Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Me as a Novel's Protagonist?

Initial thoughts:

I would most certainly want to read a novel with me as protagonist, but only to see how an author would tell my life. And perhaps for an opportunity to engage in self-reflection. Whether or not my life could be fictionalized and made interesting to read, however, is questionable. I'm not sure anyone would be captivated by a story with me as a protagonist, to be honest. My life has been beautiful and blessed and truly wonderful, but I'm not sure it has the makings to become an interesting narrative. A narrative needs conflict. Where is or was my conflict? Yeah, I suppose there are elements of my life that seem sad or might have provided struggles or obstacles, but no more than in anyone else's life. There's no unique conflict, is there?

If narrative truly captures the human experience, then of course it'd be possible to capture my life in narrative; it'd be a very true human experience. But would it be worthwhile reading? I suppose a writer can exaggerate. But what would the focal point of the narrative be? Where would it start? Where would it end? My life hasn't ended yet, and there hasn't been a significant end stop.

Sure getting into Stanford was significant - even life changing - but do people really want to read about that? And, how to capture it? I'd say my sister's life would be much more captivating as a story. She has had a tragic moment in life - breaking her knee - and it still affects her to this day. That might be inspiration for a story, but does a similar inspiration exist in my life? I honestly don't know. A writer has to have inspiration to write. Does my life inspire a story to be written? If it can't be written - if it doesn't inspire being written down - how could I expect anyone to want to read it? Although I don't know the answers to these questions, I think it'd be wonderful to see what an author would do with my life story. How they would write it, and what they would highlight.


Later thoughts (namely after reading Panorama City):

Yes. Yes. Yes. I would want an author to write a novel with me as protagonist. And yes yes yes I think I could be compelled by it. A skilled author could most certainly make the narrative worth reading. Although there may not have been a compelling tragic event in my life, there are endless internal struggles and conflicts. Some of those, I’m sure, would be compelling. In Development of the Short Story, we discussed the idea of style being the important part of a story, not the subject matter. Perhaps this is true. Would the subject matter of Panorama City be as compelling without the style with which it is told? I’m not sure. But regardless, I now have some faith that my life story could become a compelling narrative. Sometimes the internal conflict is what is most compelling. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.