Today’s challenge from the DIYMFA is to find out What is my Storytelling Superpower? I love taking quizzes and this one was right on, telling me that I’m a Survivor. If you look at my Goodreads booklist in the sidebar, you will see that this is a match to my reading list too. I love reading about characters with the will to survive.
My list is filled with books about people facing illness, loss, and death. On the surface reading books about these topics may seem depressing, but to me they are hopeful. I enjoy watching people’s journey as they come to understand and/or overcome the serious obstacles of life.
I also like the way characters in survivor stories are problem solvers. I am very much the kind of person who is trying to solve the puzzles that life throws at me and seeing people on the page try and come up with solutions is exciting to me. When characters believe in something so deeply I want to see them succeed, even if they have to keep trying. I especially like stories about real people who are survivors, whether they are full-length memoirs or shorter essays.
Survivor stories aren’t just about the person who needs to overcome the obstacle. They help us grow and emulate the survivor.
It makes sense then, that my own memoir is a survivor story about my brain tumor and my father’s stroke. It tells how I only understood my brain tumor after watching my dad fight for his life after his stroke.
Seeing my dad struggle helped me understand in a way that I had not previously, just as all good survivor stories do. Survivor stories aren’t just about the person who needs to overcome the obstacle. They help us grow and emulate the survivor.
Beautiful…