3-D writing: Details, Dialogue, Description

We're in the home stretch for the UC essays.  I hope you're feeling the fire and writing great stuff.  As we go into the last 10 days for these essays I want to remind everyone of some of the basics that I've been going over time and again.  You've got to get your writing to pop, to jump off the page with life, with emotion.  you need to make it 3-D:

Details  *  Dialogue  *  Description

1. Details: So the other day I was working with a student on a piece about Kathak, a traditional form of Indian dance.  This was for UC prompt #2, "a talent or accomplishment you are proud of."  What I was hoping to see was her passion, her love of beauty, her commitment.  But her essay lacked detail.  The details would be what makes the essay come alive.  For an essay about Kathak, we should see the beautiful and graceful hand gestures, the colors of the costumes, hear the jangling of the anklets that ring with each stamp of the dancers' feet.  You want to communicate your love of beauty and passion for being part of the performance. 
2. Dialogue: I've blogged about this before.  Use their words!  If we can hear voices in your paper (not our heads), then we get a sense of your world and a sense of your experience.  A real sense of your sensitivity to the world around you.  The key here is not to get bogged down with too much talking or using too many tags (for example, she said; for more info check: this fiction writing blog).  Economy is the watchword here.  Think movie cuts to try to keep your dialogue moving quickly.
3. Description: This one should be obvious.  The key, of course is choosing what to describe and what to skip over.  I always recommend in these types of essays to focus on visuals that produce emotion: facial expressions, the size of the mountain you're climbing, the inner conflict that makes your decision difficult and shows maturity.  This goes under the general heading of SHOW DON'T TELL.  For anyone who has really tried writing, it is so hard to show instead of telling.  (If you have any questions, take a look at any page of The Da Vinci Code: a whole novel built on telling.  For a hilarious take on the horros of telling over showing there is this review of the Da Vinci Code movie and a little about the book, too). 

3-D.  When going over your writing, make sure you chant it.  And your chant should help you remember that you need your essay to "pop-out" from a huge stack of boring students who write by number, whose essays portray flat lives.  Show your depth!

Good luck!