He landed with a resounding THUNK in the middle of our oak-floored living room, a little to the east of the fireplace and thankfully, missing Dear Hubby and the dogs. I crinkled the newspaper in my hands, trying not to show any sign of my quaking recognition.
“What was that?” DH rubbed a finger on the side of his nose, a remnant of today’s haircut flying off into the dusk-lit darkness.
One dog stirred and growled. The other farted.
“It’s, ah, it’s… Well, it’s a what if.”
And there I went again. A character had landed, and I had no clue he was about to arrive.
He was on the front page of our daily paper arguing (in an objective, academic fashion) against something. I share his views. His pain for my city is my pain and fear too.
I thought, “What if I interviewed him, for story purposes, so I could understand more about what he knows?” Which is a TON, BTW. It would take me years to gain the knowledge he has.
And yet…
What IF… I made him a bad guy who is the foundation of the bad guys my good guys are fighting against? What IF… He seems like the one with the knowledge to make things good, except…
Yeah, I need a heavy dose of reality. Things are happening in my city, ugly, complex, frightening things, the kinds of things parents told their children about when I was a child, things designed to make them behave because otherwise, the Boogeyman would get them.
Except now they’re real.
And yet…
What IF…
Game on! Can I make the antagonist a sympathetic, sane man? Can I interview someone I agree with, someone I respect, and make him a bad guy?
And then there are the protagonists. He’s not as good as he seems, and she’s not as bad.
But those are tales for another day’s blog…
To be continued…
