#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.

Although many students don’t like the idea of doing extra work before they actually start their homework, writing an impressive essay actually requires putting in a little extra effort prior to putting  together a final draft. Prewriting techniques involve warming up your – the student’s – brain, organizing ideas, and setting up a plan before diving straight into writing a composition. It may take just a little extra time, but you will find that if you practice some prewriting  before every essay you write, your papers will be better written overall, which will in effect give a better overall grade. Ten or fifteen minutes of extra work may be the difference between a B and an A grade for your paper. And, with all of the different techniques you can use to prewrite, there really is no excuse not to use at least one of them.

Brainstorming

Writing down every idea that is related to your topic in a list form is one of the simplest forms of prewriting, which is called brainstorming. The great thing about brainstorming is that you can put anything in the list that pops into your head. If your topic is on birds and you have random thoughts like,

-They fly

-They’re pretty

-They squawk

-They poop on people’s heads

All of those things would be fine because your brainstorming ideas are related to your topic on birds.

Mapping, Clustering, Bubbling, Webbing

It has several different names, but whatever you want to call it, it is one of the quickest ways to organize ideas in a fun manner. Circling ideas and linking the related ones that surround your main idea is a messy way to be organized… which ends up feeling a lot more enjoyable than most homework does. And, since your related ideas are clustered together, your separate body paragraphs are already prepared for you. What’s better than a prewriting technique that’s fun and easy?

Free Writing

There is nothing more freeing than knowing you can write whatever you want without worrying about grammar, spelling, structure, or coherence. That is the joy of free writing – you are free to make mistakes and write whatever you want. The trick is to force yourself to continually keep your pen on the paper and write whatever thought comes to mind, while trying to think of your essay’s subject. You may go off topic at times, but that is okay. You do not want to stop or correct your free writing because you may lose a train of thought that could be useful to you later. Just force yourself to keep writing, and you will eventually have enough material to use in your composition. By reading over your free writing afterwards, you should highlight or underline any ideas you find useful to your essay.

Outlining

Although outlining is more structured than other forms of prewriting, it is a very useful format to use in order to have your essay organized prior to writing your essay, which was explained in a previous “how-to” (see “Writing Outlines”). Outlines also help your essay stay on topic. By outlining your body paragraphs with their specific points, it is easy to just refer to your ideas written in your outline before you begin writing your composition.

Asking Questions

Sometimes the only way students will work is if they feel they are being forced to. Asking yourself questions is a way to make yourself feel forced into coming up with ideas for your essay. The standard reporter’s questions – Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? – are great ways to begin asking yourself questions about your topic. If you are still writing a composition about birds, ask yourself, “Who likes birds?” or “What kinds of birds are there?” or “Where do birds live?” Obviously, you can bend these questions to your own needs; these are just ways to force yourself into coming up with answers that will inevitably lead to ideas for your essay.

“I believe in putting the horror in the mind of the audience and not necessarily on the screen.” – Alfred Hitchcock, in an interview with BBC reporter Huw Wheldon, May 5, 1965.

In 1954, notable director Alfred Hitchcock and screenwriter John Michael Hayes sat down to adapt the Cornell Woolrich short story “It Had to Be Murder” into Rear Window, what later became one of the most renowned films in American history. The original story featured only three characters: injured journalist L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries, his girlfriend Stella, and Lars Thorwald, Jeff’s neighbor, who he suspects has murdered his wife. Hitchcock and Hayes expanded Woolrich’s world to include a star-studded cast (featuring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly), a complete Greenwich-style apartment complex, and a minimal score by Franz Waxman. Somehow, Hitchcock and his team created a  suspense-driven universe that played on themes of isolation, voyeurism, and romance. Just how did they do it? In today’s Write Like You Mean It, we’ll share some of Hitchcock’s own personal philosophies for creating a Window of your own.

First, one of the first trailers for Hitchcock’s “masterpiece thriller:”

Hitchcock was known for his signature cinematography—the montages, wide panning shots, close-ups on characters, and dramatic angles for effect. Rear Window works as the perfect example for Hitchcock’s use of character, perspective, and setting to create suspense.

