College Admissions Essay? Comments and ratings appreciated!
Hi, this was a rough idea that I think I want to use as a college admissions essay. There are things that I know need to be taken out and put in, and I was just wondering how this overall essay sounds at this point. Thanks so much.
My writing style is not unique. It is not original. It has open ends with thousands of loose and unexplainable threads. It leads to paths which I myself did not even expect it to take. It is just my writing. It is the only way that I allow myself to articulate to the open air. I know no other way to write than scribbling a few words on paper that, I think, look appropriate and suitable in meaning and context.
To ask an author if they are pleased with their work can be compared to the silence of a young man who is attempting to ask out a young lady. Am I pleased with my writing? If so, then why can't I just answer? Does that young man have and attraction to that young girl? If so, why can't he just talk to her about it? The answer to these questions is very simple. I am the shy young man (the author), and I am trying to woo this young girl (the readers) into enjoying my work. It's all a very complicated process, and the metaphor gets a little bit sticky with confusion, but to be clear, I don't like the majority of my work. There is no logical reason other than it is my own work, so when other people read it I automatically reject it and tamper out the flames of hope just so I can be prepared for them to say how awful it is.
Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner is by far, hands down, the author that I have the most admiration for. Although I finished his work, the after effects still resonate through my mind every day. Throughout the majority of the novel, I was actually fooled into believing the story was non-fiction. I even thought it was quite odd that Kahled was calling himself Amir. This is how I know The Kite Runner is a great piece of writing. The images were vivid and the details found in plentiful mounds. I wouldn't have been surprised if it was really non-fiction after all.
What Khaled unknowingly conveyed to me is what I always wish to convey to readers. I want to grasp them with gruesome stories that have grimy innards that are so realistic that the readers themselves can feel the rumbling launch of a rocket or a cold hand grasping onto their shoulder. I want to be able to rip away the walls of fiction and coat over the empty space with the teasing and falsified eyes of non-fiction. I want to get them so deep into my work that they actually fall through the letters and words into pools of subtext and high-riding emotions. I want to make them feel.
My writing philosophy is simple: Take care of your readers. Do not abuse them with jokes of depth that only you understand. Do not belittle them by speaking in a simplified, nearly monotone for of writing. Take the time to ensure that if you give them a little taste of the work, then they will come back for more. Do not trick your readers. Often this leaves them angry and unwilling to finish a story. Love your readers. Do this not expecting a return of love, but for the growth of your writing. If you love your readers, all else can fall into place and success in writing--no matter how big or small--will come along.
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