Too much time on their hands?
Some idiot in Hoboken wasn’t satisfied recently with the placement of the Christmas tree and wreath over the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. He said it was offensive to his eyes. The NYC Council put it to a vote—of course, the only ones who voted to change things were equally crazy.
Every so often some nuts will want to dress dogs and horses when they’re out in public (somehow cats escape being their targets). And a certain famous basketball player claimed that NASA astronauts never landed on the moon, comparable to those who believe the Earth is flat (there’s a society for that).
Two comments: These people have too much time on their hands. And there are far better causes for them to spend their time on.
Such crazy events associated with crazy persons make writers’ lives difficult. First, the writer/journalists who have to report on them have to decide how to approach those stories. Should they play it straight as if this were normal behavior? (Note the use of the subjunctive—it’s not normal behavior.) Or, do they make fun of it (greatly deserved) and point out the waste of time and money spent on their craziness? (Of course, I’m crazy to spend time on it here…but what else should I write on New Year’s Day, a slow news day?)
These persons and events also present fiction writers with major problems. These people are characters in the pejorative sense, and the events are weird and crazy, to say the least. Should a fiction writer include such characters and events in their fiction?
I’ll say yes with reluctance. Especially for lighthearted comedies. But even serious stories need characters whose behaviors represent outliers in the human behavioral statistical spectrum. In fiction, extremes are often the norm. While authors often start with ordinary, boring persons as characters, these persons often end up doing extraordinary things as they react to extraordinary events. And many times the serious characters can play off the crazy ones, and the crazy ones can relieve tension.
But reality is so often so much stranger than fiction that authors have to be careful when they write about crazy weirdness. All fiction has to be believable, including fantasy (within the “rules” established in the fantasy world created by the author).
Still, let’s face it: many readers and writers use fiction as an escape from the ordinary, mundane lives they live, and maybe from other ordinary people and events. That certainly is one motivation for both my reading and writing; the satisfaction I derive from telling stories that hopefully entertain a few readers is another.
But I’ll certainly keep writing about crazy, strange people and crazy, strange events in my stories, knowing full well that the craziness and strangeness just mimics reality.
Do you feel the same way?
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Happy New Year to All! Comments are welcome.
I don’t often write comedy, but the first part of Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape has a few stories that might tickle your funny bone…for example, the ghost gang and baklava stories. This collection of speculative fiction even contains a novella, “From the Mother World.” And if you want to start the New Year with a freebie, Volume Two is available as a free download—see the list of all the free PDFs on my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
