Hunkybuns!

Since hunkybuns seem to be even more popular around here than yummydoodles (OMG, Donna! You've got me saying it, too!) here's another one for your consideration.

Better get your gloves on, Ana. He's waiting for you. . . .

I finished reading a very odd, but interesting, book yesterday. It's titled: My Booky Wook by Russell Brand. If you've seen the movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, he's the guy who plays Sarah's rockstar boyfriend. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked it up at the bookstore in Myrtle Beach on a whim, but it certainly kept me reading.

Russell is a stand-up comedian, and as such, is always looking at situations as a potential source of material, which is how I find myself approaching various life experiences nowadays. In fact, I read his book with that in mind. Now, if I ever want to write a character that was watching porn from the age of four and does heroin, alcohol, and women the way most people do food, air, and water, I'm all set. It was amazing the way his career blossomed once he got cleaned up. I know a lot of very funny people come from very un-funny backgrounds, but this one went deeper into the drug culture than I'd ever been. It was a bit frightening, and all the more so because I must assume that he's telling the truth.

I'm often more of an observer than a participant. I watch people and listen to their chatter and, though I'm often accused of being shy or antisocial, occasionally, I pick up a little gem. While I was mulling over the plot for Outcast, I overheard a friend say that she would give her right arm for a decent, moral man. I was on the lookout for the kind of heroine who would see Lynx for what he was, despite his surly, misogynistic behavior, and I used that one statement to shape Bonnie's character and give her motivation.

You just never know where you will find material for a book or a character. I look for it everywhere. I may find it in the form of a setting or a climate, a phrase uttered in vain, or a heartfelt wish. So, if you happen to notice me sitting quietly on the fringes of a party or other gathering, I may not be contributing very much, but you can bet I'm listening.