One story to tell

When I think about the things that I love most in this world, after family and friends, books and writing are the things that first spring to mind. But lately I've questioned a lot about what that really means. My love of books is completely unique to me compared to the person reading this.

When books are written they don't just serve one purpose. We all read the same story but the interpretations of that story are different for everyone. There is often a lot of discourse over how a character would look if they were a real person, that would not happen if we all read the same story. Whilst authors have one story to tell, their words create thousands of individual stories.

As readers we like to project our own personality and ideals onto the characters we love. We try to see the features of ourselves in others in order to find comfort and belonging, hoping that a character might share a piece of us that makes us feel alone. This isn't a bad thing, in fact some might say that it is what makes reading so magical. Words are able to do something that pictures can't quite do; they allow us to develop a person into who we want them to be.

The truth is that we all have one story that we want to share, one we might not have the power to turn into real words. So instead we look between the lines of other people's story to see if we can find the words we wanted to say. But the most powerful thing that any reader holds is the power of thousands of words. Not every reader will be an amazing writer, but stories do not have to be perfect. Writing that perfect character that you search for in others books or explaining that situation which you crave to discover in the pages of your favourite book gives you such a deep satisfaction that you may not even realise you need.

I know that the book I have been writing for over a year might never leave my computer. I have hope that it might one day but right now it is my escape. It is my chance to give to the world something that I have not discovered in another person's world. As readers we have the power to give each other the things we crave to see.

The power to have one story to tell.