CHARACTER

Jeff, the film’s main character, is defined by his inability to move. The audience learns a lot about Jeff in the first introductory shots of his apartment; he camera slinks along Jeff’s bookshelf, where there are photos of an auto accident, and then focuses on his broken leg. He zooms in on a broken camera, copies of Jeff’s magazine, and draws in very close to a picture of Stella. Already, viewers can sense an innate conflict, and the possibility of romance.

Because Jeff can’t walk, he avoids his feelings of inadequacy by instead focusing on other people’s lives. The entirety of Rear Window is shot from a spectator’s perspective, which gives the film its nosey, dangerous feel, as if Hitchcock is letting the audience in on a secret. Perhaps he is suggesting a reality that most people wouldn’t care to admit: that in times of trouble, it is always easier to focus on other people’s problems.

PERSPECTIVE

Hitchcock got his start in silent films, a medium that required a strong visual sensibility to create narrative. He understood that the people can demonstrate a lot about themselves in the way they observe and react to their surroundings. Rear Window epitomizes this first-person perspective because the viewers are simultaneously observing Jeff’s neighbors while they see Jeff’s reaction to his outside world. When his neighbors discover that their dog has been killed, the camera jumps from an image of the dog being raised to the couple’s balcony in a basket to a shot of Jeff’s face. Jeff doesn’t say anything; instead, Hitchcock focused on the juxtaposition of Jeff’s physical reaction to the dog’s death.

One of Hitchcock’s methods for establishing drama is when he breaks from Jeff’s perspective. Because the majority of the film is seen through his eyes, the few moments when the camera turns and focuses its lens on Jeff itself are often the most thrilling.  One could interpret this as sudden personal scrutiny: in watching a film, we too have become voyeurs, and when the camera turns,  we are forced to recognize ourselves. In one scene, Jeff has fallen asleep in front of his open window. The camera turns outside, where viewers can witness the drama going on across the courtyard. Hitchcock is revealing a part of the story to the viewers that his own protagonist can’t see. He referred to this as revealing “information.” In his 1964 interview with BBC reporter Huw Wheldon, he says:

“One’s challenged by the audience. They’re saying to me ‘show us’ and ‘I know what’s coming next’… and I say, ‘do you?’ And therefore, that’s the avoidance of the cliché automatically.”

SETTING

Rear Window is set in an apartment complex in Greenwich Village with buildings that face each other across a courtyard. The entire set was constructed in Paramount Studios, where the apartments were carefully designed so the lights and sound would reflect back to Jeff’s view. Hitchcock had decided against a huge Hollywood music score, and although Waxman’s score was important, he supplemented it with background sounds that were heard across the courtyard. Miss Torso’s dance routines and the pianist’s daily practicing become important dramatic elements.

The script had originally included a scene with Jeff and his boss in his office, but Hitchcock later scrapped it because the drama was so defined by the apartment complex setting. The story is cemented in place, much like Jeff, which furthers the film’s sense of isolation.

TIPS, A LA HITCHCOCK

Few writers or directors have influenced visual storytelling as much as Alfred Hitchcock. Are you a budding cinematographer? Aspiring screenwriter? Here are some tips to get you started:

1)    Onscreen, storytelling is visual. It is important to have strong dialogue, but remember to let your characters speak without words. Take a note from Jimmy Stewart and let the characters pause, react, and think before acting.

2)    Trust your audience. Invite them in to the life of the story, even (or especially) if the protagonist doesn’t know.

3)    Humor is key. Many writers maintain that there is an important relationship between humor and suspense—both trigger physical, emotional responses.

What is your favorite Hitchcock Film?

If you have trouble grasping the meaning of poetry (don’t worry, you’re not alone), a good first step is to paraphrase the poem. Think of paraphrasing as translating the symbolic language of poetry into the concrete language of prose. This exercise, in which you’re essentially re-writing the poem in your own words, will help you grasp the meaning of the poem you’re analyzing.

