The Same Story, 16 years later
coincidence? serendipity? Who knows.
At 16, I read the book “The Game” by Neil Strauss.
In that book, he talks about this whole routine he had using a certain short story.
This short story was a strange tale about meeting the 100% perfect person. A story within a story really. Where two people meet who are the perfect match for each other, but they doubt the perfection of the relationship.. So they decide to separate, and if they’re truly meant to be together, they’ll find each other again one day.
It’s an interesting story to say the least, and I’ll spare any spoilers, but as I said, I only ever knew that story from Neil Strauss’ book.
But recently, things came full circle, and I found that story again in an unexpected way, that gave me my own feeling of fate.
***
About 6 years ago, I randomly picked up a book of short stories called “Men Without Women”. The author’s style was strange, but drew me in, and I was instantly hooked. I then went on to read “South of the Border, West of the Sun.” by the same author, which became my favorite novel. Over the next few years I would read a lot of books and short stories by this author, Haruki Murakami, whose surreal, dreamlike stories would get me through some of the roughest moments in my life, and inspire me to write.
And after a two year reading slump, (going from someone who would read 50+ books a year to almost none), last week I decided to start reading short stories again. I picked up a handful of books; one from Stephen King, Ken Liu, Ted Chiang, Isaac Asimov, and of course Haruki Murakami.
And I’ve been cycling through those books, reading one short story from each, and then starting back over again. In that way, I’ve been slowly making my way through five books at once. After some mind-blowing sci-fi about AI mind control, and a King story about sociopaths facing the end of the world, I was back around to Murakami to read a story about… Kangaroos?
Well, it wasn’t even really about kangaroos. To be honest I don’t know what it was about. But this is my favorite author, so I have to try to figure it out!
And as I came to the end of that kangaroo story, and turned the digital page of my kindle to bookmark my spot at the start of the next story, guess what I see?
The title: “On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning”
That strange story from 16 years ago. That strange story that stuck in my mind, clinging to the edges of my memory, and randomly popping up over the years to make me think… That story was written by my favorite author.
I was absolutely floored.
I couldn’t believe it!
I still can’t.
Is Haruki Murakami my 100% perfect author? Was I destined to run into his work spontaneously until he inspired me to write my own novels, and my own short stories?
Because that’s the whole point of this rambling post. That I’m not only reading short stories because I want to get back into reading them. It’s also because I want to get back into writing them. And I want to write my first novel, now, at 32. Because I’ve had the dream of writing for as long as I can remember, and I’m not getting any younger, so I might as well get to it.
So maybe there’s truth to the story after all. From being a kid, who liked writing silly little stories, to being an adult now reigniting that spark to write, Murakami has been there, in some capacity, inspiring me.
And while I’m not a superstitious guy, and Murakami is a very well known author, I still find the coincidence a little strong to overlook.
When I first read his story at 16, it made me want to write my own stories. It opened up a new style of fiction to me, and for whatever reason really spoke to me.
To find it again at this point in my life, right when I decided I want to write… Well that’s gotta be a sign.
And if you need a sign as well dear reader, here it is:
Write the book you’ve been waiting to write.
That’s enough talk for today. Let’s get back to work.
– J