I said, “I want to write a novel. But I don’t know what to write.” Mom told me try to put myself in it and maybe that’d make it easier. I told her she didn’t know what she was talking about. This isn’t Adaptation. “It’s not that easy,” I said. I screamed it, actually. I exclaimed it. It’s…not that easy. She says it is. I disagree. We disagree over and over before dropping the matter altogether.
We’re in the kitchen discussing the matter. The kitchen is in Philly. I’m trying to write a novel, but I have no idea. I have no ideas. Plural. No idea that’s original. My mom tells me stop. Think. Sit. Just stop. I tell her it’s not that easy. It’s…not that easy. We disagree over and over before dropping the matter altogether. We drop so many matters. Altogether.
We sit at the table and brainstorm.
Mom asks, “What do you want to write about?” I’m 19. She says, “Kayla, what do you want to write about?”
“I don’t know mom, that’s the problem!” She doesn’t understand. She’ll never understand. “I want to write about me… But not with me in it.”
She sighs. She laughs. “You want to write about you.”
“Not about me, but someone like me. I mean, something someone like me would read.”
I pause. I stare, suck teeth. “You get it?”
“Write about you.”
It’s not that easy.
I sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo feel you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It definately is not that easy! I did sit down and write about me but it was more like a journal then a memoir/novel. I would love to write about the things I’ve seen but I don’t have a wide enough imagination to twist it so no one know that it was you in that situation or maybe it was them….ARGH!
I see myself all in this post. I cant say or explain anything better than you did. I’m so going through this. And my mother doesn’t get it either.
Definitely experiencing these exact feelings. I want to write something about my experiences-something relatable to my peers-without actually being in it myself. Everyone says, “Just write”, but there’s so much apprehension when you feel like you have no clue what you’re doing, right down to what your protagonist’s name will be. Now, how the hell can I write a story with nameless characters? And just like that I lose all focus and…”drop the matter altogether”
It’s been FOREVER since this post (I’m new to your blog), so maybe you’ve had some luck since? I’d love to hear about it….thechicagorose@gmail.com