<p>For the Common App essay -</p>
<p>I read on a website that you should write about your "hook". Well, in my opinion, mine is that I am publishing a novel (which will be published by the time I apply). Should I write about this in my essay? I sort of thought it might be overkill to mention it and I thought it would be better to write about another aspect, but now I'm not so sure.</p>
<p>what are you going to write about? the experience of novel writing? I’m not sure what you would say in your essay…</p>
<p>I would probably say that you should make it a real personal thing that will draw them in, like a problem and how you overcame it.</p>
<p>Thank you to you both.</p>
<p>I have pretty much decided to write about something else.</p>
<p>Write about something else as in write about the novel youre getting published? If so, thats really cool and should make for a very interesting essay… Seriously, you have some unique experiences as a college applicant, write about them</p>
<p>Who is publishing your novel? A legitimate book publisher, or a self-publishing “vanity” press?</p>
<p>If you are being published by a real national publisher, I would think an essay on the act of writing and its challenges could be a fascinating essay topic.</p>
<p>I may be wrong about this, but just by reading it I am kind of put off–it sort of sounds like you are a tad pretentious. I think you should bluntly be like, " Oh yeah I am published that is why I am awesome!" Instead if you talk about how you have grown as a person ( like someone said already) then that might soften it down. But is it really that personal? I dunno but I always thought the best essays were about some random, seemingly insignificant moment in life that become something quite profound.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should write about something else. I worked on a political theory for two years, and in one of my essays, rather than writing or boasting about the findings of my work (which would have been rude and boring to anybody not interested in Political Science) I wrote about what lead me to want to write this theory to begin with, and later what I learned, not necessarily knowledge, but about myself, with the conclusion of my work. Go for writing about the novel, just spin it from a humbling angle :)</p>
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<p>Fauve is right. It’s a lot more impressive to see a teenager published by Simon & Schuster than a self-publishing company that stole your $2000+.</p>
<p>It’s a “vanity” press. And you guys are right, of course, that it’s not AS impressive. But regardless, it was an important aspect in my life - at least the writing of the actual manuscript was. </p>
<p>Anyway, I want to go into creative writing for one part of my double major. A lot of schools let you send in a sample of your writing. So, would it be better to send in a sample and then write a totally different essay? Especially because by sending a sample, the college itself could decide whether or not the novel is any good as opposed to thinking “Oh, it’s a vanity press”.</p>