Once you understand what the poem is saying—or, at least, sort of understand—you can start analyzing how the poem is saying it.

Rhyme and Meter

Rhyme and meter are two very important rhythmic elements of poetry. Rhyming words occur at the ends of lines and very often follow a set pattern throughout the entire poem. Many poetic forms, such as the Shakespearean Sonnet (link), have easily recognizable rhyming schemes. A poem’s meter, too, is often determined by the form in which it is written. The Shakespearean sonnet is written primarily in Iambic Pentameter, which consists of five (pent) iambs—metrical feet of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Iambic Pentameter was thought by Shakespeare to be the natural rhythm of the human voice and thus the most beautiful and harmonious. As you can see, simply identifying the rhyming scheme and meter of a poem may help you gather other information about the poem and even about the poet; for instance, you may be able to determine by whom the poet was influenced and in what tradition he or she was writing.

Speaker and Subject

A poem is narrative, and thus it has a voice. Identifying this voice—or speaker—in the poem you’re analyzing is an important task because it tells you from whose perspective the poem is written. It is very easy to assume that the speaker in the poem is the poet himself or herself, but we should be wary about jumping to such hasty conclusions. When trying to identify the speaker, assume nothing about his or her identity, but ask questions: Is the speaker a man or a woman? Is he or she young or old? Follow these same steps when trying to identify the subject— the person or the object that the speaker is addressing in the poem.

Diction

Poetry generally uses fewer words than does prose, and, as a result, every word in a poem carries more significance. Thus, an important part of analyzing poetry is analyzing the words themselves. How does the poet use the words? Why does he or she use this word rather than that word? How do the words sound when read out loud? How do the words in the line, the stanza, and the entire poem relate to one another? What connotations and denotations do the words have? All of these questions are important to ask when analyzing the poem’s diction.

Sound

Poetry, though generally viewed as an art form in the modern world, has very practical origins. Before man had the ability and technology to record large amounts of information, rhythmic verse was used to remember and pass on history, story, genealogy, and even law. Thus, as an oral tradition, the sound of poetry is paramount. When analyzing a poem, pay special attention to the sounds that the words make, for you can be sure the poet—if he or she is any good—was very deliberate in his or her choosing the words and sounds in the poem. Alliteration, consonance, and assonance are all poetic devices used by poets and all three refer to the repetition of specific sounds in a poem. Another device related to sound is onomatopoeia, which describes words that represent not the meaning of something but rather the sound. Some examples include buzz, zip, and clap.

Figurative Language

Metaphors and similes are examples of figurative language used by poets to drive an image or message forward throughout a poem. A metaphor is a vivid comparison of someone or something to something else that doesn’t have an explicit relation. A simile draws a comparison between two things and uses a connective word such as “like,” “as,” or “resembles.” As the word implies, a simile shows a similarity between the two things being compared. Another common example of figurative language in poetry is personification, which describes the transference of human attributes to non-human objects or phenomena. For instance, the sun and the moon are commonly personified and given the ability to consciously manipulate the world in poetry. Why might poets use figurative language?

The preceding is by no means a complete list of everything you need to know about poetry in order to analyze it effectively—there are large volumes that take on that task and often don’t even complete it. Instead, I hope that this post will serve as an introduction—with models—for you to use when you’re assigned an explication essay. Don’t assume, for instance, that all poetry is written in Shakespearean sonnet form and in iambic pentameter; or, for another instance, that figurative speech is limited to metaphor, simile, and personification. If you’ve gained a greater understanding of poetry and how to analyze it, then this post has served its purpose.

Going to college is, in a lot of ways, like buying a house. You’re making an investment in your future, but you have to pick the right one. And there are lots of different variables that go into deciding which college to attend. What can you afford? Where do you want to be? How do you see yourself growing, when you finally go off to college, and where do you want that college to do for your future? Sitting down and thinking about each variable can be hard, especially when so many different and conflicting ideas are being bantered around in your brain. Unless you are one of the rare people who has known, since they were five, which college you want to go to, the decision-making process is difficult no matter how you approach it.

