Gee, isn't that so-and-so?

Writer's Weekly Question # 20:

Have you ever created a character based on someone you know? Was it because you liked the person, or disliked the person? How was the character different or like the person you based him or her on?

I suspect many of my characters have bits and pieces of people I have known. But, due to liability issues, I have consciously decided to never base a character on an actual person. So much easier to be able to explain in a deposition that the characters spring full blown into my imagination and onto the page rather than argue which trait is or isn't something that Johnny Doe is known to exhibit on occasion.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. If I were to create a character based on an actual person, it would be in a satire, the person portrayed would probably be someone I dislike, and the effect sought would be vilification. For instance, a story about Vice President Dick Cheney hunting liberals on his game farm in Montana and accidentally shooting a conservative lawyer in the face.

Nah -- nobody would believe that one...

Poem For Alysia

For Alysia

A moment in time,

never to be recalled.

A sunny, dimpled smile,

extinguished in a moment of inattention.

A family, destroyed.

A mother heart-broken,

A father shamed, guilt-wracked, haunted,

A marriage annihilated,

a baby's light snuffed out.

We weep for you, dear child,

for the possibilities now gone,

your laugh now silent,

for what might have been.

For your father, strength I offer,

to endure those long, cold, lonely nights

that lie ahead;

hours of self-doubt and self-recrimination,

a slippery slope to despair, hopelessness,

drunkenness and death.

For your mother, a benediction,

a salve upon her broken heart

and strength, too, to go on,

as a mother must,

broken heart and all.

To your brother and sister,

surcease I offer,

sweet dreams,

where only nightmares

now dare to tread.

To the world,

only a memory

invoked by a head stone,

gray granite,

“Alysia Brown,

Aged 3,

Rest In Peace.”

Copyright ©2006 Wil Mosher

All Rights Reserved

Carmel girl, 3, drowns in family pool - Bangornews.com Staff

Writer's Weekly Question #18:

Writer's Weekly Question #18:
Have you ever had an experience where someone tried to trick you into believing that something big was about to happen to your writing, when in fact, they were taking you on what could be a huge ride? This can include a contest, an agent, a publisher, or anyone.

Yes, I do it to myself, every time I finish a poem or a short story. Then, because I know better these days, I file said oeuvre away for a week or ten and then reread. That's the real revelation. I can see in the clear light of day the piece isn't anywhere near as good as first imagined. Into the circular file it goes...

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