The Month of The Blank Page
I have a problem writing in November. It was challenging both last year and this year. My published total for the month has been one article. This article might be the first post of December rather than the last of November since I want to edit and then listen to how my words play together when spoken.
A time for the Novelist
November is good for novelists and memoirists. It brings lots of people together. This commingling of people becomes the characters found in your unwritten stories. As an example, these are notes and commentaries I made at Thanksgiving.
Minimal Character Sketches
My wife’s family consists of two sisters(there were three) and a younger brother. I have no siblings, but I have two children and two grandchildren.
The festivities were held at my younger sister’s-in-law, M, and her husband, E. M is a striking woman with three grown children. She lives for her children and her husband. She intensely values family. Her husband E is tall, lean, and is happy reading a book or building a septic tank. He is self-educated and recently retired from shift management with a major Airline. He enjoys talking to people, and if you discuss something he does not understand, he will be well versed in that subject before he sees you again. The oldest sister, G, identifies as “The family Matriarch.” I am delighted she fits that role as well as she does. I am the most senior person at the assembly, but I am not a clan member. I enjoy the benefit of the interactions and the closeness of the family, so I need no title other than Robert or N’s husband. N, the remaining sister, is the love of my life. We have been married for twenty years after two failed marriages each.
The final member of the clan is the younger brother, S. He is an Entrepreneur with an excellent sense of humor. If there is a lackluster company, he can infuse it with whatever magic he wields. When it goes profitable, he sells it. He has a son J, who is a pilot working toward his Captaincy.
E and M have three adult children. S the oldest has come with a man. This is something she has not done before. That person is of interest to us all. He is not friendly and speaks only to answer direct questions. I do not like him. We made eye contact once, and I saw a plate of glass reflecting only boredom.
The middle child, H, has a brilliant wit about her, which can quickly turn a tad acerbic. The youngest is a son, Ja. He is likable but shy.
My children also are here. My son Aa is a SQL programmer for a large medical transport company. He is an excellent actor who should have devoted more time to that skill. My daughter, Am, is a human resources specialist for a restaurant chain. While in high school, she was heavily involved with the Goth subculture. Today I think she would like to be a witch. When I look at her eyes, I see darkness far beyond her years. She and her husband, Ru, have two children. Ru loves his kids as much as I love mine. He is an attractive man, far more complex than most people see.
The development
This was an experiment. I took these notes using my iPhone and iPad. When I walked through the house directly talking to people, I took notes using the iPhone. When sitting, I worked with my iPad. iAWriter works well with both devices.
My goal was to create a minimalist description of some characters that could be expanded into characters used for a long short story or a novella.
What’s Next
I will take five of the minimalist descriptions and begin fleshing them into real characters. The next stage would be building a story around them.
Any suggestions or ideas you might have and would like to share would be appreciated.