Excerpts from a Breakup

Date

2022-08

Authors

Smith, Sara Grace

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Abstract

Upon reading this story, the reader may believe it to have come from a very personal and intimate place in my heart. It would be easy to believe that this story is based on true events; that I had my heart broken. That I was in love and vulnerable one day, and upset and vengeful the next. It would be easy to believe that, from the rubble of my relationship, I crafted a short story in order to cope and understand emotions I had never faced before. I would like to say the story was a product of personal experience, but it simply wasn’t. The truth is, I wrote this short story after listening to Taylor Swift’s re-recorded album Red. I’ve never been broken up with. I’ve never been in love. In fact, I’ve never even seriously dated someone. But, as a life-long Taylor Swift fan, I cleared my schedule one fall evening to listen to the re-recorded album that I’d already loved for years. I lit candles, made tea, and sat down in the dark with earbuds. I listened to this album that I had grown up listening to with a new, adult perspective, and suddenly I saw a story unfold in my head. I knew I had to write a thesis for Texas State, so I began writing, despite my brain telling me they certainly didn’t want a romance. I thought, so what? I want a sad romance. I wrote and wrote about things I had never experienced, only heard of. I drew inspiration from TV shows––Sex and the City, Fleabag, and Modern Love––and movies I loved––While You Were Sleeping, Runaway Bride, and Sabrina. I read books about women’s experiences with love (Writers and Lovers by Lily King and Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton) and I tried my best to listen to their feelings and their voices. I talked to friends about their relationships and asked them what exactly they hated about their boyfriends. And lastly, I listened to Taylor Swift. I wanted to write something almost every woman could relate to. I wanted girls to read this and see parts of themselves woven in. I wanted someone to remember their own heartbreak while reading, to remember their most human moments. I hoped to provoke thoughts and questions of modern relationships, like, do we really need them? Can women be better off on their own? How much of yourself do you give away in relationships? How do you move on? Is the person you really love the person you should end up with? Overall, I wanted to encapsulate the experience of being a girl in love and being a girl heartbroken. I hope at least one person reading can relate to that.

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Keywords

short story, first person, love, breakup, Honors College

Citation

Smith, S. G. (2022). Excerpts from a breakup (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.

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