The first story I ever wrote was when I was seven years old, having just begun homeschooling. That story was about a teddy bear named Ralph, who married a stuffed rabbit. They had many children, held many different jobs, all of which led to many different adventures. Now, almost 17 years later, I still find myself telling stories.
The world is full of storytellers, some of them liars or swindlers, while others are merely people with an imagination, who are busy creating fictional characters on a literary canvas. I like to believe that I am the latter and not the former. With each story that I have told, or half-told, I often asked myself the question, why should I tell this story? There are already so many stories out there that are already mandatory reading, why should my new story idea compete for the pressure little time that readers have? Also, there are so many stories told over and over again, following the same formula as the other 500 versions of it. Will this one really be any different or better? As a writer, these, and many others, are all questions that come to mind when I consider writing a new story.
Teardrops in the Rain culminated from my own questions about what love is and what it requires. It is often hard to differentiate between love, infatuation, or even sexual attraction, in our North American society. So easily those three words, “I love you,” are thrown around without enough serious thought about what they really require of the one who utters them. In Italian, there are three ways to tell someone that you love him or her, each for different levels of human relationships. In English, a man can express how he feels about hamburgers with the same affectionate verb that he would use to express his feelings for his significant other. Love gets a bad rap in our society, one that it doesn’t deserve. True love is a daily sacrifice, one that more people everyday seem to be giving up on. Persevering in love is far easier said than done.
Writing Teardrops in the Rain was often a struggle in perseverance. The time that it has taken to bring it to its completion was over three years, involving several re-writes, much editing, and many revisions. This is a story that has consumed my mind and to be honest, I look forward to being able to lay it to rest and giving the public a look at it.
With that said, there is a certain nervous anxiety within me about releasing it for public consumption. Will people understand the story? Will they connect to the characters as I have? Will the story keep their attention? My hope is that the answer is yes to each of these questions. In writing Teardrops in the Rain, I have come to realize what my strengths and weaknesses in writing are; all of which I hope to improve upon in the future. Writing a good story is not something than can be done by simply sitting down and writing. Anyone can write a story, it’s just a matter of whether it is any good. One of the things that I’ve come to believe through being a reader and a writer is the necessity of accessibility. Style is important, but without accessibility, the story is meaningless. I’ve read far too many beautiful, yet awful books over the years. Writing is for the reader, not the writer. I am curious to see how the masses receive Teardrops in the Rain. Their scrutiny and criticism is something that I have been looking forward to. While I am ready to put this story behind me, I am slightly sad that it has come to an end. It feels like I am saying goodbye to characters who have become dear friends, albeit imaginary ones. I only hope that whether you love or hate the characters in Teardrops in the Rain, they will be real and personable to you. I want you, as the reader, to be able to connect with them and feel as they feel, while they live out their “lives.” May you live vicariously through them and be challenged by their experiences. That is all I can hope.
Joel Bain (joel@joelbain.com)
