"People are strange"*

This is the first installment of my People As Characters series.

The hubby and I met Christina and Don on a recent vacation in St. Lucia. I guessed Don to be in his sixties. He has a big belly, a loud, friendly voice, and graying hair, which he covered with a baseball hat that had some sort of presidential seal on it. He claimed that it had been given to him by President Bill Clinton. Christina appeared to be a bit younger. She's Portuguese and her soft, musical voice has a noticeable accent. They've been together for 10 years.

The hubby and I were on an open-air jeep/catamaran tour of the island with Don and Christina. Unfortunately for them, they had spent the first day of their vacation out in the sweltering St. Lucian sun...we're talking a mere 13 degrees north of the equator. Not only did they not wear sunblock, but they lathered themselves up with oil. Apparently they have an old-school view of proper sun exposure. Needless to say, they resembled a pair of lobsters.

Christina spent most of the day shrouded in light-weight shawls and a giant hat, shrinking away from the sun and rolling her eyes at Don. Don spent most of the day talking. He was good at pointing out the obvious, telling stories and jokes that nobody really wanted to hear, and spending his money (which no one on the island wanted to take because who has change for a $100 bill when you buy only a pack of gum and some suntan lotion).

I got the feeling they spend a lot of money on vacations because they were staying at an nice, but overpriced resort, most of Don's clothing was from a previous vacation destination (his sandals had the word "Hawaii" printed on them), and they bought everything from tropical trip essentials (like suntan lotion and shawls) to cheesy souvenirs while on the tour.

At one point, Don's special presidential hat went flying off his head and into the street (luckily it didn't fly off the side of the jeep and down the giant cliff that bordered the side of the road). Thomas, our good-natured guide, yelled to the driver to stop, jumped off the back of the jeep, and retrieved the hat...I hope Don used some of the change from his $100 bills (if he had any left by the end of the day) to give Thomas a good tip.

Despite Don's bad sunburn, he seemed up for anything. He was one of only a few people who actually stood under the big waterfall at one of the stops and he bought a giant conch shell and learned how to blow into it to make a loud horn sound.

Don works for a juice concentrate company, but he loves fresh-squeezed juice. I'm not sure what Christina does, but she has an apartment in Manhattan. Don has a house in New Jersey, where he grew up. Neither was willing to give up his/her residence since they've been together, so they kept both and share time between the two residences (like some sort of split-custody living arrangement).

Don and Christina were really fun to observe because they were just so full of personality.

*The Doors

"What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here."*

When I write, I don't outline the whole plot before I start writing. I don't write out each plot point on little Post-it notes, stick them all over the walls, and rearrange them periodically as the story evolves. In fact, I don't do any kind of formal plotting at all. I don't even really consciously think about plot (except occasionally in the shower when some combination of hot water, steam, and suds inspires the synapses in my brain to fill in the answer to a plot question I never asked).

So it came as somewhat of a shock that a lot of feedback I've received says I'm great at plotting. Screw all the backstory I came up with (but not necessarily included in the actual story) to help enrich each of my characters and the setting and all the workshops, reading, and writing I've done (including this blog) to help develop my voice. Nah...none of that seems to have infused itself into my writing in any way that would make someone praise those things...but plot, that thing I've hardly thought about, yeah, got that down pat!

Maybe I shouldn't complain about getting compliments, but I can't help but let it annoy me that something I've put very little effort into is getting all the praise, while other things that I've worked really hard on earn no recognition at all, or worse, garner criticism.

(Did I mention how much I struggle with taking criticism? I'm great at faking it...I nod my head, like I really agree with this person who probably took 10 whole minutes of his/her life to read my work. I smile at them and make them think they are really coming up with some great points for me to work on. But really, as they pick apart my beloved story piece by piece, I think Did I really pay (or do a critique of this person's work) to be made to feel like a complete idiot who has no business writing for children and maybe has no business alive at all because based on his/her criticism, I clearly have no redeeming qualities that warrant my existence.)

So in an effort to get my brain to get off the plot train and onto the character one, I've been thinking about people I've met (or sometimes people I've just seen) as characters in fiction. I'd like to make this a regular feature on my blog. I think I'll try to stay away from anyone I know who might read this blog (although I have so few followers, that will probably be easy to do!) and stick to acquaintances, near strangers, or those I have met and am likely never going to see again.

Check in soon to meet Christina and Don, some characters the hubby and I met in St. Lucia. And feel free to share how you go about developing characters...because I clearly need all the help I can get!

*Radiohead