Story Time

Ok, so I know I have a shit load of things I need to be working on right now. But just the other day I had this idea to start doing little exercises to help spark the creative juices in my brain. One such thing actually came to me in the place I least expected it, my tutor/English class. The teacher gave us a group assignment of 4 people each starting a story, then passing to the left and have the next person continuing where you left off. I think I've done this before but that was WAYYYY back in high school. lol (man I feel old..) This exerciseswas great, because oyu had 4 different stories being passed around ond ole a few mins to make your contribution to it. This forces you to flex that giant muscle up there for sure! What really made it interesting was that of the range of different styles, moods and perspectives in each story. That's what I found the most stimulating, you basically had to keep flipping your bipolar switch off and on just so you can stay with the flow. haha Anyways, what this whole post is about is the story I started and was finnished by my group members. When I got my paper back I was wholy suprised what they added; for clareification, I started off with a very angsty, moody piece mostly reflected from past issues I had with myself and the struggles of growing up. (I'm sure most people had the same issues lol) I think what really impressed me the most was the fact that my group all individually decided to stay with my original theme. Keep in mind, they could have turned down any road at will if they wanted to, making it silly or just not caring and adding random ramblings. This touched me and inspired me to keep this story and share it. I only wish I could colaborate like this more. If you can get some really cool people together, so many awesome things can be acconmplished. But will find a way to icorporate this idea into my daily activities so I can stay creative. Damn, I think I rambled on too long. lol I kinda want to do something with this story, but not sureon it, somehow elaborate on it, maybe make a light novel? Anyways, enjoy the short story. :)

The Complicated Business of Growing Up

Born in a little town, making long term goals can sometimes seem impossible. Pressure from family doesn't make it any easyer. "Easy for them to be critical, they all knew what they wanted to be from the very beginning!" Chris is a boy that always dreamed, but never of anything realistic. Head always in the clouds and feet rarely on the ground. His childhood was never bad, but what was expected of a kid? Things only started getting worse the older he got. And so did the pressure to find himself in life. "How am I suppose figure anything out, everyone keeps sufficating me."
"Hey Chris, snap out of it." Said Dee, his childhood friend since middle school. "You're doing it again."
"Doing what?" he said as he slowly started to come back to earth. Dee was a dreamer too. Probably the reason why they got along so well. But Dee was a different kind of dreamer, she dreamt of becomming a Pro Wrestler. "Ok! After class, twenty more laps. Maybe today I can beat my old record." Dee mused to her self as Chris sighed and slowly faded away into the receses of his mind.
As the two sat silent deep in though of ambitiously making plans for the rest of the day and the usual griping of what to even do, an upper classman walk up to them. *Sigh* "Are you guys at it again?" Kathy, who was the head of the student council and one of the most popular girls on campus. Also long time friends of both Dee and Chris. "You know, your dreams are good ones." she said. "You just need to be more realistic about them. For instance, I've wanted to be a novelist, but I had to get a second job because the the fiction market sucks."
Chris thought about that for a moment. Perhaps he could travel or find other ways to express himself. But he was suddenly broken from thought when he noticed a weasel in Kathy's arms. It was a vicious looking little animal, that would occationally try to take a chunk out of one of her hands. "What is that?!?" Chris asked, as he started to back away. Kathy shrugged, struggling to hold the animal still. "It's a weasel. I wanted a pet ferret, but they are illegal in California, so I settled with this guy, now that's being realistic." She said gloating. Chris began to really wonder if that was such a good example.
Kindra, another upper classman, was sitting in a desk behind the group. She couldn't help but smile to herself as she contently sat there listing to the trio's banter. She knew of dreams and realities. She married at a young age and already had three children of her own. She also knows that finding the time to fullfill her own dreams was difficult. Sometimes you just have to take a chance. "I think you are both right. Having dreams is good and being realistic is important. But you don't have to be safe in your dreams or goals - you can take a chance at the impossible too." She shared with the group. Chris, Kathy and Dee just looked at the older girl like she was crazy wondering where all that came from. Clearly not knowing and probably not careing of her experiances, especially comming from such a young looking person. But as young unexperianced kids do, they just ignored her. Unphased by the interuption, the trio headed for the classrooms door, continuting their talks of Pro Wrestling, weasels and adults who think they know it all.

The End

Well that was pretty much it. Hope you got something out of it, I bet you can probably see where each person took over. lol Not the most exciting of stories, but this helped understand more about how I can be more creative with the rest of my art. Hope this helps you too. :)

-Chris


That's not angst! Now my preteen and teenage years are real angst. Surrounded by death, suicide, and struggling with sexuality. Now THAT is angst.

Haha. Don't worry I'm not trying to cheapen your story. I'm just saying. I know angst. It's interesting. It's like a vague version of your life in a way. And I do stress vague. At least it has a somewhat happy ending. It's not really like ride off into the sunset or anything, but it's still happy. I'd be willing to collaborate with you. As a writer I love bouncing ideas off other people. And I'm so unegotisical there should be a law against it so if someone.. like you started writing stuff for me I'd let you go as far as you want with my characters and maybe it might make it into the book ?(if so credit gets where credit is due of course) or I might find a new angle... or even better a new side a character I hadn't thought about or the past that I hadn't thought about.

Chris, if you want to interview me again for illustrating my characters go for it. I need something to focus on. Things... are slow and irritating in my life right now. Fiction is the perfect place to withdraw for a break.

~Amy