Reacting to my Old Writing Part 2

Last week I posted Part 1 of Reacting to my Old Writing, in which I read the first half of my middle school magnum opus. Go check it out before you read this post!

Okay. Let’s continue.

After the Emma Lawson party fiasco, we return to the hurricane plot line because that pesky thing is still coming.

“I took a shuddery breath, very scared.”

So Julia’s family evacuates to her aunt’s house in central Florida… which would be completely pointless in the case of a category 5 hurricane, but I digress. Julia’s hanging out with her cousin Anna when a very unfortunate coincidence occurs:

Yeah, Victoria evacuated to the EXACT SAME neighborhood. Tea! After this exchange, Anna becomes the voice of wisdom and plants the seed of doubt in Julia’s mind about whether Victoria is a good friend.

After another dramatic Anna vs. Victoria showdown, Julia’s mother forbids her from hanging out with Victoria anymore.

The hurricane also comes, but despite all the buildup, I barely even talk about it. Even though it was CATEGORY 5. A category 5 storm would not “just rain all day” when they are barely distanced from the eye. I obviously did not understand ANYTHING about hurricanes when I wrote this, but I’ll cut myself some slack.

Then, because she’s conflicted about whether she should stay with Victoria or side with Anna and Gwin, Julia decides to run away in the middle of the hurricane.

But then she chickens out and goes to Victoria’s parent’s friend’s house instead. (Because that’s what I needed to happen for dramatic purposes.)

That totally sounds like it’ll work out.

Sure enough, Julia’s parents find out, get really mad, and ground her. Anna’s also mad, but they make up.

Back at home, Julia reunites with Riley and they agree to ditch Victoria and become friends with Gwin instead.

The next day, Julia and Gwin go on a bike ride together. In Victoria’s neighborhood. And some stuff goes down.

(I subconsciously- or perhaps consciously- based this on a somewhat similar incident that happened to me. Fun fact)

The denouement perfectly sets us up for my character growth-y final paragraph:

I remember writing this conclusion! It was Thanksgiving day, and instead of talking to my extended family, I literally spent the entire day in my room writing the last 20 pages of this story.

I believe I was going for a metaphor. You know, in which the hurricane represented the upheaval, anxiety and drama in Julia’s life: the calm yet imperfect placidity before the storm, and then the rainbow afterwards.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this reaction post. Thanks for stopping by my blog 🙂