Reflection Questions

Backward-Looking

What process did you go through to produce this piece?

The first process that I went through to begin thinking of ideas of an original myth was a
discussion to the entire class about common myths that are still used today. For example,
Chupacabra is a very common myth in many Latin-American countries, or also the famous myth
of La Llorona from Mexico, which we discussed about. Thinking about these myths then helped
us simulate possible ideas for our myth which then brought me to brainstorm things that I was
interested about but didn’t personally understand, even if there was a scientific explanations.
One of the things I thought of ended up involving dreams which I incorporated into my final
question for my myth, why do we wake up at the most interesting part of our dream? Once we
had choose our topic for the myth, we then had to create a plot diagram that would entail every
major part of the story including the exposition, climax, resolution and everything else in
between. This really helped me because it allowed to come up with the basis of my story
quickly, but make it more detailed as I began writing.

What part of your myth are you most proud of? Why?

The part of my myth that I feel most proud of would probably be the climax problem that I
created that would ultimately need a resolution, and eventually answer the problem. The climax
or main problem was that humans never wanted to wake up because dreams were so
interesting, and that is true most of the time. Our dreams can be so intriguing that we don’t want
to wake up; and if we do, we want to go back to sleep and return back to the dream. I like how I
was able to incorporate real struggles that actually happen in everyday like, and with a lot of
brain storm I figured that the problem didn't need to be so difficult. As long as there was a
resolution that would be able to solve the problem, and the resolution answered my initial
question, I was satisfied.

Inward-Looking

What did you learn about yourself as you worked on this piece? How?
I learned that I tend to come up with my best ideas when I am very frustrated and have failed
many times. I came up with many plots before I began writing but would end up altering it so
much that it was life a new plot. When I become frustrated and hopeless, I would suddenly think
of something that seemed like an actual climax or a reasonable resolution, and I would
immediately be delighted by my new idea. It is true that you need to fail a lot in order to succeed
because my ideas did not come to me easily, and it took a lot of trial and error to end up in the
final product.

Outward-Looking

What is the one thing you want people to notice when they look at your work? Why?

What I want people to mostly notice from myth is probably that my string of ideas came from a
creative process that took a lot of brainstorming and trial-and-errors. I want people to notice this
because I think everyone should know that it isn’t easy to make a story when following
guidelines that have to make sense for a reader and still connect to everything we learn in class.
When you are always trying to perfect your work, it makes you think more and come up with
new ideas. Sometimes, ideas don’t come so easily so essentially you might have to rethink
about your story and really care that it turns out good. If you care that your story turns out good,
it will become a good story because you’ve realized that making an original story takes a lot of
creative thinking.

Forward-Looking

Looking back at the writing process, what was the most challenging step? Why?

The most challenging part of creative my myth was making an interesting climax that would
want the reader to continue reader. This was hard for me because I have a minor problem in the
exposition that is resolved in the rising action, but I knew had to make a bigger problem that
would eventually be solved to answer my essential question. When I was creating my plot, I
began confusing my climax and rising action together and it was hard to distinguish what the
climax was. I had to learn how to separate my writing by making one section more detailed so
that it was much more descriptive for the reader, and so that the reader had no questions about
why I had created something in the myth.
What is one goal for improving that step?

My goals would be to learn how to be very descriptive and specific in my writing so that my
reader doesn't feel confused about something in my future stories. I could do this by continuing
to make plot diagrams which have helped me really gather my ideas into an actual story. Yet
once I make that, I could be more descriptive in each section so that the story line falls into
place and it sounds more like an interesting story someone would want to read. Being very
specific in a narrative is very important because most of the time, it is completely made up. You
have to be descriptive because
what may sound very good to the author, also has to sound very good to the reader.