Storytelling

In my writing classes, both intro to short story and creative non-fiction, I'm being taught that no matter what kind of story you're telling it always has a few simple things. Starting with the basic construct: a beginning, middle, and end, and then delving into different kinds of plots you can have, character development, conflict, etc.

But, I disagree. Stories are an odd thing because they always have a beginning and a middle, but they never really end. A story is only a sample of a larger story that is a sample of a larger story. Yes, there will be characters and conflict, but the plot is often of a grander scheme than we are allowed to see. Even the authors can't know what happens to the characters when they stop writing about them.

Most would say oh, they're just characters. Really, they're whoever you want them to be. Characters are derived from the people you've heard about on the news, the people you see on a daily basis, the people you love, the people you hate, the people who are too uninteresting to feel anything towards other than indifference. Real people.

And those people's lives continue whether you continue to develop their personalities and situations on paper or not.

And my friends' lives continue whether we still talk or not.
They live on, and my life and what I write about or care about is of no consequence to them.
I'm selfish because I want them to care and they're selfish because they don't.
There's not really any escaping it until my presence seems to burden them, and hardly ever hanging out turns into never hanging out, and I keep my secrets to myself and I no longer know any of theirs, and words of encouragement turn into constant negativity acting as "honesty", and pretty soon we just stop talking altogether.

My friend Scott told me that we were BFNFT's, and when I asked what it meant, he said "Best Friends Not Forever Though."

It's one of the few things that's ever made perfect sense to me.