Explaining The List

Some of you have asked what that entry titled "The List" was. I guess it seemed a little out of place.

While I am not a writer, nor do I pretend to be, from time to time a concept or character gets in my head and pesters me until I do something with it. For whatever reason this little man with such a bleak world view and the belief that his only purpose was to fill the parlor at his own funeral just wouldn't go away until I wrote him down.

Most often, I keep those little nuggets to myself. However, I couldn't think of a way to use him in a longer story that would please me, he seemed too interesting to make him into a secondary character and finally, after weeks of wondering what do with it, I just him let him speak.

I'm not claiming that it's good, it just is what it is. It might happen again, who knows; it's a pretty rare occurence for me but not unheard of. I have plenty of little half-finished stories and character ideas laying around. None of them will see the light of day. For that, I guess this smarmy little fellow should be grateful, he has made it out of my laptop where so many of his brethren languish, waiting for the moment I hit the delete button and banish them for all time.

I also must mention that somehow, don't ask me how, I inadvertantly used the names of my in-laws in that piece. Some might say that was subliminal, I say it was coincidence! If you ever looked at the other things I have written over the years you'd find that the names Cheryl and John are just the ones that always come to me for some reason. Like place holders until I find more creative names. Also commonly found in my little stories: Michelle, Tony, Rebecca, Frank, Louis and Roger. Just plain old, right on the tip of my tongue names. I generally replace them with something more unique or catchy at a later date.

But, now that I think about it, there is a Stephen King story lurking in here somewhere. A man uses the same names over and over for years in his writing, replacing the names with something fresher before the world sees them. And then, he meets a girl whose parents are named the same as his characters. Hmmm. King used to dabble the theory of writings having alternate egos, of their work meshing somehow with their real life. He once had his alter-ego/pen name come to life and fight with the "real" author over who belonged here. There must be a King story in this, someone get this to Mr. King ASAP. I would love to see where he could take it.