Reflections on Mute Dancers: How to Watch a Hummingbird

     This week we are transitioning from fiction writing to creative essay writing. At first, I was a little confused on how to write a creative essay. Ever since high school, I've written a lot of essays, but they were not like this. They were often full of information, but often bland. From what I understand, creative essays are a more detailed version of an essay. A topic is needed, as well as a flow of what the content is talking about. It needs to be informational enough to have a point, but it's laid out more loosely than a typical essay. It's almost like fiction and essays melt together to make a combined masterpiece. For some, this can be challenging. For others, creating an essay like this is a walk in a park. Still, I have been having trouble with learning how to create these unique essays and I think this story, Mute Dancers: How to Watch a Hummingbird, is a great example of a creative essay.
     This story is has a pretty simple topic. The author talks about hummingbirds and her experiences and knowledge about them. When I first read this, I thought that it was amazing that she was able to put enough information and detail that made the topic brighten and bloom. If hummingbirds were a subject for a regular essay, there is a great chance that the content would be bland and have a lack of interest. Through each paragraph, the author reveals different facts about hummingbirds and shares her stories that back up and create fluffy details. She describes the fast, little birds in such a way that it perfectly creates a beautiful image in the brain. I thought that the way she was able to combine imagery details with facts was brilliant. An example of this is, "In the dark night of the hummingbird, it can sink into a zombie-like state of torpor; its breathing grows shallow and its wild heart slows to only 36 beats a minute," When she talks about her and a friend's personal experiences, it flows really nicely and compliments with the topic. That is something that I know I need to work on. I can put information down and I can talk about my personal experiences, but I cannot flow them together well.
     What's unique about this story and the author is the fact that she is able to put enough detail to make it believable. The content could be nothing but pure imagination, because how the story flows is what makes everything believable. I think that is key for these type of stories. Although they should be truthful, the story needs to feel like it is real. So some writers might put little white lies in their work, however if they form it right, no one will know if what they are saying is right or wrong. Like the example in the previous paragraph. The author talks about the fact that hummingbirds slow their heartbeat down to 36 beats per minute while they sleep. Since she writes this in such a descriptive sentence, we are to believe that she is telling the truth. Whereas she could merely guessed a number that sounded right. That;s the thing though, I believe that stories should be true and are mostly, but a story with so much detail can have many made up facts. For me, this keeps me thinking about the story even after reading it. I often wonder if that fact was true, so I looked it up, and it is possible that she is right. I think that is key to create a story where it questions the reader if it is true or false, because it leaves a memorable mark on them. This goes the same with stories that have extraordinary detail, or ones that are very relate-able to the readers.
     Overall, this story is very interesting in a simple way. It is all about one single, tiny bird and because of the great detail, it keeps the reader entertained to read to the end. The combination of facts and details really make the topic and content intriguing. The way how the details are described is really unique to the point where it is imaginable to picture in your head. This creative essay is a great example on how to write one, especially because the whole story flows very well. When writing future creative essays, I will look back onto this story to help guide me to create one a good as this.