Lots of writing blogs stress the importance of developing your characters - making them real. Personally I prefer mine (when reading or writing) to be good guys. Tough, Smart, Independent, Adventurous, Funny, Loyal, Good Hearted & Down to Earth.
'Creating' my characters has been a blast, but I might have had an advantage. I got to watch a coupla 'characters' grow up so I used these chuckleheads as inspiration for my story's 'good guys'.
These are my boys a looooonggg time ago. The older of the two is Mike (now 32) & the kid in the chair (probably being tormented) is Chris (now 28). I'm proud to say they've always been best friends. Other than the time Chris (then 2) hit Mike in the head with a doorstop (a stupid looking needlepoint covered brick) they always got along. Hey, it was dark, Mike was in bed & never saw it comin'. I suspect Michael got even..... eventually.
They've always hung out together. If one was in trouble, the other jumped in to help out (or hide the evidence?). I don't think they ever threw each other "under the bus" - despite the bus-colored yellow pants & suspenders in this picture. (They're gonna hate seein' this pic!!!)
Both were very coordinated (NOT a reference to the yellow britches), good at sports, especially baseball. Good hand-eye coordination, made them terrific hitters, but both were ridiculously slow runners. I was faster than they were & I'm probably STILL faster today - even with a bad back.... usin' a cane... wearin' flip flops..... n' givin' 'em a head start. A BIG head start.
Like me, they're in the construction management business. They can read drawings & manage the process of putting things together to end up with a very nice finished product.... unless they're working on LEGOs. LEGOs must be so much more complicated than office buildings.
Today they're all grown up. Whaddya mean you couldn't tell from that last photo?
7 comments:
Mike E
Boy, bright yellow pants…You guys were brutal, making us wear that. At least you let us “pop our collar”. That means wearing your collar in the up position. I know your old now and might not be up-to-date on all the new terminology.
By the way, I like the Pirate Ship bellow.
Ah, that won't get you into much trouble. Good to read about your good guy molds.
If I did this, my boys would be over here with the torches and pitchforks. Nothing like sons!
Mike - Ya gotta talk to Mom 'bout the outfit choices - I knew it would scar you for life but....
Keith - I'm always in trouble, but I like it that way.
Ronnie - Love my boys. They're lotsa fun - good guys. I still think I could kick their rear ends if I needed to.
Good to see other parents dressed their kids in outfits that would embarrass the heck out of them in later life. I think we all have a photo like that lurking in an album somewhere just waiting for the chance to get out. At least Deb didn't pick out pink pants and suspenders for them! I bet she saved those for you! ;)
My kids would kill me if I used their many peculiarities to help develop my novel's characters! Of course they have lots... er, some... well, maybe just a few. And I admit it's tempting. But I like combining multiple real life people's characteristics to create unrecognizable fictitious people. Then family and friends can't identify themselves in my stories. They don't get embarrassed and I don't get criticized by them for any misrepresentation or telling sensitive tales about them. Post humously, though... any dead relatives are fair game!
Very cute. And so masculine-looking. Did you know that John Grisham admitted he doesn't do good characters? He's a story-teller.
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