I’ve spent years attempting to know what it’s like to be in somebody else’s shoes. Some people who know me have said that is a foolish thing to do and I should not waste my time, but somehow I am compelled to do it.
What happens is that many times I seem to understand why a person might have acted the way they did. Or, at least, I come up with what might be a plausible explanation. Now, what good is this? Well, as a writer I am interested to know my own characters. If I make a habit of trying to know what makes a person tick don’t you think that would be something a writer would use to pull a character together?
And, yet, I don’t write. Or, at least, I don’t write well. The one story I wrote was finished over 20 years ago and gathers dust under my bed. I learned a lot writing it, but the characters are stiff and uninteresting from my present point of view.
Does this mean that because I find myself still practicing this habit of trying to get under another’s skin that there is hope for me to develop good characters in the future? Somehow I don’t think so, but you never know what might happen.
I suppose you might say the usefulness of doing this study of human nature has been proven to myself over the years in being able to offer differing degrees of comfort to others. Anybody might be in this position. Your friend is going through some tough times and tells you about it. You offer a suggestion. Maybe it helps; maybe it doesn’t help. But, you tried.
So, that’s the news at 12 in the morning while I endeavor to write next month’s Talking to Spirit Newsletter. Just something interesting I thought about.
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