Characters ... Real-Life Inspiration

I have always been a people watcher. I remember sitting with my father at the fountain in the mall as a child, watching people, creating their stories. I still love to watch people. I love listening to them, too. (I was unfortunately cursed with super-hero strength hearing ... or blessed from a writer's viewpoint!) Many secondary characters come from compilations of these people I've watched over the years. Their conversations are those I've heard. Sometimes I have to exclude an actual conversation or character simply because what I've actually heard or seen seems so far-fetched.

Mom and I have been doing some local sightseeing and I have an overload of characters and conversations at the moment. There was an elderly couple visiting a valley area of California. While waiting in line for no more than two minutes, Mom and I heard that: they were visiting old friends; they are farmers; the weather here is too cold for them; Paul is having problems with his bowels (always does when they travel); her bowels are doing just fine, regular as ever, only the time difference does cause some difficulties; and the best ever (very close to word for word, I swear): "Since we're up an hour later than our friends, Paul and I take advantage of their hot tub, [whisper] skinny-dipping. His bowels may not be working, but his other parts down that way do! We may be old, but we're having more sex on this trip than we did on our honeymoon!"

Let me tell you: it's hard to keep a straight face when an 80 year old woman, a stranger!, tells you about her sex life. But I sure made note of it, pulling out my recorder as soon as we parted to capture her words for eternity (not that anything could wipe that conversation out of my mind).

I was recently in the ladies room of a department store. A woman (again elderly, but honestly I don't discriminate: all the public finds their way into my memory) looked through the crack in the stall door to ask if I worked there. "Erm, no."

"Well, could you tell me where the kitchen supplies are?"

"Certainly not in here! And could you please step away from the door?"

See, now how could you write that into a story? Where on earth does that happen? Who has strange old ladies peeping into the bathroom stall to carry on a conversation?

I have an arsenal of stories, weird happenings, etc. I never find anyone who has encountered some of the people I have. I have always wondered why I meet these people, why they approach me. Now I know why: it's all material for writing. These people I have carried around in my memory for decades are, and will be, those crazy characters in all my stories.

I wonder how Paul's bowels are doing this evening.