The Downside of Loving the Written Word | Teen Ink

The Downside of Loving the Written Word

April 28, 2009
By NicAliceF GOLD, Tacoma, Washington
NicAliceF GOLD, Tacoma, Washington
12 articles 1 photo 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway


“So I’m going to die?” He asked, perched on the edge of my bed as I sat at the computer.
“I’m a writer Luke.” I said calmly. “It’s what I do. Don’t take it personally.”
“Don’t take it personally?” he asked, his voice rising. Oh no, that’s not what I wanted. Luke mad might scar me mentally; he was, after all, my first born character, my best friend. Luke Samuels was loyal and strong, pensive and intelligent. He was a hunter of the supernatural, a father, and a husband; he was everything I’d ever made him, and what he was…well he was just the best.
“How can I not take it personally?” He snapped, already on his feet, angry.
“Sit down.” I called, trying to not show emotion. “Or I’ll do a re-write and crash your car.” Luke sat down immediately; jesus, anything for that car.
But it was a nice car; he deserved to drive the best, and when I’d been writing it, the Ford Bullitt had been one hell of a car. Not that it wasn’t now, it still was.
Luke was the kind of guy who treated his car like it was a member of his family, and threats to the Bullitt…well it would make him do anything. “Actually,” I said, and smirked. “I might just give it to a hobo.” Luke grimaced.
“That’s not funny Nic.”
“Neither is you being here.” I snapped, and moved away from the computer, hands shaking as they left the keyboard. “But obviously asthma and mental chatter wasn’t enough. I had to actually visualize my characters talking to me…” Luke watched me as I crossed the room and knelt before the mirror on the wall, applying make-up. “What a shallow attempt at a normal life…” I murmured, blinking as I applied mascara. “Thanks a lot big guy…” I said, and stared up at the ceiling. “Thanks a ton.”
I swore when I accidentally stabbed myself in the eye with the mascara brush.
“I still don’t understand why I have to die.” Luke whispered from behind me. I looked up into the mirror, wiping away mascara from my face and eye.
“because.” I murmured, looking down. I couldn’t tell if I was crying because he was sad, or because I’d just stabbed myself in the eye. Either way, the situation sucked. I left the mascara alone and went with the eye liner, I couldn’t screw that up. When I was done, I put on some skin colored eye-shadow.
I like comfortable, plainness.
“You’re not real Luke.” I told him, and got up, turning around. I’d run my hands through my short hair, messing it up a little bit. That’s how it was supposed to be- short, spikey, messy. “You’re the main character in a story I’m trying to tell. That’s it. You don’t exist.”
“Don’t you wish.” He said, and laughed darkly.
Oh wow, the way he laughed. Normally I would have described it as a deep chuckled, and explained the way he smiled cheerfully, and ran a hand through his thick hair self conscious of what he was thinking…but this…This wasn’t every Luke-like, he’d never…
“You wish we’d be just a figment of your imagination,” he continued on. “You wish that the car I drive, the gun I shoot, would never pass you on the street, you’d never see it in a store, or face to face…But the truth is, Nic, that we’re real.”
“We’re so real.” Came a light voice, and Oliver was standing on his right, smirking that crooked half grin. A scar, long and broad, ran from the top of his brow, down to the tip of his mouth on the right side, it even punctured his eye.
I knew this. I knew that he had a hard time focusing his eye, and shot mainly with his left.
Just like I would know he weighed one fifty, and was six three, though he could bench press two sixty.
“We’re real enough that we sit with you at Orchestra concerts and calm you down, right?” Richelle asked, stepping forward out of nothing to become Luke’s left shadow. “We’re real enough that we make you laugh when you cry at night, and we make you strong when you feel like you’re all alone.”
“I am alone.” I whispered, and she shook her head slowly.
“You’re never alone, not when we’re here.” Richelle told me.
God, I wanted to believe her, I wanted to know that she was right, I wanted to relish in the fact that Luke Samuels, Oliver Stokes, and Richelle Carmichael were real, badass people…But I knew that they weren’t.
“But I am!” I shouted, moving away from them. “I am so alone because you’re not real! You’re about as real as Pamela Anderson’s boobs! I’m bonkers, I’ve pretty much figured that out- last week I went to school dressed as a KISS member!”
“What’s wrong with KISS?” Luke asked, offended.
“IT WAS COLOR WARS!” I yelled, growing red in the face. “I was dressed in leather and white face make-up while other kids were wearing their class colors!”
“That’s not that bad…” Richelle murmured.
“I spent five hours on the computer yesterday,” I hissed, stepping back to face them, voice low. “You know what I was doing?” I baited, and they just stood there. “I was creating false e-mail accounts in your name, giving you myspaces, picking out music for your profiles, uploading your pictures. I spent fifteen minutes creating the dialogue of a fake conversation that I sent back and forth between you and Oliver! That’s wrong, that’s so wrong.” I took a deep breath. “You’re not real, and I act as if you are, I created you to be a fictional character, and I know that’s all you are, even if you try to convince me otherwise.”

The author's comments:
The Downside of Lovin the Written Word should explain how it can be as a writer when you love something enought to actually imagine it; to have the characters walk beside you.
It's a wonderful pain.

