I know, I know, a week of deep thoughts for me huh?! Maybe it has something to do with all the revision.
First then, I considered what genre my life would be. Sadly I wouldn’t be a fantasy, as my life lacks dragons and giant flying eagles, broomsticks and daemons. Nor would I be a romance, see my other posts if you want to be depressed by how that is going. I wouldn’t be a classic, and I wouldn’t be an adventure. In fact, sadly enough, I concluded I would be one of two genres, and I don’t know which is worse. I would either be chick lit – you know the kind I mean, the stuff Jodi Picolt and Nora Roberts write – with ordinary characters (often regurgitated for their next novel with a name change) who go through some personal problem. Or I would be a character in an angsty book aimed at teenage girls; which, lets face it, with comments such as the above on why I wouldn’t be in a romance novel, I kind of deserve. Hermione would never say something like that.
Anyway, then I thought it doesn’t really matter which book I’m in, but which character I am. The characters after all don’t chose the books they inhabit. So then I considered the character I could be, and fortunately came up with something a little more cheering. I came up with 7 types of girl’s in books (let me know if I missed any):
The ‘spunky’ girl: the ones who are independent and have a lot of gumption, like Aarya Stark from Game of Thrones or Lyra from ‘His dark materials’, and although that’s the character I would most like to be, sadly I fear that isn’t me.
The ‘leader’: Tall, sexy, self-confident and don’t need no man. Very unlikely to have close girlfriends, and very likely to wander round her apartment with a glass of red wine in just an old t-shirt and pants. Definitely not me.
The cunning one: Similar to the leader, but cleverer, wittier, with more sarcasm, and a clear goal (often a man, and even sooner a married one). Also more likely to be an accomplice to murder than the leader.
The free spirit: The one with a guitar who wears earthy clothes and drinks green tea, and has hobbies like painting and drawing and walking on beaches at night.
The friend: reliable, loyal, probably a tad plain and a bit of a secondary character. I think of those I’ve named so far, this is probably most likely to me be. Could be worse I guess.
The guys girl: Athletic, into camping and similar hobbies, drinks beer, can look after herself, overlooked romantically.
Who do you think you would be? And who would you want to be if you are not already your favorite?
Anyway, my final thought as I sat sitting gazing out of my window like I imagine the free spirit would be likely to do, was my problem as a character. I have no goal. In my own life, I have no real goal. I am going to finish university, but after that, I don’t even know what I want from my life (or if we stick to the metaphor, my book). So I think I need to figure that out really, because one of the first things we were taught about creative writing is that every character needs to have a goal. Without one, I will never be a lead character in my own life, and that is just sad.
So that is my new goal: to discover my goal! To figure out what I want.
Sadly I got no replies from my applications from work experience or internships, which was a blow, but then I suppose I have no experience. So the goal for this summer is to get some experience, to pad out the novel of my life, and then maybe people will take more interest in me!
Here’s to being the lead character of my own life.
Until next time folks
1 year. 50 Books. 