I love quirky characters. That's probably been established. I've had years of geeky practice playing games and brainstorming characters with plenty of backstory. Even my throwaway characters had some background and quirkiness to them. I once created a throwaway character who only spoke to one person. She'd "speak" to others only through actions and weird symbolism. I miss that sometimes, but I have stories full of characters now. They're not as strange as that throwaway, but I try to make my characters as interesting as possible.
I can't remember who recommended this website, but I can skim it for hours reading the comments and small snippets of stories. It gives me a ton of inspiration for my characters. Admittedly, I don't need a ton of help with making my characters quirky. This site is still valuable. The people and their stories are small pieces of flash fiction like the man with flowers who said he didn't find his love until he was thirty-five years old, and he wasn't sure there was anybody for him. I see years of heartbreak in that one statement along with the joy when he found his love.
It would be wrong to pull the images of the people, their stories, or comments directly to my blog since they didn't give explicit permission for me to reblog their quotes. You'll have to check it out.
That website is fun! I didn't have time to look at too many of the stories, but did look at a few of them. I seen the one about the couple with the balloons on FB the other day.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun! I love reading little snippets of conversations there along with the pictures.
DeleteI have actually seen quite a bit of it on Facebook! Funny stories!
ReplyDeleteVery funny! I've enjoyed so many of them.
DeleteThat is an interesting site. You know, really, fact is stranger than fiction. If you knew anything about my family tree, you could write three trilogies! No kidding!!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe go sit at the mall and just watch people (in a non-creepy manner) and take notes. :p
I have such a hard time watching people because I feel like I'm being super nosy and intrusive! This gives me a great way to see people without being intrusive.
DeleteThere are so many places to get inspirations. Yet this week I still don't have inspiration.
ReplyDeleteTough when that happens.
DeleteI'll go check that site out next. I want more than inspiration in my life these days, I want passion.. I want to feel passionate about what I do, I miss those days of youth when everything was as important as breathing. Maybe it's the winter, but I am feeling less excited about daily humdrum routines.. have pushed myself to 'silly' places like buying a giant teddy bear, baking in weird ways, trying to re-kindle my passion for life.. oh, I don't want to die.. I just want to feel like I can't wait to get out of bed and 'live'! move! feel excited about 'being'! I'll hope inspiration can be a stepping stone to finding the passion! :)
ReplyDeleteI understand exactly what you mean. I become very bleh in the winter, and I have to work harder to keep my energy level and enthusiasm high.
DeleteI would love to see a chronicle of the bear's adventures! *hint, hint*
I love that project. Sometimes I wonder if I am viewing my desire to be more interesting through the wrong lens. Perhaps we all have interesting stories and just need the right storyteller. Or perhaps, I just desire to become a story teller who can craft stories to bring attention to the details in life, because that is really where the most interesting bits are.
ReplyDeleteI believe we all have interesting stories, but it depends on how they're told. It's all in how we arrange the words on a page!
DeleteI'm pretty sure that site got its name from Yoko Ono who began a "speech" one time with these words. It was at a museum where she screamed in to the microphone as part of some type of conceptual art form. Thanks for the link, I'm about to check it out now.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting bit of information that I didn't know. I searched but couldn't find anything about it. Thanks for sharing!
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