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This article has 105 comments.


on Oct. 1 2010 at 6:21 pm
Dragonscribe BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 303 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A Person's a Person no Matter how Small"
and
"A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet"
and
"God helps those who help themselves"

So good!! Will you write anymore?

on Sep. 9 2010 at 7:10 pm
__horizon133 PLATINUM, Portage, Michigan
26 articles 0 photos 231 comments

Favorite Quote:
"laugh, and the world laughs with you. laugh hysterically, and for no apparent reason, and they will leave you alone." anonymous

this was amazing... i wish my characters were real sometimes, too.

NicAliceF GOLD said...
on Aug. 18 2010 at 3:35 pm
NicAliceF GOLD, Tacoma, Washington
12 articles 1 photo 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway

Thanks, you should check out Part Two. Tell me what you think.:)

on Aug. 18 2010 at 11:23 am
Blue4indigo PLATINUM, Sturbridge, Connecticut
24 articles 0 photos 382 comments

Favorite Quote:
I'd rather be sorry for something that I did than for something I didn't do.
-Red Scott

Amazing! This is one of my favorites!

By the way, can you read my stories, rate, and critisize? I'd appreciate it.


on Jul. 5 2010 at 9:32 am
Otherworldly GOLD, Mississauga, Other
16 articles 4 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You call on one wolf you invite the pack,"

I really enjoyed your writing style. I think that was quite interesting and you'll go far in your writing.

on Jul. 5 2010 at 5:54 am
foreverwelsh BRONZE, Cardiff, Other
2 articles 4 photos 32 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Thin, like butter over too much bread" JRR Tolkien

wow this is really good :)

fav line: "you're about as real as Pamela Anderson's boobs!"

lol just about to read part 2 :) keep writing :D


NicAliceF GOLD said...
on Jun. 13 2010 at 10:58 am
NicAliceF GOLD, Tacoma, Washington
12 articles 1 photo 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway

The Downside of Loving the Written Word Part Two is up now, a continuation of this piece!

MadelynE. GOLD said...
on Jun. 13 2010 at 12:50 am
MadelynE. GOLD, Arlington, Texas
17 articles 0 photos 19 comments
That's a little creepy. . . . I wish you would have put a better end on it. I definately think you have a career in sci-fi writing. That sounds as good as if Rod Serling or Alfred Hitchcock wrote it. Keep up the good work! :)

NicAliceF GOLD said...
on Jun. 11 2010 at 5:44 pm
NicAliceF GOLD, Tacoma, Washington
12 articles 1 photo 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway

The Next part is Titled 'The Downside of Loving the Written Word Part Two' now posted!

on May. 22 2010 at 2:11 pm
manga_maniac SILVER, Bloomington, Indiana
8 articles 1 photo 79 comments
this is really great, a really cool idea

NicAliceF GOLD said...
on Apr. 8 2010 at 12:00 am
NicAliceF GOLD, Tacoma, Washington
12 articles 1 photo 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway

I'm glad to hear that. Good luck.

KK2013 GOLD said...
on Feb. 1 2010 at 5:29 pm
KK2013 GOLD, Solon, Ohio
10 articles 2 photos 161 comments

Favorite Quote:
Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth.-J. K. Rowling

The scary think is, it actually reminds me of one of my friends who does something like this.

KK2013 GOLD said...
on Feb. 1 2010 at 5:17 pm
KK2013 GOLD, Solon, Ohio
10 articles 2 photos 161 comments

Favorite Quote:
Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth.-J. K. Rowling

Wow, that is really good! I don't really like the ending, t least, the ending on THIS page. Im assuming, hoping, that you will continue it or wrap it u somehow

on Feb. 1 2010 at 3:26 pm
ChildOfThePast SILVER, Raleigh, North Carolina
9 articles 0 photos 46 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Things change. And friends leave. And life doesn’t stop for anybody."

This really made me feel as if i was in the story myself. I loved it, really. Good work.

on Feb. 1 2010 at 1:38 pm
RiotRave SILVER, Earlimart, California
7 articles 0 photos 36 comments

Favorite Quote:
"What the frick?!!"
"That's what she said"

I'm just starting out on this site, and I'm experimenting with my writing, but I never ever thought of characters as people too. I thought they were more like puppets... but I guess we make them human too (sometimes). Really thought-provoking. I'm marking it as 'favorite' Nice one!!

on Feb. 1 2010 at 7:17 am
lily1411 BRONZE, Fargo, North Dakota
2 articles 0 photos 69 comments

Favorite Quote:
Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.

--Benjamin Franklin

this has gotten me thinking...you've inspired me with this piece of writing:) really

on Jan. 18 2010 at 7:59 pm
Christy PLATINUM, Arden Hills, Minnesota
23 articles 18 photos 31 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Happiness is not a destination, but a way of travel."

This is one of the most creative articles I've read on Teen Ink. I loved it. It was a great amalgamation of humor, conflict, and intrigue. Keep it up!

NicAliceF GOLD said...
on Jan. 10 2010 at 4:48 pm
NicAliceF GOLD, Tacoma, Washington
12 articles 1 photo 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway

Hey, thanks so much, the support is great.:)

c/CDR said...
on Dec. 23 2009 at 5:52 pm
As always very enjoyable to read and like you very fascinating.

on Nov. 18 2009 at 4:23 pm
dragonfan SILVER, Arcidia, Indiana
9 articles 1 photo 213 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Death truly makes an artist"

Fantastic,Amazing,I loved it!!!! I couldn't stop reading!!!