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CrAzI_bAbI_cHiKa
Member
since 2003-07-16
Posts 248


0 posted 2006-03-19 08:46 PM


Storytelling...It was something she learned at a young age, maybe as young as five or six. If she wanted to fit in with everybody, she needed a story for everybody. She was the center of every group, because she could re-invent any story to fit in with that group. She was a master story-teller, able to invent any type of tale at the blink of an eye. Her entire life was a story,and she loved every minute of it.
Because for a moment, when she told her story, she wasnt herself. She wasn't simply Jenna Jameson, but instead became the story, became the characters, held her destiny in her own hands. She could make what she wanted happen, have disaster or romance, children, friends or lovers, life or death at her word. She controlled the world, and she liked it that way.

She went home every night to a broken home, a destroyed world. The twins screamed throughout the night, her father walked in drunk and raving, and her mother couldn't deal with love. Broken windows and peeling wallpaper circled around her, while an empty refrigerator haunted her dreams. Her friends never knew her despair, because she never showed them. Crying out for attention, she shoplifted her way into designer clothes, and made her way onto the cheerleading team. Her world was split in two, and noone would ever know, not if she had anything to say about it anyways.

The therapist sat back into his chair, sighing to himself. "Are you sure you have nothing to talk about today, Jenna?" Nodding her head, she watched the smart doctor write something down. "Well in that case, I think it's time you go back to your room." The nice nurse held out her hand, and Jenna made her way back to the pretty room with bars.

She closed her eyes as the hearse went by. She should have been at his funeral, but she couldn't stand seeing him...like that. Jenna shook her head silently, then continued to push the baby carriage down the street.

The rain bounced off the streetlights as she slowly trudged home. Even the rain couldn't bring her down tonight. Eric was perfect, the night was perfect, and her life seemed perfect. Head cheerleader, rich parents, a scholarship to Stanford, and the greatest boyfriend in the world. Jenna Jameson's life was perfect, and the world knew it.

Yeah, Jenna could control her world, and she liked it that way.

When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better.
Mae West

© Copyright 2006 Keryn - All Rights Reserved
Skyfire
Deputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Elite
since 2000-12-27
Posts 3381
Riding
1 posted 2006-03-20 12:36 PM


Fantastic, I love how you gave three different possibilities at the end!

and then He created the horse...

Larry C
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Patricius
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286
United States
2 posted 2006-03-20 07:27 PM


Keryn,
Well done! You have a nice touch. Easy and pleasant to read. Hope you write some more prose. I suck at fiction though I do pretty good at stories. Well, with family anyway.

If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane,
I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.

miscellanea
Member Elite
since 2004-06-24
Posts 4060
OH
3 posted 2006-03-22 03:53 PM


Liked this VERY much!

miscellanea

CrAzI_bAbI_cHiKa
Member
since 2003-07-16
Posts 248

4 posted 2006-03-22 03:59 PM


Skyfire, Thanks A lot for commenting!

Larry, You do do really well with stories, and I highly doubt you suck at fiction. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.


Miscellanea, Thanks A LOT! haaha.

<3kerR

When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better.
Mae West

fractal007
Senior Member
since 2000-06-01
Posts 1958

5 posted 2006-04-01 11:07 PM


I knew things were going to get interesting when I saw the intro about Jenna making up stories.  The strength of this story is your playing around with reality.  

The weakness of the piece is its length.  You've got a girl who loves to weave her way into the crowd by spinning yarns.  Probably some would be tempted to call her delusional (she's in control of her story, etc.) though I'd call her creative.  But in the end you barely devote a page to it.  That's unfortunate.  

The ending delivers a good punchline.  We're left in doubt about what's real and what's not in Jenna's life.  Is she trying to escape into a happy world, or is life really too happy (dull) for her and so she has to make up a sob story (the peeling wallpaper, the drunken father, etc.) to make her life sound more interesting to others?

