Story #3 final idea (Annam)

For my third and final story for the class, I decided to write from a teenage boy's perspective. Heres how my idea developed and is coming along:

I was listening to a song called "She Talks to Angels", and the girl who the song is about struck me as a paradox. She seemed mysterious and intriguing. But usually people like that are portrayed as coming from less than ideal or usual backgrounds. However, I took it as this girl came from a normal home and family life, she just felt she was meant for more than that. Sort of like a typical restless teenage girl with dreams and plans and tons of angst. She also had many quirks and little things about her that gave off a strong imagery and sense about who she is. She seems like a frail person masked by her strong alter ago. She also seemed like she was more innocent and naive than she portrayed herself to be. Like most things, I probably read too deep into this one song, but I was actually more fascinated by the singer of the song than the girl he was singing about, if that makes sense. He seemed to have a certain personality and story about him too. By that, I dont mean the actual singer, but the kind of boy who would watch, interpret, and analyze a girl like her in such a way, noticing everything about her and being completely in awe of her as to sing about her.

I imagined him to be a soft spoken teenager, who spends alot of time by himself, drawing or playing the guitar. He's more emotional and understanding than most guys his age (around 16 or 17) Someone unassuming, and has a good relationship with his family but still cant be around them for more than an hour before needing a break. So from this idea, I decided to make him the main character of my story. I also want to incorporate the girl into it, because I believe it will give these two characters a strong dynamic since they are mirror images of each other.

It will start off at the boys home, where his parents are throwing a party for neighbors, relatives, and family friends. Tons of guests come over, and their children as well who are or around the boys age, but he has nothing in common with them and gets sick of all the pointless banter and commotion. He retreats to his room where he is fiddling around with his guitar, and thats when a girl quickly enters his room and shuts the door. She rests her head against the door and sighs. She obviously felt the same way he did. She very casually acts like theres nothing weird about her being in his room when shes never met him, and looks at him and starts walking around as if they know each other. At first, she scares him because of how blunt and confident she is, unlike any girl he's known before. He also doesnt recognize her from the place they live in.

She tells him shes an only child, and that her parents are devout Muslims, while her father is the preist or "molvee" at an Islamic masjid (a house of prayer) outside of the town. (In a previous post, I mentioned how I wanted to also incorporate my own background and heritage into this story) He learns their fathers are childhood friends, and thats how her parents and her were invited to this little get together. She tells him she didnt want to come, but her parents forced her to and told her about the family having a son her own age (him) that she might want to befriend. He learns that her entering his room wasnt an accident, as she saw him going up there when she arrived at the party, and she figured they both hated being apart of these little typical parties that occur in many Pakistani homes. They begin to talk, and realize how much they have in common, including the pressure they both feel from their parents high expectations, to following their culture and religion.

I pretty much have her life put together, but not his. The story wont only focus on the girl, I want his life and story to be a big part of it as well. I would like for these two opposites to learn from each other in a short time, and then never meet again but learn from each other, or possibly develop a continuing relationship. Maybe it will be a flashback, from a now adult man looking back at a chance encounter in the most crucial years of ones life. There will be a strong emphasis on their culture and religion as well and the cultural gap from growing up as first generation Americans. I have a lot more to do in terms of finishing this up and developing the story and characters but this is where Im up to as of now.