“A story is a letter that the author writes to himself.”
~ The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
I like something about this quote, but honestly, I’m not sure what it is. I wrote it down to begin with predominantly because I wasn’t sure what it meant, but it sounded promising.
Perhaps it is a reflection of how personal the process of writing a novel can be. Or maybe it has to do with how, when I write a story, I’m often the one who learns something from it. Every story that we lay down in ink or type up on our computer screens is, in its way, an expression of our own thoughts, a way to work through our own emotions and views of the world. When I look back at my old writings, I can trace the thought patterns that probably wandered through my mind at the time I wrote them. I can see what music I was likely listening to, what show I might have watched recently, or what might have been happening in my life. All these unwritten notes lie between the lines of our stories, like a letter that only we can read.
Or at least, that’s what this quote makes me think of.
To all the aspiring writers embarking on the journey of National Novel Writing Month, best of luck!
To those who don’t know about the NaNoWriMo challenge and are curious, you can find their website
here.
