Depicting Teenagers’ Untold Stories Through Short Stories

Storytelling, the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the reader’s imagination, is something that has become a fascination of mine as well as one of my passions. I have especially been interested in stories about teenagers and the trials and tribulations of their daily lives as I can relate to them. Those stories also influence me to reflect on the problems within my built-up facade.

One of those buried problems is how I tend to always keep the issues I face to myself. I constantly put up a happy-go-lucky personality whenever I am around others. To my surprise, I was not the only one experiencing this unhealthy habit. A survey I conducted exhibited how people around me keep issues to themselves too because of the fear of being judged and not wanting to burden others which eventually negatively affects their health. From that observation and my personal experiences, I have decided to make a compilation of short stories that depict tales teenagers have kept from others. This would be a way teenagers can pour out their inner thoughts while spreading the idea that teenagers are not alone in facing these problems. Therefore, my goal for this project is to research short story making and interview teenagers to write and produce a short story compilation of teenagers’ untold stories to show their hidden personas, issues, and insecurities.

This is a highly challenging goal for me as the topics discussed in the short story compilation are ones that are very personal and require courage to share. Writing is also not within my comfort zone or my expertise, since numerous creative works I have done in the past lean on the musical field. This project is a great opportunity for me to enhance one of my underdeveloped skills and try something new.

Global Context

The global context that my project associates with most is Identities and Relationships. This is because my project has everything to do with expressing one’s personal stories that highlight their problems. It explores teenagers’ attitudes, motivations, and interactions with others and themselves. It also requires courage to express these personal stories as they describe the imperfections of our identities. Readers of the book can also gain stronger self-esteem as they can relate to what they are seeing in the text, making them feel less alone in experiencing these common problems.

Product

The final product of my Personal Project is a compilation of 10 short stories titled Fragments of the Untold that depicts untold stories of teenagers, discussing topics like insecurities, mental health, and more. The identities of the teenagers whose stories I’ve used all remain anonymous and some elements of their stories were fictionalized. It explores numerous relevant teenage issues, which showcases the interviews and research conducted beforehand, therefore, responding to the goal.

Because I finished my personal rubric for my project before making the final product, I consciously structured my narratives satisfying the standards in my criteria. For my Criterion B which is Content and Theme Incorporation, I had to make sure all the issues presented in the compilation were relevant, which I did by asking some peers whether or not they have experienced something similar to the stories in the book. As for Criterion C which is Language Use, I was able to continuously follow correct language conventions as well as maintain vocabulary that was fit to the target audience by asking multiple people to proofread it, making sure I didn’t miss out on any mistakes.

My product responds to the global context of Identities and Relationships due to the whole book being about teenagers’ true emotions and experiences that the public may not see. It explores different insecurities that teenagers commonly get at this age with chapters like “The Ugly Duckling” and “Lost Identity” and the relationships teenagers have with the people around them as well as themselves, which is seen in short stories like “Forbidden Tears” and “Diary of a Sister”. The book also has the authentic feel of a novel with minimalistic designs, but still has drawings that can make the book more unique.

Read my book below!

Reflection

IB Learner Profiles are characteristics that we continuously develop as IB students. It was no different in terms of the Personal Project. I was able to improve on multiple aspects of myself and my learner profiles, with risk-takers, communicators, and reflective being the most notable ones.

Going into this project, I knew it would be a risk to decide on making a book since it is a skill of mine that is still lacking, but I decided to be a risk-taker and continue with the product to enhance one of my skills that is not at full potential yet. It was also a risk to include designs and illustrations as a part of my book and criteria as it is a field I’m not skilled in. Through taking these risks and my determination though, I was able to improve my skills as well as create a product that I am proud of.

Due to my product being a book, I was able to communicate different stories and messages. In this project, I was able to become a communicator in a literary and creative way as well as being able to listen attentively to the stories of the people I interviewed to then be able to retell their stories well. Listening to these sad and eye-opening stories of teenagers around me, I was also able to become reflective and have a different perspective on the world we are living in. I reflected on my own experiences, which surprisingly was relatable to most of the stories given to me. I saw that the world we live in is still not seeing that teenagers and kids go through tough times as well, causing them to close off and be secretive.

IB Learner Reflection

Throughout the project, I grew a deeper understanding of the global context, Identities and Relationships. I learned how an individual’s true identity is not the one they show explicitly to the public but rather the one they try to hide. Once we get to know that hidden persona one is keeping, only then will we be able to know their true identity. As for relationships, I learned how we all have different relationships with the people around us, but most importantly ourselves. The relationship we have with ourselves is all based on the way we treat our mind and body.

I gained numerous skills throughout this project as well. I was able to be more skilled in designing and writing as I constantly practiced them. I also improved my communication skills, as this project taught me how to articulate my words properly when talking about a serious topic, especially one that we don’t experience ourselves. My research skills were also improved as I was able to use different methods like interviews and websites to gain a deeper understanding of different topics. Lastly, I was able to become more organized by planning a lot of things way before they happen and not leaving things to the last minute.

Overall, I think I managed to become a better student and person throughout the process of the project. Even though my book is just a slice of who I am as an individual, I am happy that I was able to offer a more nuanced perspective of myself to others. I’m glad I was able to step out of my comfort zone and improve a certain skill that may not be my greatest. Finding out and discovering the different stories my peers are hiding, made me into a state of reflection and realized how the general public may not know my true identity. This project motivated me to not be afraid of judgment and finally let out everything that has been kept within me.