Brain Freeze When Asked About My Book

"So, you wrote a book! That's great! What's it about?"

"Uhh...well, there's this guy and it's a haunted house story... You'd have to read it to understand."

That is me nearly every single time someone asks me about my book. I hear this from other authors, too. Friends or family ask me about my writing and I totally seize up. It's like I completely forget about the 92,000 word work of fiction that I spent seven months writing.

Why is it so hard to explain to someone what my project is about? The plot is there. The characters are there, defined, in text. IT'S ALL THERE!  So why can't I answer?

I think it's because there is just too much packed into there. I can't just call it a haunted house story, because it is and it isn't. I mean, it's part of it but there's so much more. Nothing is really what it seems. There's love, loss, hope, anguish all compacted within those flattened sheets of cream color paper. My book is about moments to make you chuckle and instances that will freeze your soul.

How do I describe that to someone?

In the end, I realize that it's because I am simply too attached to my project to summarize it in a few sentences. There is so much emotion, not only in the work, but in the time spent writing it that I can't just give a simple answer.

It's about sacrifice. It's about a man sacrificing half a year with his family to achieve his goal. That's not the character in my story, though. That's about the dude who wrote it. My character's story is also one of sacrifice, though of a much more personal kind.

...personal... maybe that's why I can't answer the question so easily.

This writing is my heart and soul poured out into words. It is so extremely personal that I just can't talk about it. Sure, I can rip my heart out of my chest and toss it on the table for everyone to inspect - but please don't ask me to analyze it.

I guess it's just a weird quirk that I possess. Maybe the next time someone asks me what my book is about I will simply say "Well, you just have to read it to find out."

_______

The Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett
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