Revising the “Toy Story Method” of Essay Writing
July 24, 2015
A few weeks ago, I wandered across a blog post titled 鈥�.鈥� As a lifelong Pixar fan, I was intrigued by the title and eager to see how the author advised college-bound writers to apply a well-known plot structure to writing an admissions essay. While the author makes some fantastic points about what has worked for his students, I wanted to share my ideas for how to use the 鈥溾�楾oy Story鈥� Method鈥� to write an admissions essay with the 国产第一福利影院草草 crowd.
The original blog post concludes by highlighting a deceptively simple question 鈥� 鈥淪o what?鈥� The author advises his students to 鈥渨rite that question at the top of your essay, in the margins, and at the end,鈥� but he doesn鈥檛 explain what you鈥檙e supposed to do if you can鈥檛 answer it! I agree that it can be a useful question 鈥� in fact, it was one of my graduate school colleague鈥檚 favorites in seminar discussions 鈥� but if you can鈥檛 answer why it鈥檚 important or how to revise your work to say 鈥淭his is what!鈥�, you鈥檙e sort of stuck! What if the 鈥渋nsight鈥� the question is supposed to lead you to eludes your tired, essay-fatigued brain?
Instead of asking 鈥淪o, what?鈥� at the end of each sentence or paragraph, you might have better luck with something like, 鈥淲hat does this say about me?鈥� or, alternatively, 鈥淲hat do I want the reader to know about me?鈥� Of course, you could interpret either of these questions as a convoluted way of asking, 鈥淪o, what?鈥�, but I would argue that it actually does very different work.
In my opinion, 鈥淪o, what?鈥� assumes that every sentence has an objective that needs to be met, as if there鈥檚 a right way to express a point or that every sentence must be linked to a specific argument. That may be true in an analytical essay, but the same rules don鈥檛 apply to narrative writing. Even in a short essay, you should feel free to stretch your creative legs, especially when you鈥檙e asked to write about yourself. Don鈥檛 hold yourself accountable for rationalizing every sentence!
In fact, by asking what each sentence says about you, you allow yourself to be multiple things at once and to tell more than one story at the same time. A particularly descriptive sentence may underscore your imaginative qualities while demonstrating your mastery of the metaphor. An alliterative phrase may illustrate your whimsical nature and flair for language. A poignant conclusion may showcase your knack for distilling complex ideas into a single sentence while highlighting your sense of humor. In other words, it matters what you say and how you say it. Answering 鈥淪o, what?鈥� may only show you half of that equation.
Lastly, in my opinion, the key feature of every Pixar film is the memorable cast of characters. From a superhero going through a mid-life crisis, to a rat cooking fancy French cuisine, to runaway emotions lost in the labyrinth of long-term memory, the films teach us about ourselves and what it means to be human by telling a universal story. We care about the characters because we see our experiences reflected in their encounters with the rest of their world, even if we鈥檝e never been 鈥渢o infinity and beyond.鈥� We connect to them because at some point in our lives we鈥檝e felt like they did. We recognize ourselves in the stories they tell.
With that in mind, rather than trying to write a 鈥渟trong narrative鈥� or to 鈥渕ake it new鈥� like the author of the blog post suggests, just tell the admissions committee what it鈥檚 like to be you! I would argue that that is how you can apply the lessons of 鈥淭oy Story鈥� storytelling to compose a memorable admissions essay.
