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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As someone who has worked in this space, I'd like to call attention to the fact that the Brown Table essay everyone loves so much is on the "forbidden topics" or "overdone topics" lists you see a lot of -- death of a grandparent.

This is proof that there is no such thing as a list of topics you can't write about. Just wanted to point that out.

Agree with the PP who cautions against applicants using that essay as a model though. It is a great essay, coming from a young writer anyway, but when I read it I want a lot more insight into the writer and who they are. [/quote]

I think this comment speaks to something  important. This essay is only ostensibly “about” a death, or for that matter a table. What it’s really about is what the writer notices as the world shifts and changes around her.

OP, don’t go searching for a topic. Instead start by talking to your kid about what they love. Big things, small things, odd things, silly things. A place, a song, a person, the crack of a ball against a wooden bat, a bathrobe they didn’t buy at the thrift store around the corner, the way misty rain makes the lichen on trees come alive. Can be anything.

Zoom in, and out, from there. Have them do some exercises exploring why they love this thing, or naming some key moments related to that thing, or imagining a world without it. The real theme — the thing that the essay is actually about — will begin to emerge, slowly at first.

Don’t think about impressing anyone. Just help DC tell the truth, even if the truth feels small and unimpressive. An ability to reveal something true about oneself, even if small, is rare. And so it IS impressive. [/quote]

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