Could I Be the Protagonist of the Next Great Novel?

          My life is, frankly, not the stuff of the conventionally dramatic novel.  It lacks the drama, trauma, intrigue, or crises of most books.  I have led a nicely dull life; the bad things that have happened to me are few, far between, and really not particularly terrible in the grand scheme of things.  As such, my initial reaction to this prompt was that no, I could not be the protagonist of a novel.  While I would be a fantastic supporting character, the leading lady was not, in my opinion, a role I am cut out for.

          However, two things changed that.  First, I saw Tina Fey’s memoir Bossypants in the Stanford bookstore.  What I remember most clearly about reading that book (aside from laughing so hard I had an asthma attack and ended up rolling, alternatively laughing and wheezing, to my inhaler) is that her stories were primarily about the minor dramas and neuroses we face every day.  My favorite story is the one where she describes getting her first period; it examines a very common experience, but with a sense of humor that makes you smile and nod in agreement.  On seeing the book, I thought of all the little funny moments that have peppered my life and thought, “Tina Fey would write a good book about my life.”  So perhaps I could be the protagonist of a comedic novel after all.  It would be an odd book, more of a collection of vignettes than anything else, but still interesting.

          The second event that changed my mind was talking to a friend about the novels we had read together in high school.  We tore through the work of Sarah Dessen, who writes teen romances, because she portrayed people going through the same sorts of minor dramas we as high schoolers were enduring.  It reminded me that, with the modern, widespread audience, people often look for novels that treat on the familiar as well as the dramatic.  I have read and enjoyed works that focus on the everyday drama, like Babbitt and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  No life is entirely without drama, mine included, and often it is the small emotional turmoils that we face that are the most interesting to read about.

          In sort, this assignment made me realize that novels can do something quite remarkable; they can draw attention to things we often take for granted and give them a sense of importance.  Things that, in our everyday lives, do not seem deeply meaningful can be made interesting through the attention of the author and the reader.  Anyone can, if the right writer is found, be an interesting protagonist; it simply takes someone with the eye for the right aspect to focus on.  (As for the right author for me, I still would like to nominate Tina Fey.)