college professors (who are notoriously stingy with praise when writing graduate school recommendation letters), high school teachers are more than happy to write you letters of recommendation — and highly positive ones to boot. In high school, counselors and teachers want to see students make their way into college, because it reflects on your school and their own job performance if you don’t make your way to college after four strenuous years of school-sponsored education! So don’t fret — getting a letter of recommendation from your professor is as simple as asking the following seven words: Will you write my college recommendation letter?

While it’s simple to score a letter, it’s much less simple to strategically decide which teachers can write you the best letters, ones which show you in your best possible light. Picking the right teachers to compose your letters of recommendation is worth the extra maneuvering, because great letters can really boost your chances of getting into the school of your choice. Here are some useful tips on how to get the best possible letters for you.

Show-off as many positive traits as you can.

If you had your choice between sending two nearly identical recommendation letters, or sending two very different ones, both which identify and display different strengths you possess, you’d obviously pick the latter. One way to show-off is to get two teachers from very different subject areas to write you separate letters of recommendation. So you’re a total lit geek — but you’d be even more impressive if you could also show that in addition to your English skills, you’re also a math wiz! Don’t be afraid to show-off. Even if you can’t ‘do it all,’ there’s no harm in showing that you can ‘do a lot’! And since your teachers are bragging about you on your behalf, you won’t be the one who looks like the show-off, even if you are.

Extracurriculars don’t hurt!

Even if you never took a class from a certain teacher, they can definitely still write you a letter of recommendation if they know you from a certain extracurricular activity. While in high school, I had my debate coach, who was a teacher at my school albeit one whose class I never took, to write my letter of recommendation. Choosing a representative of a school extracurricular as a writer of your rec letters is a smart idea, especially if it can highlight one of your strengths (like debate, athleticism, dance skills, musical skills) that isn’t represented to the full degree in a standard high school class!

Foster working relationships with teachers.

While your teachers will probably all gladly write you a letter of recommendation just from the basis of you having taken one of their classes at some point in your high school career, it’s better to pick teachers who know you well, because they can speak to specific attributes, strengths, and talents, as opposed to writing the ominous generic recommendation letter that college admissions officers are probably so sick of reading day in and day out. In gearing up to send out those college admissions packets, choose teachers who know you well when deciding which ones you want to have write your letters of rec. If you’re the type of person who sits silently in class and feels like no teacher even knows your name, much less knows you well, you still have time to foster relationships with teachers! College juniors, you have your entire first semester of next year to get to know one of your teachers. Sophomores and freshmen, you have even more time than that. Don’t be shy! Teachers love to talk to students in between class periods, and they would be more than happy to provide you mentorship. That’s their job, remember!

Give your teachers plenty of time.

If you want a good letter of recommendation, you need to give your teacher enough time to write you a one. The proper amount of time to give a teacher would be anywhere from three weeks to a month and a half in advance. I suggest notifying them well in advance — by about a month before packets are due to be sent out — just as a matter of courtesy. If your teacher resents you secretly because you popped up last minute begging for a letter of rec, during the busiest time of the school year when they’re buried under papers and tests to grade and compose, they might not write you as shining a letter as they would have, if you’d have given them time. Be smart and be polite: ask in advance!

Don’t be afraid to tell your teachers what to write.

Of course, you can’t force your physics teacher to tell MIT that you’re a rocket scientist if you failed her introductory physics course, but at the very least, you can suggest it. This is not to say that you should fabricate nonexistent attributes just to get into college. But don’t be afraid to ask your teachers to mention something in their letter, if it’s something you definitely want colleges to know. For instance, while I was getting my college rec letters done, I asked a teacher to include in the letter that I was a part of the school paper. I figured my teacher didn’t know that I was involved in that extracurricular, so it would behoove me to tell him.  You should definitely not be shy to do the same for yourself. Your teachers don’t know everything about you. They only view you from a limited light. Providing them with extra, pertinent information about yourself and your abilities is a smart way to get that information included in your letters of recommendation.