Cause, Effect and Random Crap

“Great writers pull stories from real life.”

I read that recently, and have heard it before, and it elicited the same reaction both times, which was: Dang, I hope not, or Larry and I are two of the most dysfunctional people on the planet.

That was my first reaction.

My second was to consider the possibility, which I quickly dismissed.

Larry and I are average people doing average things in our average lives. No big drama, at least not for me. I’m not a risk taker, the life of the party. I don’t deliberately do anything that would make me look silly or unintelligent. Dull as dishwater, I’m telling you right now. D-U-L-L.

So I have to make my stories up, and since I don’t really like drama, I make up nonsense. And there is some wild nonsense in our book.

Okay, now I’m rethinking my blog opening, primarily because I over-think everything, and have been told that my entire life, but that doesn’t stop me, because that personality trait is hard wired.

(Hang on a second—let me think about that.)

The most real thing I put in the story is how-I-might-act-if-I-thought-I-could-get-away-with-it. Our character Punch for instance—I would LOVE to dress in random layers that don’t match. I would LOVE to be able to switch personalities at the drop of a hat to suit the situation. I would LOVE to mouth off and be able to back it up with muscle or charm or a boot full of knives.

Then there’s Kelly. When I write for her, she’s my if-I-were-a-real-girl-this-is–how-I’d-act character. Anybody who knows me knows that I’ve never been a “real girl”. There is nothing foo foo about me. Anything feminine I do is entirely accidental.

So back to the original thought—great writers pull stories from real life.

After much thought, I’ve come up with two elements in this book that comes from real life:

1.    Cause and effect

2.    Random crap happens 

We’ve all pretty much all been victims of both, so yes, I’ve decided I agree with the opening statement. But that’s where it ends. If any of this stuff happened to us in real life, you’d be hearing it on the news.

So stay tuned. More at 11:00.