wrapping up my story for the semester and a possible win

really proud of this story i'm finishing up, "By Your Side." it's not finished, with about two or three more segments to go, depending on the length and relevancy of those parts. i plan on finishing it all by tomorrow, even though i had hoped to turn it in on time for the USF English Department writing contest by last Friday. i've put so much into this story, and worked so hard on getting the ideas and characters, that i know i have a good thing going on, and in doing so it got to me to figure out the one thing i couldn't understand from the start:


what was this story really about?

  for one, i listen to this to get the ending of the story; The Naked and Famous, "Girls Like You"

it's a love story on the surface, but then from there the layers unfold into youth, college, graduates, California, summer, nostalgia, choices, memories. now i've figure it out. it's a critique on priorities and growing up, i can guess. i shouldn't be telling readers this, no writer really should i guess, so not to sound pompous and pedantic, but how can i write something i don't understand? now i do, and i'm more than thrilled.

it makes sense anyhow, putting together almost everything that's influenced me into creating this tale:

family/500 Days of Summer/ Echo and the Bunnymen/ California/ summer/ old motels/ college/ the ocean/ girls/ guys/ regrets/The Airborne Toxic Event/ sunglasses/In N Out/Arctic Monkeys/road trips/ promises

just a few things. it's got a loose narrative that fluctuates between the past and present and past of the past, showing the rise and fall and uncertainty at the end of the romance between Noah and June, people from different worlds and focusing on different directions.

college does that. after college does that even worse-- when we graduate, it's time to move on and find that spot in life you want to remain in for a good time. and in the process, it destroys possibilities, dreams, and relationships. i guess you'll have to see at the end of the story, but hopefully you will all read "By Your Side" and get what i mean.

look for the story on the side right link tonight :)