Case Matthews needs parents. So I’m going to give him some.
Case, I should point out, is one of two POV characters in the book I’m working on right now. And I’ll tell you straight-up, he’s a good guy. A swell guy. A few communication issues and maybe a little bit too “I must save the world,” but all in all, if this man was real instead of a figment of my imagination, I’d be happy to count him a friend. (But nothing more, because real or imaginary, I did create him and there’d be something weird about, say, falling in love with someone you created. Although, the Greek myth behind the George Bernard Shaw play behind the 1950’s musical “My Fair Lady” is about that very thing…)
Anyhow, Case needs parents. They’re only going to show up for a chapter or two, maybe three. But even as minor characters, this man and woman will play an important role in showing us – and my second POV character, Georgia – a bit of Case’s background, along with his younger brother Rick’s.
Before they can do that, though, these parents must exist. And so, I’ve spent a couple evenings giving them names and appearances and personalities.
And let me tell you, there is something incredibly fun about creating a person. There really is. It’s had me thinking to myself, “Dude, does God have this much fun?” I mean, really. I bet he seriously gets a kick now and then…I think I’ll give this girl a crazy love for books, an absolute nonchalance toward shoe styles and shoot, how about some blue eyes so one evening when she’s 28 a random barista can compliment her. (That’s me, by the way, and yeah, a Starbucks guy did call my eyes beautiful. And yeah, it did totally make my night.)
But I can’t take that thought too far because it could get a bit too theologically controversial. I mean, I’ve got a lot of personality traits (okay, weaknesses) that I wouldn’t say God zapped into me the way I decided to zap into Case Matthews a love of all things C.S. Lewis. No, all I’m trying to say is, creating people from scratch is a blast.
And I’ve realized, as I’ve thought about this, that there must be something inherent in humans that enjoys creating personas. I think back to being a kid and playing with Barbies. We loved giving Barbie and Ken and Skipper and, okay, I forget the name of the youngest of the clan…anyway, we loved making up lives for them! (My Barbie was always pretty Nancy Drew-ish, just FYI.)
I’m guessing boys do the same thing with G.I. Joes. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe they just have pretend battles. I don’t know.
But I do know, these days the big thing is social networking online and, in a way, facebook and Twitter and MySpace (if anyone’s still using that) basically give users the opportunity to create an entirely new persona. Granted, in many cases, people’s online personas are genuinely reflective of reality. But I know – at least I’ve read about – many cases in which teens, especially, use social networking sites to, in essence, create – moreso be – someone else entirely.
And that is probably not such a healthy thing.
Yet, I have to say I can understand the temptation to do something like that. It’s, well, fun, to conjure up this new person, to step into a made-up someone’s shoes for a little while. I get to do that with each new character I create. The difference, I guess, is that I get a lighthearted kick out of it, while confused teens playing at recreating themselves online probably do so out of insecurity or other emotional issues.
Anyway, I get strange looks from people all the time who wonder why in the world writing is fun to me. Out of, oh, a good 20-some answers I could give, this creating imaginary people complete with lives and looks and loves definitely ranks high.
By the way, I’ve named Case’s parents Landry and Gina Matthews. Gina’s a recovering scrapbooker who’s just discovered the wonder that is Snapfish. (Really, check it out. There’s no need to invest in crazy scissors and construction paper and page protectors ever again!) Landry’s a weather-watcher. He can read the sky more accurately than most meteorologists…or so he says.
