So, you don't think you are interesting. I never thought that I was until one night over thirty years ago. My first wife and I went to a night club with one of her Jr. High and High School friends, with the intent of helping her to find someone to date. She didn't, but while we were talking about what kind of guy she was looking for, she told us that I "intrigued" her. At a nonplus, the only thing I could think of to say was to ask her exactly what it was about me that made her feel that way. Her answer was: "There's just...something about you." Many years later, I attended a group retirement party for our entire department just before our work was out-sourced, and there was an obnoxious guy from another section that walked over to me as I stood in line for a pitcher of beer, (he had obviously had too much to drink) and said, "I've always hated guys like you; with your perfect hair and perfect clothes!" I was wearing a pair of Levis, athletic shoes and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up at the time. And it occurred to me, yet again, that people's perceptions of you may not be those that you relate to yourself.
That was when it hit me that no matter how "plain vanilla" we think we are, there is always someone out there who thinks, "There's just...something about you."
Now, you may ask, "What does any of this have to do with writing?" I'll tell you. I, you, anybody, may think that, for example, our feet are too big, our ears stick out too much, our noses have too much of a blob of flesh at the end, or that we need to lose a little weight to make our clothes fit better. However, other people's perceptions of us may run counter to our own. And that is what makes for misunderstandings that can be used in a story to produce conflict or, even a pair of star-crossed lovers. Don't ever think that people aren't interesting! They may have lived through something that most people only dream about. Do you remember that Gregory Peck movie titled "Pork Chop Hill"? I have an uncle who was actually in the middle of the action there at that time. He's kind of a 'class clown' most of the time, always finding ways to entertain people, but he has a dark side in his life that drives him to behave that way. Besides the action he saw on that hill, he was also tagged by his commanding officer to go on night patrols because he was Indian and the officer thought he would be better at it than others. He was, but that's beside the point. He was also forced to kill enemy soldiers at close quarters, and had problems later in life because of those things. Think, PTSD. Though he behaves like a backwoods hillbilly, he has also led one of the most interesting lives you can imagine.
All a writer has to do is to become friends with people and get them to talk about themselves. Once he or she finds how interesting people really are once they get past their surface perceptions, there is a wealth of material there for a story.
Of course, don't write a biography unless you get permission to do so. Don't simply change the names and write one, either. Use the inspiration you gain from the person's story to write your own.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
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