My Characters

Today, I want to reminisce a little bit about creative writing that I have done in the past. About 7 years ago, I wrote my first novella, The Unsaid. It was about a girl named Sara, who was pursuing an English Honors at University – a degree I wanted to do but never did. I don’t remember the exact dates I wrote the rest of the books, but Sara’s story plunged me into 3 years of writing. Each of my characters were a version of me – sometimes they were who I wanted to be, other times they were a version of me, I could never be. Our paths split many decisions ago.

I have been thinking back to these characters. Who they were. Who I am. I have also mentioned before that I used to write poetry a lot. So, I have decided to reminisce about my characters in poetry format. 🙂

But first, a little bit about the works I wrote:

1. The Unsaid: The main character was Sara, and he story was about her dealing with some family drama and meeting Rick.
2. Gauche: Joyce was the lead in this one. Only Rick made an appearance from The Unsaid, since he was Joyce’s neighbor. This story was about a stalker that Joyce had and how she handled it.
3. Safe Keeper: This one is about Rick’s cousin, Kristy, and the change in her friendships when she started university.
4. Star Crossed: Kritsy was still the main character here, and this was about her finding love. Sara and Rick got married in this one.
5. That One Promise: This was a novel about Rachel and the journey of getting over someone she loved. Actually, you can read this one on Inkit if you like.

All of these were coming of age-young/new adult stories, though I think at the end of Star Crossed, Sara was probably in her forties. In the main characters, I lived parts of my childhood and my teenage years, and hoped to spend some of my adult years too. The following is just me, talking to them again. Enjoy!

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I looked through my memories
I searched everywhere
I dug through my email
For drafts that I no longer have near
The papers I filled with stories of you
The documents I brainstormed in
It was so many years ago
And though I remember in my heart
Who you were
My lovely characters!
The parts of me
That you represented
How Sara was the one I wanted to be
When I grew up
And Joyce was the one
I wish I had been
When I was little
How I gave Kristy the wall
Of photographs that my home has
How Rachel was surrounded
By friends that I had.

I haven’t read your stories
In a long while now
I have not looked back to see
How much your future then
Is my present now
I wrote you each
In novels
At times when I needed
Me to be you
You read my favorite books
You said things I said in real life
You were so real
And yet, you and I,
Would never meet any other way
But in the future
When I look in the mirror
And I find the you:
The one I modeled Sara to be.

You let me change my histories
You let me come to terms with some truths
Whether it was squabbles with friends
Or friendships we wished no one shook
You made me stronger
And sometimes you made me weak
I imagined you
I visited you
When I needed a different me.

In the years that have gone by
In the photographs on the wall
So much is not what I imagined
Better even than what I gave you all.

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Thanks for reading my scribbles 🙂

Labyrinths of lanterns; Feature Photo credit: ItzaFineDay on Visual hunt / CC BY