<p>So I've been told (multiple times) that my writing is very linear, that I'm very this-this-this-this. I've also been told by the same people that my writing is good, I just spell things out too much instead of making the reader think for themselves. How can I write so that the reader thinks instead of just spelling things out for the readers?</p>
<p>Best way to do that is to pretend you are writing a movie script - think in scenes (each paragraph is a scene) and describe the scene… let the reader figure out what it’s trying to say, rather than you spell it out explicitly. The best essays are like movies in that they talk about some transition for you - to make you stronger, more mature, wiser, etc… </p>
<p>The best way to stay on target is to write the first paragraph (think about movie opening scenes, dropping you into the story) and THEN WRITE THE LAST PARAGRAPH (wrapping things up, showing you that’s stronger, wiser, etc for the experience. Now you’ve got the start and the end. You only need a few more paragraphs to describe (again, think of movie scenes) the transition from first paragraph to last. That’ll help the focus.</p>
<p>–Robert Cronk, author of Concise Advice: Jump-Starting Your College Application Essays and co-author of Lights, Camera, APPLICATION! Concise Advice for Aspiring Film School Students</p>
<p>It’s common for high schoolers to be “linear” since academic papers are supposed to be very deliberate and thorough. You want to undo that for your college essay.</p>
<p>My first advice would be to write about what you want to very quickly just to get an editable draft out there, regardless of how polished it seems. Start anywhere that you have a really concrete idea and go with it. Avoid “telling.” If you feel like you’re about to use a cliche adjective to describe yourself, try to avoid it (although remember that anything that you think sounds “bad” as you write can be removed later, so do not deliberate).</p>
<p>Be descriptive when you can, but try to use interesting (not cliche) metaphors, personification, and diction to make. Hopefully the result will be an honest, not overly flowery, account of what you want to tell.</p>
<p>Then you can revise. Identify what you’re trying to show by writing about that instance. Then look back at your draft and see what’s good. Look at any figurative language you use well and try to capture that same tone elsewhere in your essay. At some point in the polishing, come up with a good lead and conclusion that grasp the reader and leave the reader thinking respectively (so don’t tell them too much).</p>
<p>If you find your written work is inevitably linear, and have a hard time with other styles, here’s something else to try: get a digital voice recorder, or a camcorder, and tell the story. Verbally. As if you were talking on the phone, or to a friend, or a group of people (peers, children, whatever works for you). Record yourself doing this, and write from those verbal “notes”. If being on camera makes you feel weird, just point the camera someplace else, you only need the audio track. When we talk, tangents and details are usually inserted in interesting places, but the act of writing , for some of us, tends to edit out everything between point A and point B.</p>