Henry Williams

Prof. Furuness

PCA-233

Dec. 14, 2021

I feel like I’ve really worked on plot development throughout the semester. If you look at the

first story I wrote, you can see that it wasn’t fully developed. The plot seemed lackluster, and the

motive for escape wasn’t all there. He just wanted to escape for himself, not to help save

someone or to get the plot further developed. I feel like having an underlying plot to go with it

really helps the writing develop into its own piece that really works well in the setting I created. I

really feel like I shone with my pirate writing for my final piece, I feel like it really shows how I

can create a narrative that is unique but still pulls from elements of other authors/writers.

After originally writing the story, I was encouraged by Professor Furuness to research

further into pirate stories and popular media. He recommended Black Sails which I have since

started to check out and watch. Without seeing the show, I feel like I already had some elements

that were present in that very show. In my story, they were after the same treasure ship, the Urca

de Lima which I found by googling something like “the largest sixteenth-century European cargo

ship.” I stumbled upon it and went to town. I found later in my research that it actually never

carried any gold or silver, but I thought a prominent ship like it would have gold for the purpose

of my story. Along with this another element that seemed to pop into it that was similar was the

idea of a younger/new member of the crew being brought under the wing of the senior captain of

the ship. I drew a lot of the elements for my store from Treasure Island by Robert Louis

Stevenson, which upon my further research is the same story that Black Sails took its inspiration

from. I thought that it was really cool to see how two different people could create a story that
was similar, yet unique in its own special way from a model text. I also took ideas from the spy

stories I have been working on all semester. I picked up a Tom Clancy book, A Gathering of

Spies, at the book store earlier this month and have been slowly chipping away at it. One of the

big ideas in that story so far has been the idea of hiding in plain sight. Using disguises and other

methods that people wouldn’t commonly think about in order to sneak past anyone who would

be suspicious of you. The pirates used this tactic to sneak onto the Urca de Lima and eventually

offload the gold in barrels and to keep walking around without anyone being suspicious. I also

used an idea that I pulled from not a book I read, but rather a game I played a few years ago. This

is one of the Hitman games I played in my youth, and the idea is that higher-ranking guards will

be able to recognize if someone isn’t a part of their crew and be able to spot them out. I used this

idea to keep them having to sneak around on the galleon, which I thought was a good use of

sources outside of writers. I also tried to use the non-verbal descriptive/plot elements I learned

from my two outside-of-class experiences, specifically when the one lad is falling off of the ship.

I feel like I am confident as a writer, I have explored many different avenues of writing

over the semester and I feel like I was able to really grow in confidence. At the beginning of the

semester, I wasn’t really confident in my writing, this was partially due to feeling overshadowed

by my twin brother, who has always had an affinity to writing that I could never grasp. This

semester has really taught me how to take control of it though, letting me really write what I

want to write and feel good about it. I really enjoy this improvement, and it has even allowed me

to explore even further which will help my skills beyond the classroom.

At the beginning of the semester, my plan was always to wait until the last minute and

grind out what I could before the deadline. While in my journal I didn’t achieve the level of work

I wanted, this is mostly due to the fact that I work better online. I have found that I really like
writing on the computer as it lets me quickly edit what I’m writing without having to rewrite an

entire passage or sentence. This has helped me also, as I don’t like my personal handwriting, and

being able to just press a key and have a perfectly legible letter mark on a page has been really

nice. I have since started planning out my writings and working on them slowly, getting more

and more done each day and really digging in deep into what I have been writing. So bringing a

laptop with me is a must, but I have neglected my journal all semester and that will come back to

haunt me. I have also found that I really like working next to someone, having a little bit of

company beside me as I work, even if they are non-verbal the entire time. Having someone there

to take a break with, and just enjoy the time really helps me relax and lessens the burden of a

deadline. My girlfriend has also been very helpful and supportive, as she is my writing buddy

almost 100% of the time. I can always count on her to take the time to go to a quiet study room

with me while I write and she works on homework. I have found that I like a little noise in the

background and that I like the have headphones in, but not to be playing music. I feel like the

sensation of them in my ears calms me down and helps downplay/muffle the noises of the

outside world. I find comfort in these things and they really help me excel in my writing. This is

a big change from the loud dorm room, with someone blasting music in the background. At that

point, I just used the headphones to drown out the overwhelming noise of them being loud.

When I secluded myself in a quieter environment I found that I would forget to put music on,

and when the headphones came out I would freeze up and not know what to write. So overall I

feel like I’ve made great progress in the area of finding a great place and routine to write within.

At the beginning of the semester, I thought a good writer just secluded themselves in a

study and wrote all day long until ideas stuck. Throwing out page after page until they come

across the right idea for them. This I can blame mostly due to popular culture, as they portray
writers as this. I have come to many differences from this, but also similarities as I have

developed myself as a writer. I have realized that good writers can take almost any form, whether

it be casual or professional, anyone can be a good writer. There is however a common thread that

ties them all together, and this thread is the persistence to keep on writing. Many writers get

discouraged, but good writers instead look for other works for inspiration in times of need. They

pull from fellow writers, and in turn provide material for those fellow writers to pull off of too. It

is a community-based profession/hobby that relies on the interaction of many parts to be

successful. And it isn’t just someone locking themselves away with their scribbles.

For me, as a storyteller and writer is to keep on accumulating tactics and knowledge, I

can use in order to further bolster my stories. I can keep on reading outside of my comfort zone,

reading books I would never have given thought to in the past. I also want to review books I have

read for school in the past, such as Slaughterhouse-Five. I feel like with this new literary lens I

can actually appreciate the pieces for what they are and not just mull through them because a

class told me to. While accumulating what I said above, I also must keep applying it. You can

have all the knowledge in the world, but there is no point without application. I feel like with this

mix, I can also develop my own styles and ideas in tandem. This will bolster me as a great writer

and make me well rounded for the future that lies ahead of me.