Day 315 - Every Story

Every Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

I like stories – reading them, writing them, telling them, and being a part of them. I’m not always in charge of what is said and done, but I’m just happy to do my part.  My favorite part is the characters. I liked getting attached to them and caring for them. I like to get to know them like a friend. Like they’re real. They are real, as real as anyone else. I like their stories. It’s what I do.

I’m a sap for sentimental. Not because it’s easy, but because it’s nice. There are too many things that aren’t. It’s better sometimes to escape. To believe in what is possible instead of what unfortunately sometimes is.

Sure there are clichés. Girl next door. The one that got away. Star-crossed lovers. Forbidden love. Just because they are clichés doesn’t negate their power or appeal.

I’d rather cry because someone got what they wanted instead of crying because something horrible happened.

There are plenty of those sorts of stories. There is plenty of tragedy to go around. Life can be rotten like that. But a story doesn’t have to be. Still there are plenty of stories that want to be.

Life is long and life is scary. Young people don’t realize this. They want to gain control and freedom, so they fight and struggle with adults and the world around them. It’s called “coming of age.” Or “slice of life” depending on your genre styling. Or it might be “man vs. man” if you were a literary professor. But I’m not one any of those. I don’t pay attention to any of those things.

So life is long and scary and people fight against that and try to build roots and make a foundation and fight against nature. “Man vs. Nature” is a whole other thing. But that’s not what I’m interested in.

After realizing life is long and life is scary they try to go home, only to realize “you can never go home again.” Why? Because someone wrote that once. But also because there is no such thing as a home to go home to. “Home” is a state of mind or a perception of a memory. Everyone wants something to be true and safe and good and subjective memory tells them that it was real. But really subjective memory is built on that which is invented from fragments and the rest is filling in with hope and wishes. So it ends up being impossible to go home. Home doesn’t really exist.

Realizing there is no home is sort of an analysis on mortality and the idea that all things must end. Another good literary lesson. So not only is life long and scary, but it is also terribly short and finite. That’s a truly frightening proposition.  It will all end someday.

That thought is scarier than just simply living, so some people don’t live at all, while others just become lonely. Then they search in vain to try and find someone that is just slightly interesting enough to make life a little less scary and make them slightly less alone.

Then they die.

That’s the cold hard unavoidable fact. Everyone will die.

But that’s life. Life has to end. Not a story though. Stories can live forever. That’s the neat and powerful part of it all. People can find love. They can find hope. They can make a new home. And unless you’re particularly morbid or have a love of tragedy or something macabre like that, most stories aren’t going to give you the part about the death. Most stories are going to end on a satisfying and appropriate good part where the hero triumphs and achieves something.

Those are my types of stories. Those are the stories I want to tell. I don’t like it when I have to tell the other types. I like the love stories. Past, future, regret, angst. Sure there can be negative parts, but that’s a moment, not the whole. People evolve, change and grow. That’s what I want to see.

Love stories are about the chasing of an ideal. They are about hope.

What about her? Is she the one? Do I stop her? Do I chase after her or is that creepy? What about the last one? What about the next one? What about the one right now? Which “one” is the “ONE?” It’s always such a tough question and for two-thirds of the story it’s always so unclear. But there is always an answer.

What was the hero waiting on? You can’t let the other get away. But if they are the one, shouldn’t it be easy? But that’s a real life dilemma, not a story dilemma. In a story, the characters may not know it, but everything that seems difficult is going to work out. Aggressive Ex’s, angry bosses, job obstacles, angry friends… they will all work out when the time is right. The biggest challenge in the story is going to be when the right time to act is. Do you let this one or that one walk away? Do you know which one to stop or go after or listen to? Do you run to them in the rain? Or stop them from getting on a flight? Do they take a job in another city but then come back for you? Can they change? Will they change?

It doesn’t matter. It will all work out. It always does.

That’s the nice thing about the story. It doesn’t matter how many options or variables there are. The details don’t matter. One of them is going to pay off. Things will wrap up with a neat and tidy little bow. That might not be life, but that’s the way we want things to work out. It’s nicer that way. The other way is just a little too tough to think about sometimes.

I hate when I have to tell those sorts of stories. I wouldn’t if it were up to me. But it’s part of the job. We all have jobs to do. And besides, what do I really know about it? I’m just a narrator. I just tell stories. That other stuff… I don’t want to think about that other stuff too much. It’s just too hard sometimes. I’d rather just tell a story.