Someone recently told me they feel like a lesbian trapped inside a man’s body. Now, I’m not going to name names, but I do have to ponder what the heck that means.

Maybe I’m wrong, but wouldn’t that make him your average, typical, heterosexual guy?

“I can’t help myself, I like women. I like everything about them, all the curves, the slinky way they walk, the way they smell. When they bounce. Or flip their hair, especially the women with long hair. Everything about them.”

I nod with sympathy and try to be understanding, because he came to me with this revelation, even though I am a little curious (and miffed) why all this is said as if I am some anomaly outside the female gender he so enjoys.

I try on my therapist’s hat. It doesn’t fit as well as it used to, when friends and co-workers of mine would come to me with their dating related problems.

“How does this make you feel?”

“Horny. Like I’m seventeen again.”

“I’m really trying, but I don’t see a problem. Hey, people like what they like. So long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, you should do whatever makes you happy. We’re all different and what floats one person’s boat may not be a turn-on for someone else.”

“Like your slipper fetish?”

“Let’s leave me out of this. This is about you.” I nudge my rabbit slippers under my desk and out of sight. “Besides, it’s a comfort thing, not a sexual thing,” I add.

“Sure.”

Hrrumph. Well, twelve minutes later and feeling better about his situation, he thanks me for listening. A firestorm of an idea pops into my head and I ask him if I can quote him and maybe use our discussion in my writing. I promise not to name him and he says it’s cool.

See, I have this secondary character in a romantic comedy who needed more crafting to make him three-dimensional. He’s a bit quirky—like my friend.

I’ve discovered it’s the little things, the quirks, the mannerisms, and even the flaws that give us personality, and make us unique. They round out a character. Give them life.

Think back to some of your favorite characters. I bet if you try, you’ll find they had a set of quirks or flaws that made them seem real.

::looks around, grabs slippers and puts them back on::

Hey, warm tootsies are important when you’re writing sexy stories. Nothing quirky, honest…  :P

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 28th, 2009 at 6:05 am and is filed under Life, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.