Controlled Chaos

Seven early 1900’s tombstones: Dad, Mom and five children who all died under the age of two.

I’ve mentioned it before, I like to read tombstones.  These were in an old community cemetery.  Once I stepped past the pain this couple felt, my writer’s brain kicked in.

• Horror:  were they living out a family curse?  Was the house cursed?
• Thriller:  were they targeted by a crazy sister or cousin who couldn’t have children?  A jilted sweetheart?
• Crime:  was Mom or Dad a serial killer?  Did they kill for the insurance money?
• Psychological:  Did Mom suffer from post-partum depression?  Was Dad or Mom abusive?    What toll did these deaths take on their marriage?
• Historical:  what childhood diseases ran rampant at that time?  Was the family poverty stricken?  Was Dad disabled and not able to work in a time before disability or Medicaid and not able to provide for his family?

With a writer, this goes on all the time. 

Years ago, I was walking through the music store looking at the pianos when a young man asked me if I played by sheet music.  I said yes.  He then asked if I would play a song for him so he could see if it was the right key.  Took the sheet music; it was Ol’ Man River.  Played the introduction and this huge bass voice just rolled out of him.  I was getting into the song when he stop, grabbed the sheet music, said thank you and left.  Excellent beginning to a romance novel.

Most of the time, I am by myself in a restaurant.  I usually have a book and it looks like I am highly engrossed in it.  I am but that doesn’t mean I’m not listening to the conversations going on around me.  Something as simple as hearing the woman behind me saying ‘son eat your beans’, can stir up all kinds of images.  Plus, life is definitely stranger than fiction (think Walmart pictures).

To others, this constant barrage of ideas, scenes and dialogue might resemble chaos.  But, we (writers) usually manage to control it (no, we do…most of the time). 

So if you have a writer friend (song writers too) and they drop out for a moment, cut them some slack.  Maybe, offer them your napkin and a pen.  You never know where that one line that will skyrocket their book to the best seller list will come from.  It might even help control the chaos.