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

1. A simple, clear opening

2. 4-7 paragraphs with specific examples and values

3. An ending

In a later lesson, I'll walk you through what a great 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 "Skill/Superpower" essays:

• "Growing up, I loved exploring the unknown."

• "For years, I've been fascinated with the connections between seemingly unrelated things."

The topics for the essays above are super clear. But I'm not saying you have to mention your topic in your first sentence. You might instead write a lead-in that doesn't mention your topic explicitly. If you do this, you might want to let us know relatively soon where you're taking us. Here are a couple examples of essays that do that:

Example 1:

I'm standing on the roof of my gym looking down at the mats in the parking lot twenty feet below. I close my eyes to prepare for the plunge and calm my nerves, though logically, I know that I won't miss my target. I take a deep breath, bend my knees, and dive downwards into my flip...

For three years, I've been training parkour and freerunning*. Initially, it was just another one of the nine sports I had previously attempted, but sometime during the first few months of learning the basics, my newfound hobby became an essential piece of my life. *

Example 2:

November 2011. A frosty New England night in my grandparents library, winter knocking on autumn's door. My grandmother's knitting needles click together like clockwork as a Hitchcock film lights up the TV. My curiosity takes over, and I ask her to teach me. Over the next few years I develop knitting skills, grow out of the basic "knit and purl" stitch and move on to the chevron, andalusian, and diamond brocade, my personal favourite. Gradually, knitting has turned into an evening ritual, and over the years brought me closer with my grandmother.

Note I've highlighted the topics in bold above: parkour and knitting.

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, "My superpower is listening." 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 part is what my friend Mignon Fogarty (a.k.a. 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 "Beatboxing" essay as a model, since you've read that one. The examples and values the author wanted to demonstrate were:

• Indian classical music → family, culture

• Mainstream American music → dedication

• Different cultures' percussive sounds → diversity

• Teaching Rachel beatboxing → helping others, freedom

• Playing supporting role → humility

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

• Indian classical music → family, culture

  • Ex: "During summer trips to Yosemite, I spent hours absorbed in the unique sounds of ragas from Indian classical music."

• Mainstream American music → dedication

  • Ex: " While I struggled initially, I refused to let down my group. I committed to mastering the mechanical intonations and buzzing sounds, uninterrupted coordination of the lips, tongue and throat."

• Different cultures' percussive sounds → diversity

  • Ex: "For inspiration, I looked to different cultures emblematic of the roots of rhythm. I discovered the percussive African Güiro, drew from the Cuban Clave, Puerto Rican Reggaeton and Colombian Cumbia, merging these diverse sounds into synchronous patterns."

• Teaching Rachel beatboxing → helping others, freedom

  • Ex: "When we encouraged her, she shied away. Slowly though, as I beatboxed more and more, she began to tap her hands on her knees. The next session, she was bobbing her head from side to side. Finally, on Halloween, I saw a different Rachel. As I beatboxed, she began to make the kick drum — BOP! — and joined me in a raucous cacophony."

• Playing supporting role → humility

  • Ex: "More than anything, being a beatboxer has humbled me. I have found joy in my supporting role, in its power to propel everyone forward."

[action_item]

Action Item (10-15 min): Brainstorm 2-3 details for each example.

This may take more than 10-15 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: "I like solving problems" is okay. But it's so much more interesting to read: "When I was 8, I taught myself how to pick locks. I always dreamed of how cool it must have been inside my brother's locked bedroom. So I didn't eat at school for two weeks and saved up enough lunch money to buy a lockpicking set from Home Depot. After I wiggled the tension wrench into the keyhole and twisted it counterclockwise, I began manipulating the tumblers in the keyhole with the pick until I heard the satisfying click of the lock and entered the room. Devouring his stash of Lemonheads was awesome, but not as gratifying as finally getting inside his room." Can't you just see this whole scene? In short, show us what this value looks like in your life.

2. Can you provide a few examples instead of just one? Example: "I enjoyed exploring the music from other cultures" is okay, but without an example (or three), we don't quite know what you mean. In the "Beatboxing" essay, the author follows up his claim with three quick examples: "I discovered the percussive African Güiro, drew from the Cuban Clave, Puerto Rican Reggaeton and Colombian Cumbia, merging these diverse sounds into synchronous patterns. I even returned to my roots as a Punjabi, using sounds of the dholki and tabla." That's what I'm talking about.

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, for example, ["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.