composeconceivecreate

Does it make me a bad person that I nearly stole someone’s Chinese food order?

Buzzzzzz

Me: Hello

Stranger: Is this 2306?

Me: <Pausing to think. I’ve been sick…>  No.

Stranger:  I have a delivery.

Me:  For who?

Stranger: You ordered Chinese.

<Pause while I consider stealing someone’s Chinese food order.>

Me:  You have the wrong number.

The decision was even harder when she called back ten seconds later and I had to have the identical conversation.

When I was younger and stupider I tried to convince people that they had the wrong number by telling them the address they had actually dialed. At the time, I hoped the information would clear up the confusion.  (Sometimes I wonder how I never ended up as a cautionary tale.)

I still want Chinese food.

NB. I finally finished the latest round of edits for Riveted, and sent them off to the interested agents.  So excited. So nauseated. But in good news if my fever stays down maybe I can make some progress on my next project.

Writing Exercise:

I’m writing a super hero story at the moment and I’m having trouble with costuming.  It shouldn’t be hard, super hero costumes are pretty homogeneous: skin tight lycra, mask, done.

The problem is that my super hero doesn’t know they are a super hero so putting them in a costume feels really artificial. Can a super hero be a super hero without a costume?

In fact, I can’t think of a good reason for a super hero to even have a costume other than to help with their marketing efforts. If a super hero truly wanted to stay in the shadows wouldn’t they wear something different every time they went out?  Or at the very least wear something bulky that would disguise their physical characteristics? Now that’s a smart hero.

Consider a super hero that really didn’t want to be identified.  Not just to protect their secret identity, but because the hero doesn’t want to get a stupid nickname, or raise the expectations of a city that they now have a dedicated protector (how exhausting). How would they dress to disguise themselves?  Is the solution nondescript clothing or a rotating super hero wardrobe? What if that hero later needed to be recognized?

Happy writing.