Off the Paper

Can the protagonist of a novel be anyone? Absolutely. Would I read a story about myself? Probably. Could a good novel about me ever be written? Eh, still very unclear. 

As I thought about this question, similar to most of my classmates, I came to the conclusion that I would probably find a novel about my life to be interesting enough to finish- if not only for the chance to see how another author would interpret my life. That being said, it's not very surprising to me at all that most people on this blog said they would read a novel about their own life. The fact of the matter is the favorite subject of most people is themselves. Honestly, I know so many people who like me a lot solely because I let them talk about themselves. It is amazing how interesting most people view their own lives to be- whether or not they would admit it- for good reason considering they have to live it. Anyways, I am not saying this is a bad thing by any means. I am just writing this to point out the fact that whether or not I would read a book about myself is probably not a great indication of whether or not a book about me is one worthy being written. And (excuse my assumptions but) this probably holds true for the majority of people on this blog and in this class.

The question is: would my classmates read a book about me? And I think I would have to say no, at least for now. I in no way think that means I am less interesting than most of the people around. Instead, I think that I am probably around the same level of engaging as they are. As a result, I would not want to read my story or their story because it is a story I could (or literally, do) live. Someday, I might look back at this post and I might have really found something to give my life to, or perhaps I'll have succeeded (or failed) tremendously at something that will be worth sharing. Or maybe, I'll have lived a long enough life to realize that this time of my life is actually what it means to live and it is a combination of all the lack of the "great" moments that make a great story. But until then, I think my life should stay off paper (-except for all the ways it creeps into my own stories, that is).

At the end of the day, the fact that my life creeps into my writing and makes for very interesting situations at times means that there is definitely great material in there. The potential of a good novel is present. But right now it is probably only a short story’s worth of material, which is unfortunate because I agree that short stories tend to lend themselves to the incredible and rare. I would need more - not necessarily exceptional things but noteworthy things -to fill a novel.