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By this point, you should have a simple outline that includes:

1. A potential topic

2. 4-7 different examples for your topic

3. At least one value for each example

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, or just want to go back to the examples to refresh your memory, click here.

Assuming you have these things, the next question is: What do you need to write a great first draft of a montage essay? I believe you need three things:

1. A simple, clear opening

2. 4-7 paragraphs with specific examples and values

3. An ending

In a later lesson, called The Great College Essay Test, we'll look at what a final draft requires. But first things first.

Step 1: Write a simple, clear opening.

Your goal with your first draft isn't necessarily to blow our minds with the most clever opening ever. I say this because lots of students get stuck because they try to do just that. But actually, I think it's best to figure out if the middle of the essay (i.e., the 4-7 paragraphs of examples and values) can work first. And how can we do that if we're waiting for the perfect opening?

So my advice is to remove the mental barrier of writing "the perfect opening" by writing a simple, clear opening that will serve as a placeholder. (Keep in mind you can always come back and edit this later once you know the essay topic as a whole can work.)

Here are some examples of clear openings for "I Love/I Know" essays:

• "I've had a rather peculiar obsession with rocks of many kinds since I was a boy, playing in a rock fort I made with my twin brother."

• "While my friends binge The Office, I'm at home with my favorite family tavern, Cheers."

• "While other 5-year-olds played with rubber ducks in the bath, I sat in the sweet strawberry scented tub of childhood, perfecting my bubble beard, and discovering my interest: skin."

Can you figure out the topics for the essays above? You guessed it: rocks, Cheers, and skin. Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not saying you have to mention your topic in your first sentence—but it is a pretty good way of helping the reader understand what your theme is.

Alternatively, you could choose to start with a lead-in that does not mention your topic explicitly. If you do this, though, it's a pretty good idea to mention your topic relatively soon (say, in the first or second paragraph) so we know where you're taking us. Here are a couple examples of essays that do that:

Example 1:

Tik tok. The noise of the clock gets louder every time I glance at it. The sizzle of the Tabasco sauce as I drizzle it over the golden chicken is like a bursting of a thousand firecrackers. Carefully, I colour the top with a light fragrant sauce, like a thin paintbrush on a canvas. I sprinkle the dish with freshly cut chives to enhance the flavour and create a colourful balance.

Cooking has had a huge impact on my life.

In particular, it has shaped the way I think about my health...

Example 2:

I have a confession to make: I'm in love with something dead.

Yes, I know it's odd, but this dead thing has somehow found its way into my living heart. And although Latin may be considered a dead language, it has taught me so much.

Note I've highlighted the topics in bold above: cooking and Latin.

So ask yourself now: For the sake of getting started on my first draft, what's a simple way I can lead the reader into my topic?

[action_item]

Action Item (2 min): Write a placeholder opening.

It could be as simple as, "I know a lot about parkour. No, I mean, like a lot." And boom, we're into the essay. Again, your goal isn't to wow us (we'll explore how to write a great opening in a future lesson)—right now your goal is to remove the obstacle of the opening so we can get into writing the examples.

[And, if you're a perfectionist like me and want to remind yourself to come back and change the opening, you can put your placeholder opening in brackets, like this.]

Step 2: Bring your 4-7 examples to life.

This is what my friend Mignon Fogarty (aka Grammar Girl) calls The Meaty Middle. It's really the make-or-break part of your essay. If this part doesn't work, consider brainstorming another topic.

Take a look at your examples—you're about to expand on them a little so you can turn them into paragraphs for your essay. And let's use the "Animals" essay as a model, since you've read that one. The examples (of different animals) and values the author wanted to demonstrate were:

• Quail → patience

• Lamb → trust

• Seahorse → science

• Birds, chickens → how to grieve, intuition, communication

For each of your examples, you'll write down 2-3 details that might help illustrate the value or quality you want to show. Here's how that author did it:

• Quail → patience

  • Incubating the eggs, checking water levels and temperature

• Lamb → trust

  • Believing it would be worth all the effort I put in

• Seahorse → science

  • Had to learn about levels of alkanes, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, salinity, and pH

• Birds, chickens → how to grieve, intuition, communication

  • When Jules died or dad cut the heads off chickens

[action_item]

Action Item: Brainstorm 2-3 details for each example.

This may take more than 15 minutes. If so, that's okay.

Here are two tips as you brainstorm your content:

1. Use specific, visual examples to show your values.

Example: "Quails taught me patience" is vague. But note how the author of the "Animals" essay writes, "I incubated 32 quail eggs and every day I dedicated my afternoons to watching the eggs, checking the water levels, and making sure the temperature was okay." These details help us see how he developed the quality of "patience." In short, show us.

2. Can you provide a few examples instead of just one?

Example: "The dinner table is a place where I've found stability" is okay, but without an example (or three), we don't quite know what you mean. In the "Food" essay, the author follows up his claim with three quick examples: "My family is far from perfect, but it's in the presence of a tablecloth where time freezes and I begin to feel an unfamiliar sense of stability. It's where my brother Noah told my Dad he loved him after six years of not communicating; where Mom sat next to Dad without a lawyer by their side, and where my family has gathered for every birthday at the same restaurant since I was four." Again, notice that we can visualize each of these examples. Try thinking in photographs, then describe each image as succinctly as you can.

Step 3: Write an ending.

Remember: It doesn't even have to be a good ending right now; it just has to be an ending. Again, your goal on this first draft is not to write the most mind-blowing conclusion ever; you simply want to land the plane. Your ending could be as simple as, ["Each of these experiences has shaped me into the person I am today."] That's super cheesy, so you'd for sure want to put that in brackets and edit it later, but it would get the job done and get you to the next step.

Speaking of which ...