Grammatically, some things could be cleaned up.  For example, "The twins screamed throughout the night" is a bit redundant.  Why not say "the twins screamed all night" or they "screamed through the night"?  

Also, what does "her mother couldn't deal with love" mean?  Does her mother suffer from some kind of emotional disorder, or is she generally a melancholic woman?

You've got a cool idea here, but it's one that needs more development and elaboration and even explanation.  Who has died, for example?  

Thanks for the chance to read and reply.

Any idiot can see that the result is true.
-- argumentum ad idiotum
Me!

CrAzI_bAbI_cHiKa
Member
since 2003-07-16
Posts 248

6 posted 2006-04-01 11:31 PM


Hey fractal...

Okay, so first off, thanks a ton for taking the time to reply so well. It definitely means a lot to me.

Secondly, I wanted to keep it short and sweet, purposely to deliver a quick point. I understand where I could expand it, but to be honest, with all the stories that are behind this story, I could continue writing this forever.

Grammatically, I agree with you, I'm going to remove that "-out".

However, where I disagree with you is the bit about the explanation. "Her mother couldn't deal with love" and "She should have been at his funeral..." et al. is supposed to be confusing and unexplained. It's the idea that we don't know what's going on, because she's making up her life. Her creativity allows us to be creative, to try and figure out if the death is one of a brother, a father, an ex boyfriend, or something else. Whether her real life is perfection, or dangerously disturbing, or if Jenna is really psychotic. She's controlling her world through the right to tell her own story, and that's where her power lies. Admitting to truth or going into detail makes one lose track of the real story, gets things too messy...it loses the listeners'(readers')interest.

In any case, thanks so much(agaiN) for replying so throughly. You sound like a teacher, maybe? Or someone who has done this a lot. Either way, thank you.

<3kerR

fractal007
Senior Member
since 2000-06-01
Posts 1958

7 posted 2006-04-04 09:57 PM


I can't help but make another reply to this one:  

Admitting to truth or going into detail makes one lose track of the real story


I think I'd have to disagree.  The point of this piece seems to be (if I read your response to my initial reply correctly) that there IS no real story.  Yes, the fact is that the protagonist is making up her own story.  But still in a story like this the writer is obviously encouraging us to question everything in the story -- including the protagonist's own delusions.

As I read this I thought about Don Quixote (it's really the only story I've read that's anything like this.  Well, that's not true.  Isaak B. Singer wrote a story called Gimpel the Fool and it's a lot like this).  Don Quixote has to deal with reality but the great thing about the story is that as we're being presented with Don Quixote dealing with reality we're also invited to participate in his delusions about reality.  And by participate I don't mean simply read about.  No, I mean you get to participate in them.  Everything Don Quixote experiences falls into his own narrative about his life as a wandering knight.

So with that in mind, I think you could admit the truth and in so doing make the real story even better.

Again, thanks for a cool read that inspires such discussion.

Any idiot can see that the result is true.
-- argumentum ad idiotum
Me!

the_girl_next_door
Senior Member
since 2006-02-26
Posts 591
USA
8 posted 2006-04-10 05:45 PM


Hey.. I loved this.. I read what was said about telling the truth or the whole point.. well.. i like it the way it is.. I love how you can have the different possibilities at the end.. and you really don't know which one is real.. (is she psychotic making stories, rich and making stories.. have a baby and dreaming of a better life..???) i could go on and on like you said.. you could write more and more to this.. it reminds me some of the movie "the butterfly effect" if you've ever seen it.. this was great story.. you are my favorite writer on this site.. keep it up..
~Heather

Desire nothing except desirelessness. Hope for nothing except to rise above all hopes.
Want nothing & you will have everything.

the_girl_next_door
Senior Member
since 2006-02-26
Posts 591
USA
9 posted 2006-04-10 05:46 PM


ps.. going in my library..

Desire nothing except desirelessness. Hope for nothing except to rise above all hopes.
Want nothing & you will have everything.

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