Strange Urge
I got the strangest urge the other day. I decided I really wanted to write a romance story.
And not just a story, 'cuz most of the stories I'm in the process of writing have some degree of a romance element. I'm talkin' a sugar-sweet, shoujo-caliber delve into the sorts of things that make people embarrassed to admit that they like it. Something you'd see in a manga between two students.
This is one of the stranger urges I've experienced in a while, and I'm not entirely sure why I've gotten it. I suppose there's a number of possible reasons. For starters, it sounds like it might be fun. I'm usually very action-based, or comedy-based, in my stories; something with a bent that's that much different at its core would be an interesting exercise, if nothing else.
I think another reason may just be that I never had that, or anything close to it. I never had a childhood or high school sweetheart, and college, well, isn't even worth mentioning in that regard(my own doing, of course). But I've never really had a lovey-dovey, actual romance before, the kind where a girl waits at her locker with baited breath, anticipating the moment where her guy leaves class and comes to see her, and he's generally happy to see her, with no playing hard-to-get on either side for bewildering, nonsensical reasons. A romance where things aren't necessarily always peachy, but they're genuine. Since I love living vicariously through my characters, maybe that's the big driving force behind this.
It's pretty pathetic, really. I was so caught up looking for the be-all, end-all love of my life when I was younger, when I should've just been looking for someone whom I enjoyed being with, and who liked me. In all honesty, it's probably neither realistic nor even desirable to "get it right the first time" and wind up marrying the first person you're serious about. I've known this for a while now, but back then, it never really occurred to me. That was the perfectionist in me, I guess, the "if I can't do it perfectly, I won't do it all" mentality that's been such a burden my whole life. If I could go back and talk to the kid I was, I'd tell him that it's okay not to over-think everything. When I think that I could've had something light and sweet back then(that may have eventually blossomed into something more serious), I just shake my head and kick myself for doing things the way I did, both in high school and in college.
But hindsight is 20-20, as they say. Most people don't need 10+ years to learn those lessons, but I guess I should be glad that I learned them at all. Maybe my new story will make for an enlightening/entertaining experience.
And not just a story, 'cuz most of the stories I'm in the process of writing have some degree of a romance element. I'm talkin' a sugar-sweet, shoujo-caliber delve into the sorts of things that make people embarrassed to admit that they like it. Something you'd see in a manga between two students.
This is one of the stranger urges I've experienced in a while, and I'm not entirely sure why I've gotten it. I suppose there's a number of possible reasons. For starters, it sounds like it might be fun. I'm usually very action-based, or comedy-based, in my stories; something with a bent that's that much different at its core would be an interesting exercise, if nothing else.
I think another reason may just be that I never had that, or anything close to it. I never had a childhood or high school sweetheart, and college, well, isn't even worth mentioning in that regard(my own doing, of course). But I've never really had a lovey-dovey, actual romance before, the kind where a girl waits at her locker with baited breath, anticipating the moment where her guy leaves class and comes to see her, and he's generally happy to see her, with no playing hard-to-get on either side for bewildering, nonsensical reasons. A romance where things aren't necessarily always peachy, but they're genuine. Since I love living vicariously through my characters, maybe that's the big driving force behind this.
It's pretty pathetic, really. I was so caught up looking for the be-all, end-all love of my life when I was younger, when I should've just been looking for someone whom I enjoyed being with, and who liked me. In all honesty, it's probably neither realistic nor even desirable to "get it right the first time" and wind up marrying the first person you're serious about. I've known this for a while now, but back then, it never really occurred to me. That was the perfectionist in me, I guess, the "if I can't do it perfectly, I won't do it all" mentality that's been such a burden my whole life. If I could go back and talk to the kid I was, I'd tell him that it's okay not to over-think everything. When I think that I could've had something light and sweet back then(that may have eventually blossomed into something more serious), I just shake my head and kick myself for doing things the way I did, both in high school and in college.
But hindsight is 20-20, as they say. Most people don't need 10+ years to learn those lessons, but I guess I should be glad that I learned them at all. Maybe my new story will make for an enlightening/entertaining experience.