Imagine a gathering of famous figures...

College Essays
1

<p>For the University of Washington Honors prompt, </p>

<p>“Imagine that you could invite an unlikely duo or trio of historical, literary, or other fictional figures for a gathering at a coffeehouse. Explain whom you invited, why you brought them together, and what conversations might ensue from the meeting.”</p>

<p>would it be acceptable to make the essay a story of what happened at the actual meeting, rather than a straight-up essay talking about a hypothetical meeting? In said story, myself am the narrator and a character, but I don’t really participate in the conversation, nor do I explicitly state why I brought them together: I tried to let the conversation speak for itself (which is hard to do in 500 words…)</p>

2

<p>You are considering writing about an actual meeting of famous people?</p>

3

<p>I am considering writing about a meeting of Holden Caulfield, the Cheshire Cat, and the Dragon from John Gardner’s Grendel.</p>

4

<p>Could you please rephrase your question? I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you are getting at.</p>

5

<p>It sounds like you want to write a dialogue between the characters rather than a report of the conversation; is that correct? If so, that should be fine, provided that the dialogue does in fact show why you brought them together.</p>

<p>(Steve Allen did a PBS show like this, to wonderful effect, called “Meeting of the Minds.” If it’s out on DVD, it’s worth a look.)</p>