The Pyrenees---Southern France

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Monday, December 28, 2015

What's in Her Pocket?

        I once read that if you know a character well--a character you've created--you should be able to list what they have in their pocket (or purse or wallet).

        For sure, you should write a character and make it so fleshed out that you know their gestures, their quirks, their likes and dislikes.

        And what goes without saying:  the reader should also know the character as well as you do. It can't just be in your head. It has to be down on paper as well...


          As I'm working on my WIP, I hope my characters are becoming well-developed. I hope the reader--if there ever will be a reader of my WIP--ends up caring for my characters.

         Speaking of characters--my son is a character. A really quirky character. A character that I know all too well. (After all, he is responsible for most of the gray patches in my hair.) He's musically talented, a voracious reader, a god in his niece's eyes and a 2nd year med student. Which is why this story might make you shudder... 

       On Christmas we were enjoying a couple of varieties of wine. A moscato and a cranberry wine. Ian went into my mother-in-law's kitchen to open a new bottle, and came back with a full bottle of cranberry wine. He acted like nothing odd had happened. Unfortunately for him, someone had witnessed what transpired... and was eager to share the story.

       It seems that my son had an unusually easy time with the corkscrew. That sometimes reluctant cork popped out like it was on a kamikaze mission was nonexistent. 

      There was no cork. It was a screw-top bottle (nothing but the most high-falutin' libations at our family gatherings). We did make sure there were no bits of metal in the wine, shook our heads at da boy, and took several photos for blackmail posterity. (We're hoping he can soon crack open a person's chest with more knowledge than he can open a bottle of wine.)


     And to let my many three followers in on what I did last week, here's a photographic clue. I gift-wrapped books at Half-Price Books, and Radar prostituted himself for donations to Love a Golden Rescue. That pesky pup would roll over on his back and accept belly rubs for a buck a crack. If you'd like to help us get more stray goldens from Istanbul (we're getting 6-8 more in April), click on Love a Golden's link, then click on the airplane.

       Is there a photo of you that is brought out occasionally when some levity is needed? Please share... 

17 comments:

  1. Sounds like that first bottle of wine was a BIG one!!!! At least you all had some fun. It is beginning to snow here now after 8 or more inches of rain...I guess the holiday fun is over and winter is getting serious! Stay safe out there in the east too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Claudia--For a while, I thought we were all going to have start building boats.

      Delete
  2. Hahahahaha! Maybe he can save a guy's life in Denny's, like Sandra Bullock in "The Heat," by using a knife and a straw and performing a bloody emergency tracheotomy...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHasd-Uj4Mo
    (lots of fake blood, and one F word!)

    Rest assured that the universe is balanced by Even Steven. My son Genius received a bottle of wine for Christmas from his cousin. Alas, we had no corkscrew (not being refined wine drinkers like your family). I think Genius tried to unscrew the cork. No picture, though. So he can dispute it.

    Thank goodness a call to his dad (who was driving through high water to spend his gambling windfall at Lowe's) revealed that he just happened to have a corkscrew in his BARn amongst his collectibles.

    Photo? For levity? That would be my driver's license picture. My son has it set to pop up on his phone when I call. So I don't call. Wait a minute! I think he planned that on purpose...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Val--I think you need to test that theory. Call him 20 or 30 times a minute. All day. For the next few days... and see how he responds.

      Delete
  3. My character has a nail file, 2 lipsticks, a small pistol, a bus ticket, her ipod, a round comb and a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (in her bag, because women's clothes tend to be short on pockets.)

      Delete
    2. I think it should be against the law for a dress or skirt or womens' pants to be pocketless.

      I'm just sayin'...

      I wonder. Is the pistol and the address connected?

      Delete
  4. Okay, well...first, I must point out that this is the second post where you've admitted to pimping. Should we begin preparations for a friends and family intervention? What's especially concerning is that you're so darn good at it. If you ever tire of the teaching gig... ;)

    Second, in your son's defense, I've read that most geniuses often lose sight of common sense. Einstein was said to have once left the house without his pants on because he was so busy thinking that he forgot to don them. Since your son was wearing pants at the time of the...er...uncorking, you can be grateful for that while feeling proud for his display of genius. He can't help it if he's too smart for mundane things like corks.

    Last, the heroine in my current WIP forgets, on a regular basis, to grab her purse which holds her wallet, tissues, lip balm, reading glasses, and an inhaler---which is why she really should stop leaving home without it. My hero has keys in one pocket, loose change in the other, his wallet in his back pocket, and that's it. They both live in a seaside Oregon town called Bellerose (pure fiction, of course) within walking distance of their workplaces (a bookstore for her, a pub for him) which is why the heroine doesn't think to grab her purse. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa--Ian forgets to wear a shirt. All the time. Thankfully, he DOES remember to put on shorts (after all, it IS winter).

      You've discovered how I'm going to make money once I retire. But ssssh. Don't tell anyone.

      Delete
  5. There is one of me on a tricycle all dressed up in velvet. I look fat and spoiled...oh wait, I haven't changed 50 years later! LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pat--Wearing velvet while you rode your bicycle? You probably didn't end up with a torn and dirty velvet frock. Me? I snagged holes and muddied up everything...

      Delete
  6. So...I have a trio of Junior Halls and Libby the Tiny Terror. I don't need to bring out pics of me when there is ALWAYS some craziness happening in the here and now. (Oldest Junior Hall said he'd just like ONE Christmas where there was no drama and we all just laughed and laughed and laughed.)

    And P.S. No one can say no to a Golden! Especially Radar. Hope y'all had much success!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cathy--Libby is innocent of all charges. It's those pesky kids who are putting the blame on her.

      People were quite charitable, and I got to hear lots of stories about books they love, along with stories about their cats and dogs. And hardly anyone did say no to Radar. He's great bait.

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. Mama Zen--No one can resist a handsome, naked blonde... who's fixed.

      Delete
  8. I am seldom in photos (at least that I can help). I much prefer being photographer to photographee.

    Pat
    Critter Alley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pat--That's my trick, too. And if I'm forced, I get in the back.

      Delete

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by...