Motivation

Writers get into their characters’ head spaces. We know their backstory. We wrote it. We know why these characters act the way they do. We know how they think. So we get in there and write accordingly.

In everyday life, I people-watch and, more than that, I listen. It’s a writer thing. I’m not justifying it and I’m also not judging, either. There’s something really soothing about letting go of judgment and just listening for listening’s sake. Why would someone say what he just said? What’s going on in his head? What happened in his past? Or, why would she use that specific turn of phrase? Where did she pick that up? 

I’m listening to gain understanding and to create a backstory that fits with the dialogue. My version might not be accurate, but if it works with what’s being said then I take it as a win, a character sketch worthy of a book.

One of my biggest fascinations is what people don’t say. We tend to say a lot out loud, but the things we hold back, the unsaid, the silences, that’s where it gets really interesting. But that’s a story for another time.

Today, I’m thinking about motivation. I’m working on some book ideas, some fun mysteries with quirky characters--and that means lots of motivation involved. With everything going on in the world—and when isn’t everything going on?—what drives people to say, do, act, commit, stop, and go?  When you think this way, aspects of even the wackiest motivation start to sound relatable. And you start to notice how we’re all in this together.

In the grand scheme of things, there are monsters and villains, saints and heroes. Of course there are. But in the grand scheme of Us and Them, there really is no Them. There is only Us.