Final Reflection

One thing’s for certain, I learned a lot in this class. I know I will always be thankful for the things I learned and the opportunity I got in this class to practice writing so I could get better. Which I definitely did. There is a clear difference between my pieces now versus my pieces from the beginning of the year. I feel like that realization is the reason for the advice I would give to new writers. Whenever someone starts a writing class, know that you will improve and figure out the style you write in. And it is important to not be discouraged if you don’t think your writing is good or you think people may be ‘better’ than you. I know from talking, reading, and peer reviewing throughout the year that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and that is ok. You may think your writing is absolute trash, but others may think it is amazing. It is important to not compare your writing with a negative mindset, but instead to use it to learn new things and improve at your own pace. I know the thing that was most helpful for me this school year was finding out what I liked writing, what genres and content, and then reading friend’s stories and them reading mine to then improve. A specific example of this is from my two friends Bella and Tess. From Bella’s stories and reviews, I improved on writing imagery. At the beginning of the year I wasn’t very good at it, and now I can see a drastic positive difference. From Tess’ stories and reviews, I improved on my grammar and characterization. I had a good grasp on both of those things in the beginning of the year, but I still notice improvement when reading my old stories versus the one I wrote recently. In return, I helped both of them with dialogue and writing science fiction. I will always value the things I learned and practiced this year to improve, and I am ready to continue practicing my writing outside of a class now.

    It wasn’t until I looked back through all my google docs that I realized I wrote quite a bit this year, both for this class and outside of it. I have four that I particularly like and two that are my favorites, but nonetheless, I need to choose my absolute favorite child. I think my favorite would have to be my piece called Newton’s Third Law. There are many things that I folded into this story that makes it my favorite. It is also currently my most unique piece, as it is my only sci-fi one. For context, here is an overview of the story. After an energy transfer from a black hole went wrong, Constance went from an esteemed pilot to not being able to distinguish what events are actually happening in any given moment. I’m honestly surprised that throughout the entire school year I only wrote one sci-fi piece. It is definitely the genre I enjoy reading and watching the most, so it was pretty easy to write it. I enjoyed creating this advanced science scenario and getting to incorporate stuff I find interesting like black holes and the instability of reality. Another thing I was happy I got to express in this piece is how medical complications can impact someone so drastically. Ever since 2020, I have gone through more than my fair share of medical and health hardships, including hospitalizations, surgeries, many different prescription medications, and living with chronic stomach pain and other chronic symptoms. I guess creating this story, which I have since expanded beyond this short story, was somewhat therapeutic in dealing with those feelings of not being in control of what happens to you and needing to find things you can be in control of. I hope that one day my future career that I am striving for will help me get this story out, and maybe this story will help other people that feel the same way as me.

    I am currently looking at colleges with the plan to major in screenwriting or writing for digital media. I have been dead set on this career path since sophomore year, and while I have been looking at what different schools have to offer in their writing course, I have only become more certain that this is what I would want to do. I have always loved stories in any form, but especially watching movies/tv shows. Writers like the Wachowski siblings, Christopher Nolan, and Dana Terrence just to name a few are big inspirations for what I want to also create during and after college. The improvement that I made during this class will most definitely come in handy when sending in portfolios. This class also helped me discover my writing style and what I like incorporating, which will be useful to know for writing classes in the future. Right now my first choice is Ringling College of Art and Design, and I hope to use their creative writing program to further what I learned in this creative writing class.

 

S. S. Stories

AZ

17 years old

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