Reactionary

I just had an aha moment. Actually, I did a few days ago. I figured out where I’d seen this character before. Complete, from the tennis to the sister to the family money. When I was making him up along with the rest of this book, I thought I was starting from the beginning, but I wasn’t. All I did was reach into my mental grab bag and came up with a character I’ve had for years, for decades, nearly. It was like recognizing a face in the crowd. The hot blonde whose tennis prowess and the sheen of wealth hides deep anxieties and raging insecurity. He’s Joey from another very bad story I wrote when I was in high school that I never finished. It was almost humbling when I realized just how many similarities there were and how my so-called new character wasn’t new at all.

But personality-wise he’s different. Whereas the old one was a party boy whose ease with strangers provided a foil for his shy but decent best friend, this one wears such a hard outer shell that if he weren’t famous or wealthy, he wouldn’t have anyone around him at all. I have to be at my crispiest to write him at all, like on a day after a long shift.

It’s funny how things come back, though.

February 7th, 2010 | Category: Life |  Print |  Send it | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL