What's it like to live in 2025?
In this post I cover the prompt for The Essay Architecture Prize, why I picked it, some approaches, our judging criteria, the rules, 50+ examples ... and the book is live!| Essay Architecture
In this post I cover the prompt for The Essay Architecture Prize, why I picked it, some approaches, our judging criteria, the rules, 50+ examples ... and the book is live!| Essay Architecture
Have you explored a terrain of concepts to find a central idea that can organize complexity?| Essay Architecture
Have you tapped into your personal and cultural memory to build an argument that supports your thesis?| Essay Architecture
Do biographical events from your life make your thesis relatable?| Essay Architecture
Have you explored two sides of an argument to come to an unexpected conclusion?| Essay Architecture
Have you organized complexity through a central idea that is concrete, contextual, and catalytic?| Essay Architecture
Is your essay centered around a representative example that makes your thesis concrete?| Essay Architecture
Is your thesis framed as part of an existing conversation so it has societal context?| Essay Architecture
Have you crafted an alluring, phonetic phrase that represents your main idea?| Essay Architecture
Does your title give an immediate impression that compels your reader to start?| Essay Architecture
Have you designed a bold, linear path so a reader without context is both oriented and intrigued?| Essay Architecture
Do most paragraphs open with tension, move with flow, and close with reward?| Essay Architecture
Do paragraphs end on a reward?| www.michaeldean.site
Unlike literary prizes w/ vague standards, I've turned an unreasonably detailed rubric into software + am giving you unlimited access. Runs 9/15-11/9. Goal: publish an anthology w/ 10+ essays >4.5/5.| www.michaeldean.site
Why I rebuilt Essay Architecture from scratch| www.michaeldean.site
Let's analyze composition across the 2024 anthology| www.michaeldean.site
Essay Architecture undergoes a phase change| www.michaeldean.site
The hidden center that brings order to chaos.| www.michaeldean.site
Here’s a change log of my consciousness.| www.michaeldean.site
What do you keep as you sift through silos?| www.michaeldean.site
Turning the Ur pattern into code| www.michaeldean.site
You can't change the world without being wrong| www.michaeldean.site
Your essay is a building in a fuzzy cultural map| www.michaeldean.site
Assay, forgotten brother of the essay| www.michaeldean.site
Grokking the world through volcanoes and lobsters| www.michaeldean.site
Oops, I'm writing a textbook.| www.michaeldean.site