When I was applying to schools, I made a chart that detailed 5 different things I would have to consider before deciding on the right fit. They were: location, areas of interest, my personality, finances, and my desired career path. When I chose my school, I made sure to consider each variable, and then used my findings to narrow down a selection of schools I wanted to consider. In the end, I found this to be a useful tool, and I am happy with the decision I ultimately made. I hope it can work for you!

5. Location and size

Thinking about location is important, because wherever you end up going for college will be a place you will be stuck for the next four years. If you are a city person, you might not want to go to school in rural Alabama. If you are into the idea of going to school in a small town, urban Chicago is probably not the best location. If you don’t fare well in cold weather, New Hampshire is not a state you want to study in. And if you love to be surrounded by lush, green environments, Arizona won’t fit you at all. There are so many schools all across the United States – 4,352 to be exact – so there should be plenty to choose from. Don’t settle for going somewhere you don’t really want to be — because, trust me, it will come back to haunt you. You should also ask yourself whether going to a big school or a small school better suits your wants. Because there are some big schools out there (40+ thousand students) and some tiny ones (less than 4 thousand students) and finding a number you are comfortable with is essential. Here is a list of colleges and universities according to state, which you mind find helpful in your decision making process.

4. Areas of Interest

What are you interested in? Are you interested in the humanities? Science? Medicine? Law? Business? Even if you don’t have a clue what you want to study, or what you want to be after you graduate, it’s still important to consider your areas of interest. Perhaps you love biology but you also love music. Find a school that accommodates both of those interests, so that once you get there, you can take classes in both disciplines and see which one you’d rather concentrate on. At this point, it would be a shame to limit yourself when it came to your interests, so you should use those interests to guide you into finding a ‘good match’ school. Needless to say, if your interests lie solely in the realm of humanities, it would be unadvised to go to any school whose names ends in “Institute of Technology”. Similarly, if you are into technology, it would probably be best not to go to a school that has the term “Art” anywhere in its name. Think about your interests, and use that knowledge in your research of different colleges.

3. Personality

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. If you want to go to school with a liberal peace-loving student body, you probably shouldn’t go to the Naval Academy. Capiche? You want to make friends where you go, and in college, you will make some of the closest friends you’ll ever have in your life. You should ask yourself about fit because that’s such a key ingredient in finding the best school for you. US News and World Report has an interesting college personality quiz that might be of help!

2. Finances

I hesitate to put this up here, becuase no matter what, you can probably afford to go to the school of your choice. You can take out loans, you can apply for financial aid, and you can get grants or win scholarships. That said, there is a limit to how much debt any prospective students wants to commit to — debt which can be stressful to pay off. So it’s important, when considering schools, to figure out the financial aid data before you send back an acceptance. These custom calculators can be really helpful in figuring out your financial aid information. They can help you calculate loans, savings plans, award comparisions, and budgeting.

1. Career

College will last 4 years. After those 4 years are done, you’ll be in the real world, where you will be expected to work a real job and have a real career. That’s what college was preparing you for, right? Whether you decide to become a bohemian and work on your art, despite your anthropology and political science double major, or if you decide that graduate school right off the bat is your best bet, or if you decide that what you really want in life is to work in an office and put money toward your 401k, you should start thinking about it sooner rather than later. I’m not saying you should already know what you want to be, but you should realistically consider your wants and your options, and figure out if the school you’re going to will get you there. If you want to be a movie director and you know that’s what you want, why spend 4 years studying linguistics? Go to film school!

Whether you like it or not, the quality of your academic research paper rests entirely on whether you can uphold your thesis statement. You can be an amazingly eloquent writer with intelligent analysis and good ideas, but if your thesis is weak, the rest of your paper falls flat too. A thesis statement is the single most important aspect of any research paper — everything else exists solely to uphold and support it. It’s no surprise, then, that for serious students, the act of devising a thesis is stress inducing, nerve wracking, and dreaded. Here are 5 tips on how to make the pressure of coming up with a good thesis a little easier, and a lot less stressful.

