S is for Story Telling

Why story telling/writing is important to me:
I love and hate writing. I love writing because it entangles me into a new world. I get to explore the depths of someone else’s reality and escape from my own. I can dream, exist, float, and be anywhere in the whole world. This also applies to why I love reading so much.

I hate writing because it is hard. Sometimes I have grandiose ideas for scenes and descriptions, but somehow, between the synapses of my brain, they get lost on their way to my fingertips. They ball up underneath my veins and threaten to burst all my blood vessels. They tear at my body and clot my blood until I’m boiling alive. I hate writing because it, so far, has lead me to making a whole $10 (via advertisements on this blog – also, if you purchase through my amazon store, I make some commission fees. Wink, nudge).

Writing is very cathartic for me.  Words, phrases, stories had such an effect on me growing up. I realized a lot about myself, the world, and life. Honestly, some books led me back to the path of the living. There was a time in my life where I spent days on end staring endlessly into the darkness. It thrust out its fingers and caressed my skin, telling me it was okay to fall into the depths. But when I curled up with a few books, when I opened my eyes to a world full of ideas, it captivated me. Life didn’t have to be this bottomless pit, but it could have light. It could be both.  It didn’t matter if people made fun of me, because I could go home, curl up, and pretend to be somewhere else. I want to be able to do that for other people, teens especially – I want to be the person that inspires them..

Why only novels and flash fiction?
The only two successful short stories I have written is a D&D character background story (which really was just silliness to begin with), and I’ve written a small anthology of life lessons – a memoir of shorts. But those are just small, silly pieces. Every time I fall in love with a character, I end up making the story longer, thicker, juicier. Every time my characters fall flat, I end up cutting them off short, which usually leaves people liking the flash fiction. It has always been this way with me, though I can’t really explain why.

Why mostly Young Adult?
I’m attracted to the genre because I needed the most help when I was a YA. And I love writing it. The simplistic flow with endless amounts of action, dialogue, and description that tends to roll off my fingers. Reacting to life as an adult is hard - and I’m still a kid myself (okay, not really, but I still think I’m a kid, and that counts for something).

How often do you lie (aka "tell a story") in real life?
I’d like to think that I never lie, at least outright. I do find myself embellishing tales. My life isn’t extremely entertaining, but when I talk to other people, you might think that I slay dragons for a living (which I wouldn’t – if dragons existed, I would train them, not slay them - but you get the picture). My life is good, but it isn’t a blockbuster film. And sometimes, I feel like I make it sound like a blockbuster - or at least a lifetime movie.