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Today I decided I was going to write a novel. I have known about the novel for about 2 months, but have kept finding excuses not to do it. Well, today was the last exam I will have this year, and I'm not returning to my life of barely paid drudgery till Monday, so I decided if I was ever going to actually finish something that this might be a good time to try.
The story is about a woman who wakes up in a new place everyday. She calls it the Cinderella syndrome, because at the stroke of midnight she disspapears. She isn't too bothered by this because it fits in with/engenders a way of life where she can constantly change her identity and play with presentation. She is one of those annoying Gemmini people who change their mind all the time and actively act out their own opposite.
She is being chased by her own shadow, a rather unidentified being who was released after a suicide attempt (the suicide attempt isn't really a huge part of the story, it was back when she was someone else). The shadow is sort of a vague depression/shadow/monster thing. It works on dream logic rather than being strictly identifiable. It is always a few destinations behind her.
Anyway, one day she meets a rather brusque bussiness man type. In the course of the conversation he becomes immensely attracted to her. Long story short they become very attracted to each other through various meetings.
However, he is a rather domestic, stay at home, "isn't order lovely?" type of person and so won't come with her, no matter how much she asks. Until, one day, he finds out what she is running away from and follows her to help her escape. The shadow-thing goes for her and he jumps in the way in a lovely self-sacrificial way that is very disney and picturesue and expected. It dies because a) she is feeling loved and b) because she reintegrates it in a magic-realist, "what happeningly vague" way. The whole thing, as I said, works on dream logic.
Now, she nurses him back to health and they fall deeper in love, but as she falls deeper in love with him she tells him her true name, the name of her core identity, and because of that, and because she loves him, she can no longer dissapear at midnight.
This is fine to begin with. She is sometimes sad but gets over it. He realises that she would like to travel again, but can't because he is afraid that she would be hurt or not come back. Anyway, they have a kid. The kid has all her mothers characteristics, and wants to travel and always has scraped knees and such. The parents argue about how to raise the kid, the father wants her safe, the mother wants her free. In the end the mother takes a look her life and decides she is no longer the person who fell in love with the man, but is the woman who loves their daughter. The new idea replaces the other one as her core identity and leaves with the daughter at midnight. They start life somewhere else, and he dies bitter and alone.
THE END
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But, there is more to the story than that. The whole story is actually within the head of one character. The story is a character in itself, and the telling of the story is an effort at finding identity for that character. All of the characters are, in effect, fiction suits for the narrator. The entire novel is actually an attempt at understanding the identity issues of the unnamed narrator character.
Does that make sense?
Any input?
Would it be stretching the Jenny Everywhere character too far to have her as the female character, or use the name at least? |
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