(October 17, 2011):
I
actually wrote “Friends without Benefits” for a writing contest that one of the
girls I usually follow on Blogger hosted. It was her first time hosting a
writing contest, so there were not a lot of participants. Therefore, I decided
to participate in order to support her first contest and motivate myself to
write another story. The name of the writing contest was called Priceless
Theories, and the objective of the contest was to build a story upon a theory
you personally believe.
When
I started “Friends without Benefits,” I had no idea where the story was going
to lead and how it was going to end. I had a general idea of the theory I
wanted to build upon, but I was not certain. I was not sure how to create a
story that would emit the significance of my theory either, so I just wrote
whatever came to mind. Evol, to me, is an innocent suburban girl that dwells in
the beauty of her hometown. Although I did not fully develop her character, I
wanted her personality to show through her thoughts, feelings, and environment
unlike Kai’s. Portraying an ideal guy was hard, so I used a lot of
self-interests to bring forth Kai’s character and his interests. I wanted to
portray him as a carefree and romantic guy typical of the-guy-next-door, and
the best way to do that was to use photography as the focus point. It is, after
all, the whole cause of Kai and Evol’s meeting.
The
different stages in Evol and Kai’s relationship are what I used to develop my
theory that friendship is the best relationship two people can have developed
between them. As human beings, our first encounter with a stranger is always
filled with uncomfortable silence and sometimes awkwardness. We tend to hide
our true selves and refrained from conversing about ourselves due to the lack
of trust. However, once we have passed that stage and became friends with that
person, we realized that there really is nothing we do not wish to share with
him or her. It is the stage where we can laugh at one another, argue with each
other, and cry together and is still able to make up at the end of the day. However,
friendships can change for better or for worse, and it is due to this change
that I wanted to emphasize on. Once a change has taken place, the possibility
of things returning to the way they had been before is very little. Evol’s relationship
with Kai is the perfect example of a change that cannot return to how it was
before.
I
honestly was not expecting to win the writing contest when I submitted “Friends
without Benefits”. I did not have enough confidence to even hope for an hour, and
I felt as if I had not done a good job carrying out the story’s plot. So after
submission, I actually forgot about the writing contest until recently when I
was carrying about my routine on Blogger that I remembered. I visited the girl
in charge of the writing contest’s blog and saw that I won. I was shocked, but
I was really happy too. What made me even happier were the comments that I
received from her and the judge that read the entries with her:
Winner is: Shawty!!! Your story was brilliant. Fabulous and I loved it girl!
Judge's say: The story that I read here was something that should go into a magazine, it was that well written. What a wonderful way to express the different stages in one’s life. Truly, a good read. You completely deserve this!
Their
kinds of comments are what remind me of why I enjoyed writing and are what
motivates me to continue writing even though my progress is slow. As long as my
writing is able to produce even the smallest smile on someone’s face, then I am
content.
Thank
you for reading “Friends with Benefits”!
Love, shawty_12
[HS Pen Name: shawty_12]
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