5. Be relevant

Strong thesis statements are relevant to the coursework at hand. If you are taking a seminar on the importance of metaphor in the tragedies of Shakespeare, it goes without saying that you should not therefore write your thesis on the important of simile in his comedies. The more you structure your thesis after the relevant coursework, the happier your teacher will be and the more they will think you actually paid attention in their class, as opposed to secretly reading magazines on your Kindle under the desk.

4. Take a firm position

Strong theses are strong, literally. A good thesis takes a firm argument and shies away from wishy-washy statements with little weight or value. An example of a weak thesis: “There are some drawbacks to a Verizon cellular plan, but also some advantages as well.” This thesis tries to argue both sides of an issue, the way an expository essay would. Since research papers are not expository, but rather argument-based, they need to focus on a specific argument.

3. Be contestable

“A fern is a plant” is not a thesis. This is a fact. Thesis statements are not facts. They are statements inviting argumentation that can be supported by facts, but cannot stand alone as factual statements in and of themselves. A good way to gauge whether your thesis invites argument is to ask if it is contestable. “Malcolm X was a man who changed the face of race relations in America” is not a strong thesis, because it’s obvious that Malcolm X was a man who did just that. “Malcolm X was a man who irrevocably changed the rhetoric of protest in America, and his notions of violence within revolutionary dissent sheds light on the more recent event of the Los Angeles riots” is a stronger, and more arguable, stance.

2. Be specific

The more specific and ‘inbued with the nitty-gritty’ you can make your thesis, the better off your paper will be. By structuring your thesis around a specific point, the more structured your paper will be, and the more easy it will be to organize your ideas within the framework of your paper. I like to write thesis statements with multiple prongs. For example, “Poet (insert poet’s name here) writes against the patriarchy in the poem (insert poem here), and her dissent is apparent in her repeated use of the images of rotten fruit, serpents, and fallow fields as metaphors for the oppressiveness of feminine space as well as the poet’s perceived discomfort in her own female body in a society dictated by men” is an extremely specific sentence that invites many points of analysis and contention and outlines what each and every point of contention is, before the paper even begins.

1. Invite analysis

A good thesis gets you thinking, and not just thinking, but talking about the paper even after it is read. A good thesis also opens up the door for further analysis. If your thesis was arguable in 5,000 words, and your paper presented it and proved it and leaves it as a done deal once the paper concludes, then perhaps you could have written a better thesis. Think of your thesis as a gateway, not just into the discussions you will present in your own paper, but for further discussions down the road.

Creative writing is often thought to mean fiction or poetry writing, specifically the kind of creative writing taught in workshops at liberal arts colleges where people sit around and ask each other questions about character motivation, symbolism, and whether you’ve earned your cliche.

Actually, creative writing is so much more than that. You can approach any writing creatively, be it a research paper, an essay, a journalistic article, or even a blog entry. I like to think that I’m approaching this blog, even now, from my own creative angle. All ‘creative writing’ means is that you are infusing your writing with your personal creative spirit. That the creative energy of your writing comes from you and you alone. Not only is creative often confused with ‘fiction,’ but it’s also confused with the false idea that in order to be creative, what you are doing has to be a completely isolated work that lives on its own, outside of what anyone else has ever done. That’s simply not true. Writers are often influenced by other writers, and part of being creative is letting yourself be inspired by the work of others. There are many myths to being creative, and the purpose of this post is to encourage students to find their own routes to creativity. We are all endowed with the creative aspect; it’s just up to us to access it!

Top 5 tips on how to approach writing creatively

5. Read. The best thing a writer can do to improve his or her writing is to read. You will not believe how much you pick up just from reading and being inspired by the printed word. Read, and read everything you can. Try to push yourself to read things that aren’t exactly up your alley of interest. For example, I’m not really the biggest biography fan, so sometimes I challenge myself to read a biography rather than another novel, because by reading it, I expose my mind to new things.

