If you find a boy standing at the edge of a pier staring into the clear blue sky you may have found yourself a writing boy. You will know he is a writing boy because when you join him in blindly watching the emptiness of the blue you will begin to see the subtle outlines of a map slowly etching itself into the seams of the world.

And if you want to sail your ship with the writing boy, here are some things you must know, because beware he who writes will possess a lexicon capable of describing most anything. A mast–a tall primeval, the helm–smoothly circular in structure but when magnified; sharply organized, and to a writing boy the herculean vast ocean becomes nothing more than a blank canvas waiting to be scrawled all over.

You might find it hard to approach the boy who writes, seeing that he is often monotonously absorbed within his own phantasmic world. But once you get near, you’ll see the marlin trailing hooked along portside, the visible surface of the sperm whale, but be cautious for when you accompany a writing boy you will be traveling through a wonderland, where astonishment and stupefaction will likely become your normal state of mind.

If you want to date a writing boy take it slowly because a writing boy knows people are nothing more than personality, and like characters they develop. Take it slowly because a writing boy knows that whereas a protagonist is a follower of story who can never be too geeky or eccentric, a real interesting character can have the freedom to choose between continuing their voyage or taking a lifeboat down to the beach to explore the subplot where the eyes of theme will never see.

If the writing boy likes you he may propose. He may propose in the sandy Whitsunday islands, in beautiful crystal Grenadine water, while in soul-stirring Hawaiian dance or even in a quiet Greek isle. But no matter how beautiful it may be you will not remember it, for all that fills your mind are all the journeys along the way. When you traveled twenty thousand leagues under the sea with Captain Nemo or when you helped an old man named Santiago tote his gear to his ramshackle hut, while talking through the latest developments in American baseball centering on the trials of the old man’s hero, Joe DiMaggio.

But do remember that the writing boy always returns home to start anew, because a writing boy knows that in all good stories whether Shakespearean, Freytag, or Fichtean there will always be a denouement leading into finale. But worry not because the writing boy has also shown you that with every ending another beginning starts. And the writing boy knows that there will always be a new maiden voyage patiently awaiting for your forthcoming to inscribe into the vastness of the starrily bright, night sky.