I write novels. Check my high school Senior Superlative: “Most Likely To Write A Bestselling Novel”
I know that’s not something I talk about often here, since this isn’t a place for novels to be written, published or moreover, even talked about. I just sit here and I write articles, little stories about my life, and share them with all of you to the best of my ability. They talk to you about parts of my life I’m not always open about, including my childhood struggles and why I’ve found more confidence when dyeing my hair, or even why I stopped believing in love. All of these things, all of these topics, they’re fluff compared to what I do best.
I’ve been a novelist for my entire life. As I’ve grown older, I’ve looked deeper into my favorite genre of realistic fiction and try to come up with new and exciting stories no one thinks to write about. I like plot twists that steer a novel right out of the cliché pack, and these twists are what contribute to my stories being liked by many, including my classmates and professors.
It wasn’t until I was in high school that I knew that I’d be able to be a novelist. I always dreamed of that being an accomplishment in life but wasn’t even completely sure I would be able to create a career out of it. Not only did I begin writing online, but also my story is still widely known in the circle of people that were interested in it. Nothing I’ve written has ever compared, but also college keeps me from being a novelist like I was in high school.
But why did I think this was something I could do? Because it’s one of the few things I am actually capable of doing. Somehow, words make more sense through my fingers than through speaking. I can think straight; I can think clearly when my fingers individually type the words I want to say. And when that happens, I get some of my best work.
“Et iter per tempus. Sed pretium pretium fuerit. It means I travel through time. But prices shall be paid.”
“Falling in love with him isn’t because he’s alone. It’s not because I wanted to look at some guy and force him to love me back. No. Falling in love with him is a mistake and a privilege. Because falling in love with your best friend is dangerous and it’s beautiful. It says You know me, more than I know myself. And I love you in spite of all the things you’ve done wrong or broken, or the things that have broken you.”
“Why do I have a hard time believing you?” “Because that’s like wishing on a shooting star. It’ll never get you what you want no matter how hard you believe.”
All these quotes are from my most recent novel that took me most of college to complete, and that will never see the light of day due to the egregious amount of edits it has to go through. But it is a 380-page novel nonetheless.
And that’s what I excel in.
I want to tell stories that aren’t normal. I want to show that the cliché’s we’re so adept to seeing can be spun on their heads can be made different with one small spin. This story is about falling in love with your best friend but instead of doing everything to be with them, the novel does everything never to be with them. If we keep writing the same stories we’ll never be as different as the authors that get pushed to the back of the genre.
So why do I do it? It’s one of my only true talents. Why do I think I’m good at it? Because I’ve never felt so much praise for a piece of work in school other than my writing. I’ve excelled immensely, I still do while in college. There’s never an assignment that is too difficult when it comes to writing, as long as I’ve got my computer, my ten fingers and some fun music to listen to as I work.
When I graduate, the goal for my life is the same it’s always been. I’ll get the job that I need to so I have money and a way to live, and I’ll sit home at write, creating the worlds that I love so dearly and the characters that I fall so deeply in love with. In my mind, it’s a dream. I want someone to read my stories, read my worlds and inspire them the same way my favorite authors did. I want to inspire the kids who know they have the creative gene inside of them. I want them to find their love of writing through accidentally touching the hearts of hundreds, even thousands of people.
I want to show them that it’s real and true and can happen for them, too.
If I’m sitting here as a college senior, knowing that my path for the future is already laid out, no matter how many twists and turns come, then I know others can find the same happiness that I’ve found.
Novel writing isn’t easy.
But when you love it, it’s as simple as breathing. A deep breath in, a deep breath out, and a story is born.