I stole someone’s grocery cart this week; didn’t notice until I got to the checkout line and my reusable grocery bags weren’t there. A pleasant and efficient clerk found my bags in an empty, unattended cart. I thanked him, paid for my groceries, and left.
Once home, I discovered I had bought someone else’s breakfast cereal instead of the eggs and tomatoes I wanted. That gave me two pieces of information – where in the store I snagged my victim’s cart, and what I should do when my characters become boring.
We’ve all read that to make truly memorable characters, we have to torment them. That doesn’t always work for me, first because I don’t write about tortured souls, and second because sometimes it seems authors indulge in gratuitous difficulty just to keep the story moving. Now, however, I will use those every day, ordinary humiliations that are (sadly) part of my life to develop my characters.
I’ve long used the mistakes and memory lapses that punctuate my day to entertain friends and family. Before I confess my errors, I reframe the events into a story that I hope will make the listener roll his or her eyes rather than reach for the phone to have me committed for my own good. Now, I will take those stories and insert some worthy character who needs a good kick in the backside. With any luck, it will get my story moving, and give me an excuse for my behavior. It isn’t just messing up – it’s research!
Lani, I just ran your blog post through the I Write Like site (http://iwl.me) and it says your style matches H.P. Lovecraft. Must have been that Horrible Mistake. What you gained in perspective you lost in tomatoes.