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Adventure Time
New week, new drama. Is it any wonder I avoid going to the doctor’s?
Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!
One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure. ~William Feather
So, I’ve got a preliminary diagnosis but I’m going to wait until I see the doctor again next month to talk about what it is.
Yes, I know I put the pro in procrastination but I’d certainly like to have a solid confirmation from the doctor before I go blabbing about it in this venue.
In any case, I shall be making rather significant changes to my diet in coming days.
After one crosses the half-century mark, making changes to improve diet is as beneficial as it is inevitable. I won’t be one of those obnoxious true believers about it. I’m here to improve my own situation and not harp on others.
Of course, if I’m going to be attempting to improve my overall health, I might as well plan on doing something with my new and somewhat improved condition. Good Lord. I’m so used to not making plans, I kind of don’t remember how to make any. I really just want to stay home, if I’m being honest.
In fairness, Bilbo was about 50 when he got whisked away in search of dragon’s treasure. Fortunately, I don’t know any wizards so I needn’t worry about a gaggle of aggrieved dwarves turning up unexpectedly. I’ll be happy to live in my little hobbit hole with my delectable wife indefinitely.
The Great Adventure
Steven Curtis Chapman – The Great Adventure
When I think of adventures, I immediately think of Bilbo Baggins giving Gandalf the dust off. The very next thing I think of is this song by Steven Curtis Chapman. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and even more than Bilbo initially feels about adventures.
💝 The 💖 Heart 💖 Of The Matter 💝
The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode. ~Flannery O’Connor
Truth is what I’m trying to emulate in my stories. I want my characters to be believable inside and out. I want them to have compelling motivations and relationships.
How do you do that?
I’m a people watcher. Some people are more interesting than others but you never know when you’re going to come across someone truly captivating.
Clearly, someone flamboyant can be eye-catching but I like to see regular people minding their own business. Old married couples waiting their turn in line somewhere, kids studying, people working are all fodder for speculation. What are they thinking? What will they do when they go home? Do they have friends?
All very fascinating and it helps me create characters who I hope aren’t merely cardboard cut-outs. If I can give these characters a semblance of the spark of life, it’s possible that I’m getting into the neighborhood of the truth.
“What truth?“, you ask…
The truth of the human experience in the face of the question “What If?“. If you have a decent understanding of how people react to reasonably typical circumstances, you can tweak things a bit by changing what constitutes ‘typical‘.
In a superhero story, the setting is typically quite similar to our mundane world. Tweaking the parameters isn’t as jarring. People don’t need to totally reorient themselves to your fictional world. There’s almost a century of conventions that most people are familiar with. Most characters live a normal, humdrum life that may be punctuated by superhero action.
It’s that last bit that helps to test the realism of the characters. How would a normal person react to abnormal circumstances? You don’t want to go so abnormal that it strains the reader’s willing suspension of disbelief. It’s easy to go too far.
Coming back to those well-established comics conventions, there’s a fair amount of territory that has already been covered while still maintaining the avid consumption by millions of readers of all ages.
Ideally, I’ll be able to color within those very broad lines and still come up with something genuinely new. It’s a goal of mine.
That’s today in a nutshell. Frankly, I prefer mine shelled.