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Young Writers Society


help!!!!



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Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:24 pm
~Volant~ says...



I'm trying to apply for this writing camp, and I've done all the protfolio requirements...except one thing.

The personal essay on how I love to write and how going to this camp will help me.

I've been staring at a blank page for fifteen minutes.

Does anyone have any tips? Please?

:help:!!!!!!!!
Where are we going?
  





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Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:54 am
Gadi. says...



Okay---what you need to do is concentrate on two things: how you love writing and how this camp will help me. I just did an essay application to get into my school newspaper. Here is my outline:

Introduction: Basically, the most important part of my life story and how it relates to journalism (or writing, in your case). Mine was that I moved from Israel to the US when I was ten, and since then I've come to love writing and journalism.
Second P: An experience that sharpened my love of journalism: in my case, reading an article every Sunday to my third grade classmates.
Third: Describing how I am as a writer: am I steady and leveled, or am I meticulous and sudden?
Fourth: How being in the newspaper would change my life (in your essay it's the camp)--it would prepare me for what's after high school.
Conclusion: Here, I basically say that they need me in order for their newspaper to get better (I even said "You need me" and "I am your opportunity".)

Hope I helped!
my world isn't only beautiful
it is so far away
  





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Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:19 am
Cade says...



I say, try to start with something specific and then expand. Maybe tell a story about the day you realized you loved writing, or about a compliment someone gave you, or a book you read that motivated you to become a writer. It's better to define yourself with an excerpt from your life than gush about how much you love to write.
"My pet, I've been to the devil, and he's a very dull fellow. I won't go there again, even for you..."
  





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Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:21 am
lyrical_sunshine says...



Don't write about a tragedy in your life or winning a football game or how good your grades are. Everybody writes about that. Write about an obscure hobby of yours or something that makes you uniquely you.

Personally, I wrote about how my writing grew after my characters developed minds of their own. It was pretty fun. You have to talk about a facet of your personality that is uniquely YOURS.
“We’re still here,” he says, his voice cold, his hands shaking. “We know how to be invisible, how to play dead. But at the end of the day, we are still here.” ~Dax

Teacher: "What do we do with adjectives in Spanish?"
S: "We eat them!"
  





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Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:16 am
Nate says...



Haha, I hate those essays! What's worse, is they hate stilted answers, yet when you are given a stilted question, then what kind of answer are you going to give?

In any case, just keep this in mind: there are no wrong answers. What they are looking for are two things:

1. Your grammar
2. Your ability to write coherently

You can make up anything you want; just choose something and run with it as it hardly matters what that something is. Just be sure that while running with it, you take the care to use proper grammar and to write in a cohesive fashion.
  





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Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:55 pm
~Volant~ says...



Omg, thank you sooooooo much! You guys really helped a lot!!!
Where are we going?
  








Find wonder in the everyday, find everyday language to articulate it.
— Maurice Manning