The Plot Sickens: Free-Write & Reflection

Free Write:

It was Christmas Eve. Fog stuck to the tarmac at Lindbergh field. All the passengers were finally situated and comfortable. The plane started moving forward through the eerie lane, and it was seconds before takeoff. Soon the aircraft would be leaving San Diego and arrive at Logan Airport. In a few hours, I’d be home. I was incredibly stressed with school; college is quite different from high school. All I wanted was to be home with my family. The plane continued to move, until suddenly it didn't. Followed by an awakening jolt, the plane stopped. Initially, no one thought anything of it. We all sat tediously, still expecting to be in the air in no time. However minutes passed. First two, then ten, and eventually fifteen. By twenty minutes, the plane was gridlock. My soon-to-be companions were rioting, wondering why we weren't moving. However, it was Christmas Eve, and as much as I wanted to join them, I was trapped in the holiday-spirit, unable to yell at anyone. I sat listening to the conversations of the diverse people surrounding me.

“Why aren’t we moving?” screeched William, who hadn't met me yet.

“This is ridiculous!” said his son Peter.

“Let me speak to the pilot! What’s going on?” I heard Julie say from a distance.

“Please, stay seated mam, we assure you we will be ready for takeoff soon.” The attendant replied, which we later learned was a lie. As time passed the plane still did not move; people were frantic.

“It’s Christmas Eve! What’s taking so long?” said Emily in the seat behind me.

I eventually decided to join in. “Yeah, can they take any longer?” 

Reflection:

            Referring to the author’s claim about young writers in “The Plot Sickens”, my free write piece evidently deviates. Initially, the prompt has an element of mystery. In my writing, the plane mysteriously stops before take-off, leaving the reader curious as to what happened. However there is no violence that includes characters being “burned alive, dropped from the sky” or even “being blow up on their way to baggage claim…” that the author mentioned her students included. In my prompt, eventually the reader indirectly learns that the plane never takes off. In fact, the main character becomes acquaintances with other passengers on the plane that evening. Consequently, the reader never discovers why the plane stopped, how the passengers meet, or even if the plane takes off, leaving an element of mystery. Although the story does not include violence, it is up to the reader to fill in the missing pieces, and decide if character’s will get their happy ending.

Million Dollar Essay Topic (Self- Deprecation Essay)

Million- Dollar Essay Topic

The perpetual amount of snow days, and desire to leave the house, was the one thing that made me look forward to going school that freezing morning. After dilly-dallying around the house and eventually getting dressed, I had finally made it to the car. The hardest part of my day was over- or so I thought. Creative Writing was my first class. This was where I would spend a solid hour wasting time deciding on an essay topic.

To be specific, the essay was on Self Deprecation. Immediately, a billion thoughts rushed to me. 

I'll write about how I'm talkative. Everyone always tells me I talk really fast.

I started writing.

Well now that I think about it I don’t talk that much. I'm pretty shy. Yeah, I'll write about my fear of socializing. I hate introducing myself. Ugh, how awkward. 

I thought.

But now that I think about it, I'm not shy, I just hate talking on command. So maybe I am talkative…well, talkative when I shouldn't be.

I was doing exactly what I would typically be doing in a situation like this. I could be offered a million dollars and my brain would still remain blank, and empty. Usually it takes me a while to plan before I write, so I wasn't worried. Eventually I decided to scratch my previous thoughts.

Okay, Kaylin. Restart.

That’s when it hit me. I was going to write a brilliant essay about how my athletics completely ruin my chances of have a social life! Constantly traveling for swim is one of the many things I love about the sport. Furthermore, it is also one of the reasons I loathe it. (Well I don’t loathe swimming. Perhaps you can call it a love-hate relationship). Many school vacations were stolen from me and sacrificed to my training. Sometimes, because my team is so competitive, I get pulled from school to compete.

Perfect!

I thought to myself, not realizing that I could easily loose track and turn it into an essay all about swimming rather that self-deprecating myself. So there I was, on to the next topic.

I'll write about my creativity! After all this is a creative writing class. Or I'll write about how I constantly procrastinate, and I can even use this morning as an example. No, maybe I will write about how I over analyze things too much. But, what's creative about that? Or any of this for that matter. I'm Doomed. Great Job, Kaylin.

For the next fifteen minutes I just sat, my mind completely wandering, at that point.

I'll do this when I'm home.

Hopefully no one noticed me, because I was a mess. I had been staring off into space doing absolutely nothing. I was so frustrated that I was ready to write about what I had for breakfast. Literally anything. Then, my new teacher, Mr. Kefor, explained to the class how we could potentially combine two negative traits we have into an essay.

Yeah like that helps.

Then  he made his way towards my desk.

"For example…" he began.

He pointed to my 3-2-1 Reflection that had gotten me nowhere, and suggested I combine two qualities.

You can combine how you over think things, with how you waste time.

It was not a bad idea, so I thought about it. 

Maybe. Yeah. Well. I don’t really know.

However it was a great idea. I kept asking myself why I hadn't I come up with that. With roughly ten more minutes of class, I started brainstorming about how my tendency to over think situations, always wastes so much time. Then, after finally gathering all my thoughts, I got home and typed up a story about how I somewhat, kind of, not really, did anything in class that morning.