Monday, February 01, 2010
A Hundred and Four
So Marinah has been bugging me to read her novel-in-progress, entitled 'It's My Life (Right?)'. I've been turning the kind offer down because, frankly, I don't go well with self-advertisers ("Hi, kettle? This the pot calling. You're black!"). But I finally I went along with her request, for the same reason why I go along with my teachers' requests: I just wanted her to quit it and shut up.
Three things bothered me about her story:
(1) The main character, "I", is 13 years old. Marinah is 10. What kind of kid writes herself as a teenager? When I was a kid, and wrote my own stories, I always made the heroes as old as I was, because I always thought the age I was at was the coolest.
(2) The story is about her going to the prom, and she worries about not having a date. What. The. Heck. At one point she wrote something like: "But I think Jason is going to ask me out, because he keeps staring at me." At this point, I'm thoroughly spooked.
(3) Jason ends up dumping her for another girl, but she doesn't care, because she ended up winning the 'Most Beautiful' award that night.
O_O
By the time I finished, I was really worried. "Why are you writing a story about proms and boyfriends?" I asked her.
Marinah answered defensively, "Well, Kak Lily reads those kinds of books!"
I wanted to strangle Lily. When I was her age, I clearly remember writing a story about me and my Pokemon farm. "Why don't you write a story about adventures and heroes? You know, like, faeries and dragons and pirates and stuff."
She goggles at me. "Why would I want to write a story about
pirates?"
Oh dear God no.
12:18 AM
