Reflection #3

In the essay “If You Invent the Story, You’re the First to See How It Ends”, Roxana Robinson discusses how family inspires her fiction and is “the source of our most powerful feelings”, page 194. Throughout life one realizes what can affect us the most is our relationships in family. Our feelings towards family members are very strong, therefore when angry at one member or feeling loving towards another, these emotions are much stronger than when having these feelings towards a friend.

Robinson says on page 194, “If you were to decide, at twenty, never to speak to your mother again, and if you didn’t see your mother for forty years, she would still be your mother.” This statement is very much repeated among people when the topic of family comes up. It is very true, that even if you hate your own mother, she will always be your mother and that fact can never be changed and she can never be replaced completely. Robinson continues to say in that paragraph that after the forty years of not seeing your mother you will possibly see her on accident or on your own will go to see her after all this time, and the feelings you had at the time of making the decision to never see her come back.

Those feelings, whether of guilt or confusion, maybe even sadness, stay with you. They can’t go away. This is because of your relationship with the other human being; because you are family. I agree with Robinson that family has a huge impact on your life, whether negative or positive. I also agree with her statement that “Every family, like every fingerprint, has its own unique pattern, its own set of conflicts and beliefs and alliances”, page 195. Indeed, every family is unique, the same way every single one of us has different problems we have to deal with. Family has been a great part of writing throughout history and is something everyone can write about.

When it comes to my fictional writing, I feel most of my ideas comes from my relations in my family as well, and if not family, friends. If the inspiration isn’t coming from, for example, my relationship with my father, it can come from my father’s relationship with my mother instead. What interests me the most is my family members’ relationships with others. I like to observe at times the way my parents act around each other, or the way they act in front of my friends or other family members such as my brother and my niece. I can sense the emotions going around when observing them and it gives me ideas for stories.

Something I can observe that can be a great story is my parents’ behavior when together and when separated. As their daughter I see their relationship very clear because I’m in the middle of it. Plus, my parents each come to me to tell me their feelings at certain moments when angry towards each other or annoyed, or even when feeling loving. Some themes that can probably come out of this are betrayal, love, anger, ignorance, and depression. Families truly are a huge part of our lives and can give great inspiration for writing for they are in everyone’s lives with different problems and kinds of relationships, making each unique and a surprise for not only the creators but the receivers.