Wedding Weekends

On Saturday my niece Lea got married.  This Saturday coming up, my nephew Brian is getting married. It's been a busy couple of months and the upcoming weeks are going to be even busier.

So what do we want to talk about this morning?

How about people watching? LOL!!!

Seriously... What better place to people watch than at a wedding?

Remember that great scene in Steel Magnolia's where Dolly Parton and Olivia Dukakis were watching people dance at Shelby's wedding. And Olivia told Dolly that one of the women's dancing looked like two pigs wrestling in a blanket? I laugh every time I think about that.

That scene didn't just make us laugh and create one of the funniest lines in recorded history, it set the stage for the fact that these women who started off gossiping would become great, lifelong friends...but also that people were funny.

If you watched that movie, you saw the Southern girls and guys had their stereotypical leanings, but just when you were about to write a character off as a cliché he or she did something to make you think the writers were brilliant!

Because that's the truth about people. At least half of our personalities are ... well, what everybody would expect for our age, size, education...hair color. But each of us has something, some odd, quirky hobby or tic or thought process that makes us unique, fun, wonderful.

And that's what readers are looking for when they read. They like recognizing the kindly grocer with a bald head and round wire glasses, but they want to see something fresh and unique about him. Is he also the town bookie? A closet erotica writer? Or somebody on the World Poker Tour?

Think just a little bit longer, a little bit harder, maybe a little bit outside the box and give readers characters who create a story rich with reality. Because let's face it, everybody's got a quirk, a habit, a hobby...or something that makes us who we are.

Our characters should too.

Happy Monday

susan