Ever very suspicious that you might be the MC of a story that hasn't been released yet? (shamelessly brag)

[Leyelle]

Cuz I'm just looking at my track record and I'm pretty sure I'm an anime protagonist and my older brother is the rival who becomes the protagonists bff, why?

1. He trains crazy hard to be good at things and then is, I train moderately hard (not lazing, just not as hard as that workaholic) and just succeed by some sort of weird protagonist luck for some reason, like I legit only succeed at things that I do at the very last minute and they somehow end up doing way better than any of the things I destroy my brain trying to do (I write a story in 3 days and win a prize off of it xyz, write a novel at the last minute and still make the top fifty (though I didn't INTENTIONALLY wait until the last minute)
2. We both have tragic backstories, and his involved him almost dying, mine involves a weird disease which sort of counts as a curse, which protagonists should also have, for some reason

Does the same thing ever happen to anyone else, where things happen in your life that seem weirdly protagonist-y? (please brag your hearts out)

(though when we look at it form their angle, all of my siblings are totally protagonists too, my youngest brother is a chess prodigy, one of my sisters is like, an athletic prodigy, my older brother is a music prodigy, my youngest sister is a total diva who will probably star in a romance someday, my other brother is a math prodigy...)

[Animal508]

Everyone has a story to tell, that's all I'll say.

[Leyelle]

Very true, I wrote a poem once about how everyone is the protagonist of a story that revolves around them. It's just nice to pick out the moments that make our stories seem more EPIC. between the very very long montages.

When I look at the lives of other people, like my parents, I can't help but think it looks like a romance novel, because when my folks were in college my mom got super sick, and my dad thought she was going to die so he walked through a blizzard to go see her before she got sent home, because he thought he might never see her again.

[Leyelle]

Do you think yours would be more of a novel or an anime?

[lignorice]

I believe this too.

Everyone in real life is the protagonist in their own life, in what they experience. Also, yes, the one which turned into story are the 'more epic' part of their life, which only a part of their full life.

Also that's sweet of your father! Thanks for sharing --my father has passed away long time ago so stories about fathers touch me more than others since I can't tell people new stories about my father.

Back to topic, I do feel like I am a protagonist. I was living with chuunibyou in my teenager life (believing somewhere I am a vampire, elf, just not human and having magic power. This is hilarious once I turned adult 🤣) But I am not ready to be released into a series --it'd be a mix between comedy, anxiety, madness, chaos, and a 10 page only explaining my overthinking!

[Leyelle]

comedy madness and chaos are high-key my favorite things to read, so it looks like you've got a pretty epic story yourself

[lignorice]

Oh, my! Thank you!

It may be epic depends heavily on the story-telling. My life's full with pun for the comedy. Even me and my proofreader laughs for the day when the autocorrect tries to fix Atreus' name (trust me, you may or may not want to know how autocorrect works for his name)

The chaotic part is not a comedy tho. It's full of untreated trauma, but I am one to laugh them off and says life's gotta go on. Clock's ticking anyway. Gonna regret if I don't move.

[Leyelle]

Ahh, I feel the same way, Like I said, tragic backstory, but that often leads to the bravest and most valiant heroes, so me and my siblings remind ourselves that if our lives weren't hard, no one would care about the story. people love to read about the underdogs, not the ones who have life handed to them on a silver platter, even protagonist luck can't save you from everything. For all I am still (very proud, and trying to learn not to be hesitant about being proud of my accomplishments) of the success I've had in writing, it kind of came at a cost. I din't get a lot of education as a kid, 6th grade education at age 17 in fact, so writing was kind of a desperate attempt to create myself some sort of a lifeline

[Animal508]

I don't know. I'm still beginning to write my story, and what form it takes depends on how my story goes.

[Leyelle]

Fair enough. Sometimes it's hard to tell what a story will be like by the pilot. But I know your's was born to be epic...!!!!

[lignorice]

I am so sorry to hear that. Thank you for standing up bravely until today. You and your sibling are strong. Online hug to you both!

Also congrats for your accomplishments! You deserve it. It comes with hard work.

Unfortunately, yes. People loves underdogs, sad tragic stories, while even having privileged life also comes in consequences. Every life has its own pros and cons, ups and downs, yet people loves to see others in their downs rather than ups.

The biggest irony is how they love to see underdogs turn into bravest, respectable heroes in the fictional stories but not in real life.

This is what I experienced during my last job. I was underdog too, did not understand things, yet what my ex coworkers see only that I am able because I was graduated with higher scores than them (basically, they hate me because I am what they called me as smarter). But they forgot --I took my job twice or thrice more seriously than them, they laugh and gossiping while I am stressed with my work, and I am being responsible to my deadlines. I also strained my brain twice or thrice more than them and it shows in my work. That's how I got respected by superiors, and got bullied by my coworkers. Despite that, I am proud of how I work. It's better than having lingering guilty feelings of unfinished work. And not many wants to see from my side at that time. I was seen as antagonist all the time

[Animal508]

Your chunni phase was believing you were a vampire... I was walking on four legs in PUBLIC! I tried to steer bowling balls by waving my arms around! I used my clothing hangers as shurikens! I opened drawers and cabinets with my feet! And don't regret ANY of it!

[Leyelle]

Stop, that shuriken thing sounds awesome! also several of my family members have tried to write and draw with their feet so you're not alone there. How can you even say you're not sure what your story will be like lol? That sounds fire!

also you could reach the cabinet with you're feet...? you must have crazy mad flexibilty

[Animal508]

Aren't there cabinets at ground level?

[Leyelle]

Ahh, that's the thing I was talking about, it's so hard not to feel embarrassed when talking about your accomplishments! why should we be? rather than considering ourselves better than others in anyway we should celebrate the fact that we are all protagonists with EPIC stories underway or in the making. I don't believe anyone should have to try less hard to shine, because when we all reach our potential, we will be equally beautiful in ways so different it's impossible to compare anyone to anyone else. nobody plants a garden worrying that the roses will be prettier than the peonies, they're too different for that to even be a concern.

[Leyelle]

I mostly imagine cabinets as the things where we store spices and sugar, those usually aren't on ground level, but even so, the handles would require you to lift your legs pretty high to open ground level cabinets too, not to mention the balance it would require

[Animal508]

I just stuck my toes out to open the drawers. Oftentimes, it's like a little door.

[Leyelle]

Hey, either way, learning to do things with your feet is pretty fire. I'm still trying to learn to use my non dominant hand, and hands are yk, designed for that sort of thing

[lignorice]

This is wild! I'd get beaten by words if I tried the shurikens one lol. And once I tried to open drawer with my feet too, only to get scolded.

Don't regret any of it, believe me. I regreted that in my childhood, I did not do any of this because I was too scared with my mother. Now I'm besties with her (I don't know how come I came to this phase tho) yet I want to try such things!

[Animal508]

What's stopping you?