A Girl Named Girl
Unreleased Novel | 2003
Table of Contents
Background
In an interview with Vogue in 2012, Taylor revealed that she had penned a young-adult fiction novel at merely 14 years of age. Born in Pennsylvania, she moved to Nashville with her family for the growth of her musical career, around the same age. However, she actually wrote the book when she was bored during her summer break, which the Swifts usually spent in Stone Harbor, New Jersey:
«Then one summer, there was a shark that washed up on our dock. I ended up writing a novel that summer because I wouldn't go in the water. I locked myself in the den and wrote a book. When I was fourteen. Because of a shark!»
In 2015, she also spoke to GQ about A Girl Named Girl. When asked what her life would look like if she hadn’t become a musician, Taylor answered: “I would still be involved with music in my spare time. But I would have gone to college, and I would probably be involved with a form of business where words and ideas are at the forefront. Such as marketing.”
Plot
A Girl Named Girl is a non-autobiographical novel. Taylor has a very clear memory of the whole plot but she hasn’t shared many details about it with the public. Overall, the story revolves around a mother who gave birth to a daughter but wanted to have a boy instead. She told Examiner.com in 2012:
«All my friends were back in Pennsylvania and so I had nothing to do. I had this epiphany; I'm going to be a novelist and I'm gonna write novels and that's gonna be my career path.»
The plan evolved into Taylor writing about characters who had her friend’s personalities and she would include them in her novel. “I would write different chapters of this book and send them back to my friends and I’d write them into the book under different names but totally describe their personalities. It was a really fun way to spend the summer.”
She concluded that writing her book was a fun activity to fill the summer. Her parents continue to have the first draft of the book with them. But Taylor’s “summer job” as a novelist got left behind when her singer-songwriter career took off. Although she still believes that writing songs and books are not too dissimilar. According to her, you have to portray thoughts or feelings; characters or story via the words in either medium. She feels the familiar activity of writing, editing, re-editing, re-thinking and using your imagination make the two jobs very close in nature. She also told Examiner.com that this was the reason that she loved poetry and songwriting so much.
She concluded that writing her book was a fun activity to fill the summer. Her parents continue to have the first draft of the book with them. But Taylor’s “summer job” as a novelist got left behind when her singer-songwriter career took off. Although she still believes that writing songs and books are not too dissimilar. According to her, you have to portray thoughts or feelings; characters or story via the words in either medium. She feels the familiar activity of writing, editing, re-editing, re-thinking and using your imagination make the two jobs very close in nature. She also told Examiner.com that this was the reason that she loved poetry and songwriting so much.
Trademark
In December 2015, Taylor first filed an application to trademark the title of her unpublished novel A Girl Named Girl. She has renewed the trademark multiple times since then. Although it is unknown why exactly she trademarked the book title, she is possibly reserving it for a potential autobiography or memoir.
General Information
| Author | Taylor Swift |
|---|---|
| Written | Summer 2003 |
| Country | |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 350 |
| Published | Unpublished |
