Don't get me wrong, there have certainly been times where I sat down with every intention of churning out a novel. I've had several ideas that never came to fruition or that stumped me at some point in the process. I've attempted this on the computer, with a pen and paper in a regular college-ruled notebook, even on a typewriter, but to no avail. Even though I've had several stints of unemployment, it seems that I am simply not inspired during those downtimes and wind up finding other things to do with my time.
When I tell stories of my life, though, that's when people's interest is often sparked. They say "Wow, you should write a book." But I don't know how I could ever convey so much of the frankly bizarre things that I've experienced and/or witnessed in my life. Half the stories I tell need physical gestures or inflections in tone. For some reason, they often do not translate well to text.
Further, my stories don't seem to follow a single timeline. There's the story of my relationship with the Dragonmaker which crosses with the story of K and the stories of tens of other people that deserve to be told; and the stories from college and the stories from places I've been or people I've known; and while all of those things tie together in terms of timeline, I think that they are individual story lines that deserve a moment of their own in the spotlight. I don't know how else to define it, I don't know that you can understand what I mean.
I've been thinking about it, though. Thinking of ways to write my life, or at least parts of it, that step outside of the standard timeline. I think it's the only way to go. No matter how much I write or how many pages I fill, it will never be enough. It will never be accurate and it will never be the whole story. Even I'm not sure what questions are the ones that need to be answered, so I think it's simply a matter of telling the stories I've told time and again, only this time telling them the *right way*, or at least the way that will stay around.
I find myself giving new definitions to chapters. This chapter is a person... this chapter is an event... this chapter is a collection from a place or a thing. One MMO is a chapter to itself. Falcon Ridge is a chapter to itself. School is at least one chapter, maybe two... but even those cross themselves. Maybe even to the point of sub-chapters. The whole thing feels daunting and too big to wrap my brain around.
But they keep telling me that I should write a book... and one day I'm sure I will.
~FG };^>
