SPONTANEOUS FRIDAY

If I were a character in a novel

All of us are guilty of adding pieces of ourselves in our work. The hero, the villain or the weird guy in apartment C. I advise you to never knock on his door.

You’ve been warned.

Whatever flavor we choose there’s a little piece of us in every chapter. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem as long as it’s the right piece. Trust me, there are some pieces of us that don’t belong anywhere.

But one day I know I’ll have to write a novel that requires a troubled character. One that continues to make the same mistakes over and over. One that is certain each mistake will be his last and finally, one who ignores the pervious lessons and continues to repeat his previous mistakes resulting in the same mishap.

To find this particular character all I have to do is flip the page to a certain chapter titled – The decade of my 20’s.

It’s okay to be that guy

Note: The above picture is from the movie ‘The Sure Thing.’ One of the most honest young adult flicks ever made. Perfect writing and acting. If you have time check it out. 

Every movie or book has that one guy who is kind of a goof. He’s probably good at something but nobody knows what exactly that is.

He’s a little loud, pretty clueless and has an uncontrollable attraction to bad choices. But most of all he doesn’t seem to mind.

Sometimes we have to bite the bullet and relive those embarrassing moments. We have to examine that particular chapter of our former selves no matter how cringe worthy in order to write the perfect character.

And that, my friends, is exactly what I did.

My 20’s were not exactly my favorite decade. Sure, I had lots of fun, but I didn’t have much of anything else. It was, shall I say, a time of missed opportunities.  

But instead of complaining I finally decided to put him to use.

 

Make him work

I’m not sure what the story will be when I use him, but whatever it is he will be easy to find. All I have to do is pick an age- 23, 24, 25……he’ll be there.

I use to think I completely screwed up that decade, little did I know I was creating an endless resource of stories to come.

One of these days I will have to reach out to that guy and thank him. I’ll make sure I catch him on an off day and remind him not to stop.

You’re doing just fine, I’ll say. Keep hitting that wall. Someday a different result will happen.

 Little does he know my compliments are for selfish reasons.

So if any of you have a time in your life you’d rather forget, don’t. Open that vault, dig in and scoop out that old you. Who knows, that old you may very well be the most fascinating character of any book you’ll ever write.

 

Happy Friday Everyone!!!   

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