Struggling with Your College Essay? Here are 5 Tips to Free Yourself from Writer’s Block
- Genine Babakian
- Oct 17, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 5, 2020
In this fourth in a series of college essay writing tips, the focus is on the beast that many high school students face:
Writer’s block.
Do you have a good idea for an essay, but you don’t know how to get started? Here are five tips to help free yourself from writer’s block.
1) Start in the middle.
The first paragraph of your essay is critical, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be the first step in your writing process. Take some of the pressure off by starting somewhere in the middle. Any paragraph will do. You might begin by describing context. For example, if your essay is about overcoming a personal failure (not making the team, losing the student council election, coming in dead last at the debate tournament), try writing about what that activity has meant to you. How you felt when you were part of a team, or a change agent in your own school/community. Or if your essay is about your desire to be an Olympic medalist, filmmaker, dog breeder, Supreme Court Justice (fill in the blank), you can begin by describing the steps that lead you to that goal. Pull out some memories that illustrate your lifelong desire.
2) Brainstorm first, organize later.
Your college essay is not the rigid, five-paragraph format you’ve been learning how to write since the third grade. You have the freedom to break out and tell your story in a creative and (hopefully) compelling way. Start by brainstorming – write what comes to mind without worrying about spelling and grammar and paragraph structure. Find the bare bones of your story first before you clean it up and figure out how the pieces fit together.
3) Write some alternative openings and pick the one you like the best.
You might already have a general idea about how you want to begin your essay; it’s a good idea to write your way in using different approaches. Try drafting dialog, depicting a memory, or describing a scene to see which opener appeals to you. There are many ways to tell a story!
4) Imagine writing your story as if you were telling it to a friend.
If you are writing about an experience that has had a strong impact on your life or challenged your point of view, you might feel more comfortable if you imagine sharing your narrative with a trusted friend, rather than a faceless admissions officer. It takes some of the pressure off and frees you to write.
5) Even better – TELL your story to a friend.
Your college essay is not a final exam that you should keep to yourself. Don’t be shy! Find a gentle reader or two – a friend, a relative, a neighbor – and bounce some ideas off of them. Gaining their perspective may help you hone your message.
The topic next week? How to write a strong conclusion to your college essay.
For more information on one-on-one college essay coaching, email me at wwfinephrases@gmail.com, or check out: https://www.finephrases.com/college-essays.
Previous posts in the College Essay Tips series include:
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Great advice! The tip about just writing without editing first is honestly the best way to bypass that internal critic. College students face so much pressure with tight deadlines, which easily triggers writer's block. When balancing multiple research papers at once, sometimes standard tips aren't enough, leading people to seek professional avenues like humanities assignment help online to get their research back on track. This post is a great reminder that breaking the process down is key. Bookmarking this for later!
This blog really hits on something most CS students only figure out after losing marks! I remember staring at an assignment brief for hours, not because I didn't know how to code, but because I genuinely couldn't decide which paradigm to use. The debate around Object-Oriented vs Functional Programming can feel overwhelming when your lecturer doesn't spell it out clearly. What I found most useful here is the practical framing — asking "am I modelling real-world things or transforming data?" is such a simple but effective question to start with. The comparison table is a great quick reference too, especially for students juggling multiple assignments at once. I'd also add that many modern projects actually blend both approaches, so understanding…
This is such a relatable post — writer's block hits harder than most students expect, especially when the stakes feel so high! The tip about starting in the middle is something I wish I'd known earlier; I spent hours staring at a blank intro when I could've just jumped into the story. The advice to brainstorm freely before organizing also resonates deeply. Academic pressure doesn't stop at college essays, though — many students face the same mental freeze when working on research assignments and complex data projects too. I've personally found that breaking tasks into smaller pieces, just like you suggest here, works wonders. For instance, students using SPSS Assignment Help services often discover that tackling data analysis step by…
This was a very meaningful and engaging post that I found extremely useful. The explanation of how to choose GCSE Speech Topics was clear, practical, and easy to follow. I appreciated how the author encouraged students to select topics they are passionate about, making speeches more authentic and impactful. As a learner, I often look for guidance like this when preparing for assessments. Posts like this help students feel more confident and prepared for public speaking tasks.