A Novel Idea

What would I write a novel about? That would be the question whose answer I have been thinking about for almost as long as I can remember. I certainly know a lot about the little pieces, but I wouldn't know where in the world to begin with the big picture. I could tell you all about my purpose in writing the story and what it would be based on, but all of that would probably change as soon as I picked up the pen to write. It certainly is an intriguing question though, and one  I would love to have answered by the time my life has ended.

I think much like Vonnegut's purpose in writing Slaughterhouse Five, my story would be about a lot of the things that have happened and will happen in my life, although there will definitely be some minor (and major!) changes. It's not like I want to write an autobiography because I think I would get bored of that even before the readers would ( which would be on the first page!). I just want a way in which I can tell my story, but tell another, different story at the same time.

I can tell you one thing, my main character will be the Billy Pilgrim to my Vonnegut. She will be just like me in so many ways, but so different in others. For example, she would definitely look different, with auburn hair and hazel eyes. She would be a normal size and her hair would be wavy. I could tell you a bunch of the little, unimportant details of her life too, but they would be pointless seeing as the book doesn't even exist and probably never will. She would be the important part of the story, more so even than the events. She would be my reason for writing, my inspiration.

A lot of the issues I would write about would be related to realistic things like her family dynamics and personal struggles, many things we probably wouldn't even think about. Regardless of their position as minor and unimportant in our thought processes, I would still like to write about them because they can be important.

I don't think it would really matter to me if anyone ever read what I wrote, because at least it would be out there. There was this one quote I heard on an episode of Criminal Minds last year and it kind of popped into my head when I started thinking about this topic: "Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."  -Cyril Connolly, writer