Having a good friend that writes · 6:37am Mar 5th, 2016
Metaphorically speaking, I went on a walk with a good friend once. I’ve gotten to know this friend quite well over the time we’ve spent together. I know how he thinks and the way he reasons and I have a good grasp on the way he sees the world.
When all of the sudden (metaphorically), a wizard came out of nowhere and shouted at my friend “LIBRO!” and he vanished. A hardcover book appeared where he had been and it fell to the ground with a small thud.
Enraged, I turned to face the wizard and lunged to attack him. But my fists only connected to empty air. I twisted around in panic, trying to find where that despicable wizard had gone. But it was just me alone on that trail, not a soul in site.
The hardcover book was on the ground a few feet away. I went to pick it up and saw it was a novel I had never heard of. And my friends name was listed as the author. A fresh wave of shock slammed me as I realized that the wizard had turned my friend into a book!
For several minutes I sat down on the trail and cradled the book my friend had turned into and berated myself for letting this happen. After going through several stages of grief, I regained some of my senses and, unfortunately, my sense of curiosity hit first.
I gazed at the title, and then ever so carefully opened the book. Inside, was an unbelievably good story. The setting was fantastical, the plot twisted and turned in all the right ways. And the characters—I don’t know quite how to describe the characters. They were so rich and full of life and personality. They were… a very familiar personality.
As I read the book of my friend I realized something crazy. I was reading my friend! The story—the setting—the characters—everything was my friend. It was as if he had split his own personality in several pieces and assigned them to be his characters. And then those characters had taken the seed of the personality they had been given and had grown in wild ways.
And then the plot itself mimicked personal issues that he had faced or was currently facing. Any other reader besides myself wouldn’t have noticed. The relationship between the story and its author was masked between layers and layers of fantastical elements. No one who didn’t know him very well like I did would have realized how much he as an individual was in his own book.
But I could tell. And I loved it! I loved this book like I loved my friend.
And once I finished reading the satisfying tale and closed the book, the spell that had held my friend bound released all at once. With a flash of light, he was standing there with a perplexed look on his face.
“Sorry, what were we talking about?” he asked.
I could only stare back, dumbfounded.
“Hey do you have some paper and pencil I could borrow. I got an interesting idea for a novel and I think I should write it down before I forget.”
---
Metaphorical though that may be, that’s what it feels like reading the stories of friends. At least for me. I’ve had the pleasure of reading two stories like this before from two different friends. Both times it felt like a wizard had transformed my friends into books and I was somehow reading them.
Granted, not every story from a friend feels like this. It’s a rare occurrence for sure. But when I do experience it, I can only shout at my book in wonder: "OH MY GOSH! IT'S YOU! You wrote a book! And now it's like I have my best friend in book form! This is so weird! And awesome!"
How about you guys? Have you ever gotten to know someone pretty well and then noticed how much of their own lives colors their writing?
I can dig it. Sounds like a good trip. But on literature instead of acid.
I have the weirdest feeling I've heard this idea before... :P
I have noticed this in writing before - and that doesn't just apply to stories. Even in essays like this one, I see and hear the author in it as if he were standing right here.
And now I'm wondering exactly what happens when you go on a walk with your friends.
I'm afraid I don't know any writers that well, but Ponky said something similar when he first met me in person: "You talk just like you write!"
I still don't see it.
3792120
High on books.
I'm pretty sure that's a close second to being high on life.
3792201
3792352
It's just a conversation where it's okay to pace... continuously :D
(I have a hard time staying still.)
No wizards have attacked yet though.
3792578
It's sometimes hard to notice in your own writing. Because you don't realize how much like you you sound like.
I think it's something other's have to point out.
3792698
No wizards?
*dresses like a wizard and hides in a bush, waiting for Chinchillax and friend to come by*
That sounds like one of my friends, yeah, particularly the one who plans to ship her female space marine and alien-eel characters.
3792941
Yup. Layers and layers of abstraction.
Or it just depends on the writer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I like this post.