College Admission Essays: Gathering Ideas - Visual Brainstorming and Listing

Visual brainstorming

Variations of visual brainstorming have been around for years, each with a different name. Visual brainstorming never goes out of style because it is such an effective way to tap into your creative brain cells. In visual brainstorming, you create a picture of your thought process. You also trick the critical portion of your mind into taking a coffee break so that your creativity can take center stage. Finally, visual brainstorming forces you to step away from your usual habits of writing so that truly new ideas may emerge.

You can use visual brainstorming to select a topic for your essay or to amass detail after you’ve settled on a topic. It’s also a great way to discover the theme of your essay and to uncover the metaphors (creative comparisons) that light up your writing.

• For this technique you need old-fashioned pen and paper. So turn the computer off for a while, get ready to have some fun, and do the following:
• Take a clean sheet of paper, preferably one without lines. (If it does have lines, ignore them.) Don’t hold the paper the usual way. Turn it on a diagonal or upside down — something to make it look different. You want to break down the habitual categories in your brain.
• If you usually write with a pen, use a pencil. If pencil is your medium of choice, try a pen. Again, the point is to do something to change your pattern.
• Now write a word or phrase in the middle of the paper. Which word? Any will do, If you can’t find any good candidates, write your name or an abstract word like “loyalty,” “friendship,” or “challenge.”

Don’t obsess over which word to write in the middle of the page. I’m not a psychologist, but I do believe that a part of your mind is active while you’re not consciously aware. Whatever you write down has some significance, even if you can’t figure out exactly why you chose that particular word.

• For about ten minutes, look at the word or phrase in the middle of the page and write down everything that comes to mind. Don’t try to control the direction of your thoughts. Just jot down the ideas.
• Some ideas will flow as a group. Write them near each other on the paper.
• Sometimes you’ll sense that you’re starting a new set of ideas. Put these thoughts in a new area of the paper.
• A picture may emerge as you write. Fine. Don’t spend forever drawing in the details, but go ahead a sketch whatever you like.
• When the flow dries up, stop. Look at what you’ve written. Circle the ideas that go together or connect them with lines.

Don’t edit while you’re brainstorming. Whatever you’re thinking, don’t allow yourself to say, “That’s ridiculous. I’ll never use it.” Just write it. You’re not committing to a 30-year mortgage. You’re just jotting down ideas!

After you’ve completed one round of visual brainstorming, it’s time to take out a second sheet of paper and do the following:

• Again, twist the paper around a bit. Change writing implements, if you like.
• Examine your first visual brainstorm. Does any part look interesting? Do you see any possible topics? If not, put a different word in the center of the new sheet of paper and try again. Repeat as often as necessary until something appeals to you.
• When one part of a brainstorm has possibilities, explore it further. Put a word or phrase from the possible topic in the center of a new sheet of paper. For ten more minutes, jot down the ideas that come to you as you think of the centered word or phrase. Again, place thoughts that seem to belong together in a bunch. Whenever your mind skips to a new track, put those thoughts in a different section of the paper. When you’re done, draw lines between ideas that connect to each other and/or circle related thoughts.

While you’re visual brainstorming, you’ll probably come up with a couple of X-rated details. (You may want to invest in a shredder.) You will also come up with some G-rated ideas or details you don’t need. Don’t worry about unneeded details, X- or G-rated. Just leave them out when you write the essay.

Sometimes a really strange idea will keep popping into your mind while you’re in the midst of visual brainstorming. You might be brainstorming about your first day of band practice, noting things like “clarinet,” “out of tune,” and “saliva.” But the word butterfly floats again and again into your consciousness. Write it down. Later, look at all the weird items in your brainstorm. Ask yourself if any of them are metaphors (poetic comparisons) for the meaning of your experience. Maybe your first band practice, when no two notes in a row were correct, was your musical self as a caterpillar. About 5,000 band practices later, when you and your fellow musicians sounded great (okay, at least tolerable), your musical self was a butterfly. Now you’ve got a working metaphor for your essay.

After a couple of rounds of visual brainstorming, you should have a pretty good idea what you want to write about (the topic). You should have some details you want to include. You may also have an idea for a theme and perhaps a metaphor or two. You’re ready to write!

If you need more details or an idea for a theme, or if you have your heart set on finding the perfect metaphor, simply center a word and brainstorm again. Keep centering and brainstorming until you have everything you need.

Listing

I love lists. I makes tons of to-do lists, just so I can have the joy of crossing off (scratching into oblivion, actually) the chores I’ve completed. I also make lists when I’m getting ready to write. The order and logic of a list appeals to me. (But I don’t get carried away; I haven’t alphabetized the contents of my freezer for years.)

You can list alone, but listing is even more fun with a friend. Here’s the method:

• Pick a word at random, if you can’t decide on a word, try “car” or “challenge.” (I’ve had a lot of luck with those two.)
• Take a sheet of paper or set up a new file on the computer.
• List titles for ten stories you could tell about yourself in relation to the word at the top of your list. For example, if you chose “car” as the keyword, you should have ten titles for stories you could tell about you and cars.

In Figure 1, the writer lists ten possible titles flowing from the keyword “challenge,” including “physics labs,” “waiting past Wednesday for Lover to call,” “learning to parasail,” “writing with a broken arm,” and so forth.

• If you absolutely positively can’t come up with ten titles, stop. But don’t let yourself off the hook if you have fewer than five. Try again with a different keyword.
• Chances are one of the stories will grab hold of your imagination. Bingo! You’re ready for the second set of lists.
• Write the title of the chosen story at the top of a new sheet of paper or on a blank computer screen (a new file, or just scroll down until you’ve got a clean slate).
• Now list details about the story. Write everything you remember, one item after another, until you can’t think of anything else. Concentrate on sense memories: what you saw, what you heard, what you smelled, what you felt (sensations from your sense of touch, as well as emotions), and, if appropriate, what you tasted. Check out Figure 6-5. The writer decided to list details about “physics labs” from the first list.
• If you remember any conversation, write the words.

Figure 1: An example of listing technique

Don’t censor yourself. As you write the list, don’t stop to worry about whether a detail is worth including or not. Just list it. Later you can always decide to leave the detail out of the essay.

How long should your detail list be? The longer the better. If you have 20 to 30 details, you’re probably fine.

If you’re working with a partner, retell your chosen stories to each other, using as many details as possible. After hearing each story, ask questions: “What did your mother say when you signed up for the bowling team?” “What color was the horse you fell off?” “Did you hear any noise when the president pinned the medal on your shirt?” The more you ask, the more detail you get, and the more you have to work with.

If you’re working alone, consider calling a relative or asking a teacher to play the role of partner, quizzing you about your story until you truly can’t remember anything else.

If any part of the story is still unclear, write the new keyword at the top of a new page or on another blank computer screen and make another list. In Figure 2, the writer listed details about the chosen story, “physics labs.” But when he tried to write about the physics labs, he got stuck on “momentum experiment.” He couldn’t figure out what to say. Check out Figure 3: that’s the list he made about the momentum experiment. After that list was done, he had a lot more to work with!

By the time you finish listing, you should have a topic, all the details your little heart desires, and perhaps even a metaphor or two. (Metaphors are poetic comparisons: “Happiness is a hot fudge sundae,” and the like.) If you’re desperate for a metaphor and nothing pops up on a list, make a (you guessed it) metaphor list.

Figure 2: Creating list of details

Figure 3: