Being stuck in quarantine has been making me feel so empty lately. I live with my mom and I enjoy being home but the monotony of this new reality is frustrating and depressing. I’ve taken this time to start writing stories again. I started writing personal short stories back in high school. To be fair a lot of them have become so long that they can probably be called novels. They’re a great outlet for personal expression and self reflection. Writing helps me process a lot of things I have shoved aside in to a comedic, dramatic, or fantastical picture.
The main character always serves as my self insert and a lot of times I put in my friends as characters for character development. Family is usually fictionalized as demonized versions, or fantasy fulfillment of what I wish my family was like. I get to re-write my life story and choose what and who I become. I have love stories, horror stories, slice-of-life, and fantasy adventure. Now i’m working on a super hero themed family. Its about having a family of superheroes and growing up with them.
It’s going to be a collection of vignettes, with each one being snapshots of different points in the main characters life. There are endless possibilities for story lines. There’s school life, friendships, relationships, family drama, work drama. Right now, my character is in middle school and I want to follow them through college creating or re-creating some of cool and fun life experiences. I’m still debating whether or not to give them super powers of their own. I want the character the emulate the kind of forced dependency I experienced when I was younger, but also be representative of the independence I made for myself. Characteristic representation is important in my writing because not only defines the destiny for the character, but also creates a relatable connection between fiction and reality. My stories all are inspired by my own experiences or others experiences. I want it to be believable as a lived reality- no matter how different our world is from the realm of fiction. It’s both an escape and a tether to reality.
I love stories that can give me that kind of experience. I just finished a book called Scythe by Neal Shusterman that was remarkable! It is set in a dystopian future where all illness and disease has been cured and people are able to live forever, even unlocking the secret to eternal youth. I’ll leave it at that if you want to read it for yourself and unravel the world building mysteries for yourself. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a good read while under quarantine.
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