Trying to Remember

There was once an author by the name of Harold Farmel. He was a lifelong author who enjoyed writing stories that fascinated readers for over four decades. Among his creations include multiple book series about characters from a rabbit trying to find his way home after being shipwrecked to a fox trying to survive a winter by growing crops that are cold-resistant.

Unfortunately for the writer, he had been recently diagnosis with a medical condition that would slowly take away his ability to remember things. The diagnosis had haunted him for days, and he was wondering if he could find a way to remember his family’s names. He was now trying to do so by writing stories where they are characters, knowing that he remembered the characters and stories he wrote the best out of everything else.

“My daughter’s name is Alice Farmel,” said the author to himself, “I think I can write a story where she is a character, so that it would be easier for me to remember her name in the future.” The author then had to decide what kind of story he was going to write if he was going to have his daughter as the main character in it.

“I know,” said the author to himself, “I will write her as a fantasy hero where she goes and saves entire families that are being haunted by dragons.” The main character had written fantasy books before, and they were similar to popular fantasy stories around the world with a twist. One of them was that the big bad wolf from the Three Little Pigs story was actually a hero trying to save two of the pigs from their abusive brother.

“To start,” thought the author, “I will need to introduce my daughter, Alice Farmel, as a seasoned hero who hunts and slays dragons.” The author then began to write about Alice in his new story. He had hoped that he would remember how to write one, and to his relief, he was happy that he could still remember and began to write about the main character in vivid detail.

“She was a survivor of a terrible storm that had claimed the lives of her family,” wrote Harold. He had decided to use events that had happened in their life as a basis for the character he named after her as a way for him to remember important events. Harold could remember that they had survived a serious car accident about a decade ago where his daughter was badly hurt but was able to make a full recovery in a about a year.

“She was also a scholar who enjoyed sports,” said Harold to himself. Harold was aware that women in the medieval era were not allowed to pursue an education or play sports, and he had decided on this as a key characteristic for the main character as he had been disapproving of the extracurriculars his daughter chose in the past. “Could I have been a more supportive of her? Absolutely, and I hope it isn’t too late to change things.”

“What else am I going to write about her,” thought Harold, “I know. She chose to devote her life to helping others.” Harold knew that his daughter, after her accident and recovery, had spent a lot of time working in charities that not only benefited the people in their city, but also around the world. Alice had also spent a lot of time travelling to different countries to help the people there.

After a brief period where Harold had managed to finish writing most of the character traits of his new protagonist, he decided to walk around his office, looking at the books that he had written throughout his career. One of them stood out in particular as he had written about a dragon that became lost from his tribe and befriended a local peasant.

“My daughter helped me write this one,” thought Harold, “it was where my daughter told me that she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her old man and become a writer.” Harold took the book out from the shelf and dusted it. Carrying to his rocking chair, he began to read it, looking for details that he was aware was written by his daughter.

After two hours passed, Harold decided to return to work writing his new story. “Well, that was a nice walk down memory lane,” said Harold to himself, “now what was I doing again.” Harold was confused for a few minutes as he had trouble remembering what he was previously doing before remembering that he had something to do with writing.

“Oh yes,” said Harold to himself, “I was writing something. Now what was I writing,” Harold was again confused about what he was doing before deciding o return to his desk, hoping that would help him with what he was trying to remember. “I should go back to my desk. There might be clues there to help me remember what I was doing.”

Harold slowly walked back to his desk, looking for clues about what he was doing. “Where there is a script here,” thought Harold to himself, “maybe there is something here that can help me remember.” Harold then flipped through the script but had trouble remembering what it was about. “What the main character’s name is Alice Farmel, but I don’t know who that is.”

Harold then continued to read through the story. “Well, the story is about a heroine who saves entire families that are being haunted by dragons,” thought Harold, “I think I have written similar stories in the past.” As he continued to read through the story, seeing the struggles and characteristics of the main character, they suddenly began to remind him of something.

“I believe I have based this character on my daughter,” said Harold to himself, “of course. I have written this story to help me remember her name and important events in our life. Now I need to continue writing to where she helps save a family dying of a mysterious illness.” Harold remembered that one of his most recent memories was that he managed to survive a different illness with the support of his family, and decided that it would be a good place to end the new story he was writing.