: Re: How can I answer high-school writing prompts without sounding weird and fake? Being given a prompt makes me freeze up immediately. Let me clarify. I'm talking about high school writing prompts.

@Martha805

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Good writing isn't good because of the specific words or style used. Good writing is good because it communicates an idea clearly, in a well-organized structure, and with a style that is pleasant to read (whatever form that takes). I still freeze up and feel self-conscious when I sit down to write myself. How do I know the words I'm picking aren't awkward? At some point, though, the individual words don't matter as long as the right ideas are being communicated.

Personally, I've found that when I know what I want to say, figuring out how to say it is much easier. I usually do quite a bit of prewriting, and once I've organized my thoughts, the words and sentences to build those thoughts up come much more easily to me. So my advice is, when you sit down to write an essay, first take a minute or two to think about what you're going to write. Decide what you main thesis is, what the main arguments or points will be, and how it will all be organized. As tired and cliche as it is, the 5-paragraph essay is a perfectly fine way to go about this, and if it works, you might as well take it. Your question is another example of a strong structure. It's more ad-hoc, but each paragraph introduces an idea that provides more context for the next one until you've built up enough that asking your main question makes sense.

Once you've done this, just write. From your question, I can tell you have a strong command over your own personal style. That's all that matters. Don't make mistakes that produce an unweildly style - don't use imprecise word choice or awkward sentence structures, for example. But if you avoid those clear technical issues, there are a million ways of saying the same thing, and they're all equally viable.

For the GRE, the last standardized test I had to take, one of my prompts asked me to read a persuasive essay and then discuss some of the assumptions the author was implicitly making. My first paragraph was literally a numbered list of the assumptions I thought of! It was not poetic or artistic in the slightest. I ended up getting a 5 out of 6 on that prompt. I think the lack of personality in my opening is part of what kept me from a perfect score, but hot dang if it didn't communicate my ideas concisely and clearly.

Here are my thoughts on the example opening paragraph in your question:

Every kid in the neighborhood knew the Robinson house and avoided it like a bowl of Brussels sprouts. Mr. Robinson was a notorious crank, the house was always dark and creepy, and his dog was a terror—a mean, fang-toothed creature that looked like she would love to tear you apart.

I think the reason this example is used as the opening is because it contains no grammatical errors, it clearly telegraphs what the rest of the essay will be about, and it is at least more interesting to read than the bazillions of nearly-identical, merely OK openings that the readers will be sick and tired of after a half an hour of grading. That's really it. I agree with you that the style used isn't my cup of tea, but it is technically sound writing.

I'd like to note that if the rest of the essay kept on describing Mr. Robinson's scary dog without ever getting to how the writer overcame their fear of it, then it wouldn't matter how poetic or flowery the rest of the essay was. It wouldn't even matter if it were grammatically correct. It would receive a poor grade. On the other hand, like my last essay, an opening that is boring and phones it in but gets right to the point, is grammatically correct, and comes before an essay that clearly answers the prompt will get at least a decent score.

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