4. Observe. It’s easy to be a passive, lazy observer in this world that is so full of richness and detail. Try to observe some of it if you can! Living in San Francisco can sometimes be a sensory overload, because the architecture here is so descriptive and varied. It’s easy for me just to shut my eyes and float through the world without paying attention, because it’s easy, but for a writer, paying attention is intrinsic to good creative writing. By forcing yourself to pay attention to details, you can draw on them later in your work. Even if you think you can’t possibly remember what you observe, you will surprise yourself when you write, as you realize that you actually do internalize and remember more than you even know or realize.

3. Show, don’t tell. Good writing doesn’t just present the reader with an idea, a situation, an argument, or a description. Good writing draws the reader in through the use of evocative language that makes an idea, situation, argument, or description not only real to the reader, but urgent and understood. Don’t just tell your reader, “The monster opened his eyes.” Do, as Mary Shelley does in Frankenstein, write like this, “It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open . . .”

2. Write about what you know. This is self-explanatory. Write about what you know, because you come to your work with a unique set of experiences no one else has, a set of experiences that is an invaluable resource to any writer. Harvest those resources in your writing. Your own experiences are your own priceless advantage against anyone elses’ work, because you are the only person who has shared in your revelations.

1. Don’t edit yourself. Believe in yourself as a writer. Just let it flow. As hard as it is to sit down and write, force yourself to do it. The hardest part of writing creatively is to let the creative juices flow, but once the flood gates are opened, you’ll be astounded to see what is unleashed!

It’s 9:00 AM, and the final bell begins to ring. You barely slept the night before in preparation for today’s exam. You wait anxiously in your seat, and your palms are already starting to sweat furiously. You glance at your teacher, sitting in the front of the classroom, who is busy pulling something out of her desk. A horrible feeling gushes through you: something like a mix between fear and dread. Before you even see what is in your teacher’s hand, you already know what it is — and you suddenly realize that your worst nightmare on Earth has just become reality. In your teacher’s hand is a stack of objects which signify to you everything that is insipid, unnecessary, and evil in the world. Your teacher is walking toward you with a stack of blue books in her hand. As if dreaming, you rise from your seat, walk over to the row of windows at the back of the room, and throw yourself out of one. Defenestrate, incidentally, has always been your favorite S.A.T. word.

Had you conquered your fear of the essay test (and had you paid more attention in science class to Newtonian laws of physics), you would not have participated in an act of defenestration.

The essay test is one of the most challenging exams for students, largely because you never know what to expect. Writing essays is a difficult endeavor in its own right, but with the time constraints and ‘element of surprise’ that go into essay tests, the whole situation becomes even more challenging. But if you learn some basic strategies for taking essay tests, you will soon realize that they aren’t really as noxious as everyone seems to think. There are techniques that you can use to ace this dreaded exam, and all that is required is a little foresight and organization. By learning these 10 tips for taking essay tests, you’ll score higher on your tests, write better papers, and sleep a lot easier the night before your exam.

10. Prepare for the exam. Essay tests are infinitely easier if you go into them with knowledge of the topics that are going to be covered. In my opinion, essay tests are actually easier than multiple choice exams, because while you need to know the ‘broad picture’ of what you studied, you don’t need to memorize every specific detail of your subject.

9. Understand the question. Before you do anything, read the essay question three times. Seriously. I can’t tell you how many great essays I wrote that missed points because I failed to answer the entire question. If the question is, “Why is the television show LOST so confusing and why did you stop caring after the third season?” and you give a persuasive answer of why the show is confusing, but you forget to say why you stopped caring after the third season, you’ve probably lost more than a few points (bad pun, sorry).

8.  Write a clear thesis. Essay exams test your analytical skills rather than your memorization. Your teacher wants to see you assess the question, respond critically with a sound thesis, and provide a persuasive, analytical discussion of ideas that validates your thesis.

7. Outline everything before you begin. It helps you stay organized if you take the time, before you start writing, to outline what you’re going to say.

6. Keep your introduction short and to-the-point. Because of time restrictions, it’s silly to waste time writing a long and involved introduction when the real intention should go to the heart of the matter: the argument.

5. Stay on track with your subject. There is no greater time-drain than a tangent. Nor is there anything more annoying to the reader than when the writer veers wildly off topic.

4. Examine one new idea in each paragraph. Think of paragraphs as separate little arguments, each with a strong central point. If you stick to one idea per paragraph, the reader knows where you’re going with the paper, and your writing will be clearer and more organized.

3. Keep track of time. There is no worse feeling than when the bell rings and you’re not done with your essay. Your teacher has another class coming in, and trust me, she’s not going to wait around for you to finish. She’ll kick your butt outta class as soon as the test is done.

2. Include specific details in your writing. You can’t prove an argument without providing facts. Knowing your facts, and displaying them prominently, not only makes your paper stronger, but it will impress whoever is grading your paper.

1. Proofread your entire paper at least once before you hand it in. I know it’s annoying, and you want to get that dreaded blue book out of your hands as soon as possible. But take a chill pill and set aside a minute or two to read through your paper again. You’ll be surprised how many mistakes you can catch in the second go-over.

However, as peppered as my speech patterns are with non-standard English, I try not to bring my own personal language into the sphere of academic writing. I couldn’t imagine what would go through an English teacher’s mind if I turned in a paper that said, “Yo, Herman Melville’s gynormous book about Moby Dick was super phat, cuz Ishmael will be one of my fave, most coolest protagonist forevs LOL.” Like, automatic F, right?

To help you write better, I compiled a list of 5 words you should avoid in all your papers. I understand the importance if irony, but the irony of using grammar and spelling like “Dey’s awluz at it, sah, en dey do mos’ kill me, dey skyers me so,” even in a paper about The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn (which that quote is directly lifted from) would completely be lost on your professor. So, without further ado:

1. Irregardless. This word is completely unacceptable in any universe where proper grammar is encouraged. According to Wikipedia, “Irregardless is a term meaning in spite of or anyway, that has caused controversy since it first appeared in the early twentieth century. It is generally listed in dictionaries as “incorrect” or “nonstandard”. This word is used to mean “regardless,” but with the inclusion of the “ir-” preceding the word, it is formed into a double negative. Logically, “irregardless” would mean “not regardless,” but of course, that’s not the way it’s ever used. Long story short: avoid.

2. Anyways. This word seems to creep up in our vocabulary in those fugitive moments where we have nothing to say, mostly in situations involving awkward pauses, like “Um… right… so anyways…”.  Awkward moments should not be make all the more awkward by bad grammar, so perhaps you should cut the “s” and just use “anyway” (a perfectly acceptable word) or “anyhow” next time. This also applies to the word “anywho,” a less common though still egregiously utlized non-word.

3. Alot. There are few things you can do to an English teacher worse than employing the word “alot” in any written assignment. But I’m sure you’ve already been told this, many times, so hopefully I am just being redundant here.

4. Alright. The term “alright” is heavily contested by people both for and against its existence. Daily Writing Tips advises, “In 1965, The Who told us “The Kids are Alright,” spawning generations of the use of alright in music. Generally, most editors and teachers don’t think “alright” is all right. If you’re in doubt, it’s best to stick with the more widely accepted two-word “all right,” especially in formal academic or professional writing.”

5. Nevermind. I see the word “nevermind” everywhere, even though nevermind is in a Neverland of never-words that are never to be found in any grammarphile’s proper paper-writing lexicon. In the Mirriam-Webster dictionary, “nevermind” is listed as a conjunction. The proper term is “never mind”. Searching through Wikipedia, “never mind” brings up, “Never mind is a command which means “it is not important,” “do not be concerned,” or “I withdraw my previous statement.” If you search for
“nevermind,” you don’t get that same meaning. Instead you get linked to a Nirvana album.