C is today's letter, and my chosen word is
Conversation
Conversations, they are everywhere you go, everywhere you are, even when you are alone. If you stop for a moment and listen youu will become aware of the internal voice chattering away in your head, telling you what to do, what to think and how to react.
Yesterday, while I was waiting in a long queue at the post office there was a father and young daughter in front of me.
The father's phone rang, he listened, muttered something brief and disconnected. The child was swinging on one of the 'bollards' holding the queue-rope in place, and after a moment, while still swinging, she looked at her Dad and said, "What did she want?"
I was surprised at the strength of mutiny in her voice.
I didn't hear the father's response as he'd turned his back on me.
"She always wants money." She stopped swinging and held her father's attention before challenging, "You always give her money when she asks for it, why don't you ever give me any money?"
At that, and not waiting or expecting a response, she resumed her swinging.
As an author my mind went into overdrive, the annoyance of the long queue ahead of me became a blessing while I played with the mulititude of computation I could generate from what I overheard, expecting to use it in one of my current WIP, two novellas.
Instead, this morning, it came to me I could turn this conversation around, tweak it, play with it, and use iit to wrap up my experimental Regency, No Job For a Woman, that has been on the go for nearly two years.
My thanks to father,especially his daughter, and the unknown caller who gave me the 'tool' to use in finishing my story.
There are nearly 1700 participants this year and you'll find a list HERE
20 comments:
The nice thing about being a writer is that we have an endless source from material - life presents us with so many opportunities and writing material.
Oh that's awesome and so like a writer. I have a gazillion scenarios running in my head too -- the drug addicted other daughter / sister, the gold-digging woman the father is dating, a sister away at college...good luck fashioning some wonderful raw material.
Great post! Inspiration often comes from unexpected sources.
Ellie
Ellie's Blank Book
Ellie's Couch
Help Michigan Pets
:-) Rosanna, so true. The queue went from being too long, to not long enough in a milisecond! LOL
:-) Gilian, you're welcome to use any or all of them, because if we chose the same slant we'd still handle it differently! Thanks for coming by.
Eliza, I agree, it even comes from what can at first be considered as a negative experience. Sometimes they offer the most powerful inspiration (No I am not inviting in a buch of negative experiences, thank you very much!)
I'm going to start paying attention to conversations around me now :) That is such a great idea! You could spin an entire story around one little back and forth :)
This is great! Don't you love it when that happens? Everyday life feeding the writer imagination!
Nice to meet you, and welcome to the Challenge!
KarenG
A to Z Challenge Host
Great post. What a fun read. As writers, isn't it fun to take everything around you as fodder for your books? My friends sometimes get a bit weary. But I tell them when I'm rich and famous, I'll buy them an ice cream cone. Double scoop? Okay. :)
Just hopping by on A-Z. Great blog!
I love picking up tidbits of conversation and saving them. Of course, it's usually my own family I'm scribbling notes about.
I've been told more than once, "And DON'T write this in that stupid little book of yours."
I don't let them catch me, but I do usually write it down anyway! Even if I never intend to publish the words, I like to preserve the memory.
Those conversations are everywhere, right? I had one with the hubs that ended up in my wip... tweaked in my character's voices of course, lol
It really is amazing where we can get our ideas from. Wonder who she was talking about? lol.
Isn't the mind wonderful? Without conscious thought, you worked out how to use the conversation.
:-) Way to go Hope. Have fun with them. You can mix 'em up and spit them out so no one can recognise the original chat!
This example is almost verbatim.
:-) Thanks for coming by Karen G, and for creating this wonderful challenge.
rofl, Ophelia. :-) BTW I love your name.
I may 'take' and use it in my next book!!!!
If anyone called my books 'stupid' to my face, I'd clock them one with it! Thanks for coming by. :-)
But did you tell DH you used it, Cassie? No one is safe, are they? :-)
Jaycee I was wondering that, and how a child that looked to be about eight years old could already be so worldy synical at that age.
Francene, it's just another example of the freebie gift the world offers to those who are open to them :-)
Gotta love 'freebie gifts'?
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