Everything that has happened in my life has been such a surprise. No turn was intentional, no swerve done wittingly, it is basically a play without a script. I wouldn't have thought that Tall Tales could exist. However, there are some things that I have always known, deep down in the marrow of my bones:
It is that I do have a love for words, wordplay, and stories.
At one point in my life, I aspired to become a writer. Yet my lack of commitment and my tendency to focus on every little details make it nearly impossible for me to finish a story. Even Tall Tales is just a compilation of stories – an anthology.
So, yes, I did let go of that dream, although a little reluctantly. I immersed myself back into my school life. I let the flow of life toss and turn me into wherever it takes me. All the while, the prompts in my head never ceased.
Oh, ever since I was a little girl, I always make up stories before I go to bed – set both in the real and imaginary world. And the oldest of my stories that I can recall is one that is inspired by my eight wooden cat toys: four of them light brown with black stripes on their tails, and the rest of them had pastel colors, one pink, one yellow, one green, and one blue. I used to let my mind wander before bed about a castle on the clouds, with rainbow angels who had colorful cats as their means of travel. Please don't mock me for that, it's true.
From there, I started writing in a notebook, along with a close friend of mine. I wrote about four teenage girls who found paradise behind a waterfall. I wrote about five fruit princesses. I wrote about a school that hosts students with powers. I wrote about a teenage in life who's in love. I wrote about everything. I still have them – 4 books in total. Don't ask for them, they're written in my native tongue with what little an elementary school student can do.
Ah, back to the tale behind Tall Tales. Long story short, I kept failing to stick with one plot of story. I always feel like there's more before and after a story is told. Therefore, it is hard for me to express everything in a story – I couldn't possibly start from the very beginning until every character dies, could I? (I know I could as in of course everybody can, but I could not as in I don't know enough about a life that isn't mine, you know?) On the other hand, I also couldn't just let the prompts in my head ebb away and be lost forever.
If I remember correctly, the first story I made was Elements – Chapter 03. My very first short story. I remember not being able to fit it into any of my currently ongoing plots. And from there, a light bulb went up in my head. I should just start creating my very own compilation of stories.
And during high school, I had so many experiences with a plethora of emotions. I felt and at some point in time, I maintained a love and hate relationship to my feelings.
Yet most of the time, my heart felt too small for what I'm feeling.
It was like I couldn't function, couldn't study when I know I have to since there will be a test the day after. I just have to pour them out, or I'll overflow. And it became a release for me, to write down my contemplation. Sometimes it was a thought that overpowers me, other times it was a huge broken dam of emotions that rushed through me. The latter is mostly too personal and too harsh to share, so the contemplation in Tall Tales are mostly the former.
Please forgive me for not sharing any of the emotional contemplation, but really, they are less refined and so rough in the matters of writing flow. I mean, what else do you expect from someone who is overridden by their emotions? And let's be honest, y'all enjoy the stories more than the contemplation, don't you?
So that's a little bit about Tall Tales and a little bit about me. Nothing too interesting, I know, sorry for that. After all, I am just that nondescript fantasist living in a humdrum reality.
See you when I see you again!
- SS