a. What challenges did you overcome throughout this story project? How did you go about
overcoming these challenges?
I took a lot of risks with this story, starting with second person POV. Second Person POV is a risky move as it is the rarest of the POVs in fiction, so readers are not as familiar with it. However, it can also make a story more impactful and immersive. It forces them to see the story directly through the eyes of the protagonist, which can be a jarring or even alienating experience. Many readers may find it hard to connect with the constant use of “you,” which places them directly in the action rather than observing it from a distance. Additionally, it was fun mixing up the types of classes. There’s not just one type of conflict. The protagonist feels the mental conflict of grasping physics concepts, and emotional conflict, caught between schadenfreude (joy at the misery of others) since everyone is finally on an even playing field and their natural empathy. I also made sure that the protagonist, though lonely, avoids the stereotypes of the “passive, tragic victim” and the “angry rebel” often seen in media. Humans react to loneliness in various ways. Some get angry, some crack jokes even if no one else hears them, some tell themselves that it’s okay even when it’s not, and the protagonist does all of them. What the protagonist lacks in physical description, they make up for in personality. Their actions seem reasonable, which prevents the second person POV from feeling cloying or unnatural.
b. How did writing and researching this story change the way you think?
Loneliness is something I’m familiar with, but I only really started playing around with the idea of cosmic metaphors a few months ago. I figured that since the story was set in a physics class, I might as well use universe-related language to connect with the main themes. So on the surface level, the title, “Astrophysics,” is about the protagonist’s class subject, but on a deeper level it reflects how they feel as insignificant and overlooked as a mere blip on the cosmos. People as stars and planets, constellations as friend groups, the randomized seating as a grand, cosmic disturbance, the protagonist mockingly comparing the split-up friends to star crossed lovers – the juxtaposition adds tension. Continuous edits also allowed me to add literary devices, such as Alliteration – Stars scattered; small, shameful (note the syllable count is 1-2); out of orbit; equal, even; sickeningly saccharine scene, and Assonance – Constellations rearranged.
c. What impact will this story have on others locally and/or globally?
I hope that the people who can relate to my story will feel comforted that they are not alone in being lonely, that it’s okay if their school experience absolutely sucked. It’s completely valid to have negative feelings towards bystanders, because there was no one antagonist in my story. No one threw garbage at the protagonist or shoved their head under a sink, but no one included them or welcomed them or sat with them either. Sometimes, the in-between state feels even worse than explicitly being picked on, because at least in the latter place one can give up on befriending bullies and direct their attention elsewhere, while in the former people may be tempted to keep trying, to think if they were just a little more agreeable, if they smiled frequently, if they just changed themselves, they would be more loveable. And if my readers DIDN’T have such experiences, now they know that social bullying and chronic isolation are real and painfully felt and may be more aware in their lives.