A page turner, please, and a viewpoint character with quirks

I like quirks in characters. In my favorite cozy mystery series created by the late Lawrence Sanders, private investigator Archie McNally has many of them–from unusual clothes items such as colorful berets to telling you what he eats at every meal to pet sayings such as, “One never knows, do one?”

I think quirks can elevate characters above stereotypes, too. Though I’ve met some unusual people, I can’t say most of the people I know are quirky. (But then I wouldn’t want to read about them either.) Whenever I’ve met someone in real life with a quirk, it’s always stuck with me, and some of my family members and friends have found themselves in my stories. For instance, my older brother is very anal retentive about his pepper. He has seven kinds of pepper, each in its own mill, clearly labeled, and arranged on his stove top from mild to hot. Well, I couldn’t let that juicy little item go by. Of course I gave one of my characters, an FBI agent, some anal retentive qualities and used those pepper mills in his kitchen, causing the protagonist to say, “Seven mills? Sounds like a tax rate.”

Anyhoo,  if you don’t know particularly quirky folks whose habits you can infuse into your characters or if you suffering from brain drain and can’t think of any qualities particular different or downright strange with which to imbue your characters, then you need to  hit some sites that role players use. Role players have identified tons of quirks on their websites and forums, more than you could ever think of if you sat down to come up with quirks and had an endless supply of paper, two free hours, and a Red Bull.

For example, I spent less than a minute on a Dungeons & Dragons  forum called 1001 Character Quirks and found lists of tasty quirks such as:

• keeps a bag filled with little jars of dirt from each nation he’s been to;
• insomniac;
• contradicts everyone about absolutely anything even the pointless things;
• constantly catches bugs and keeps them as pets in containers, isn’t aware of their need for sustenance and is deeply upset when they die;
• always steals people’s stories and doesn’t keep track of which story came from who hence occasionally tells a stolen story to the person he stole it from; and
• has an obsession with people's ears or other body part.

Then of course there’s a blog post called 100 Character Quirks You Can Steal From Me. And many, many other rich sources you can find within minutes on the Web.

Now, of course, you can’t stuff all these quirks into your book characters. But if you carefully choose one or two, you may end up with a more novel novel than you envisioned.

Dreams and writing: why and how

It happened again. It hadn't happened for about ten years, but it occurred, very early this morning. I had my most popular recurring dream: my teeth had fallen out . . . again.

By the time I arrived at the dentist's office to beg him to glue my teeth back in, I had torn one of my teeth--it was as long and thin as a fingernail, and I was wearing a hair net.

This after driving my car in a snowstorm through my bedroom window onto snow-covered bushes before barrelling down an icy street. Next thing I knew my car disappeared, and I was pushing a garbage up a steep hill. Why did I need my teeth glued back in? Because I was filming a commercial in 30 minutes, of course! Why did you think?

(That's the last time I eat no-flour, no-sugar peanut butter cookies before going to bed.)

I'm no dream expert--I've been a marketing director and an English teacher by trade--but I know a little about losing my teeth in public since I've had that dream a dozen times now. Different set-up but same outcome--I'm always left holding some of my teeth in my hands. When I mentioned this dream to a therapist a few years ago, he said I'm afraid of losing something close to me. My husband and I are going to see a neurosurgeon Monday about a neck operation he needs. Maybe I'm already worrying about that procedure. I just don't know.

Having a really vivid dream last evening reminded me a of  website I learned about from my boss called "Dream Moods."  It has a rich link devoted to teeth dreams, which are apparently very common. Here's some information that may better reflect why I had this dream:

...Dream research found that women in menopause report to have frequent dreams about teeth. This points to teeth dreams as being related to getting older and/or feeling unattractive and less feminine. Teeth are an important feature to your attractiveness and how you are presented to others."--Dream Moods

I was just chatting with someone at Curves after work about menopause and estrogen being like motor oil, I I likened the loss of estrogen in my body to an engine freezing up. There are more interpretations, which sound reasonable considering my current employment situation and other life,all of which you can read here.

The point is that dreams and sites like Dream Moods can be powerful resources for writers. That's mostly why I turn to Dream Moods. Not because I want help analyzing my life, but because I'm always looking for ideas, content, and context as a writer. Give a character a symbolic dream to help her solve a problem or become more self aware.

The site offers a dream bank, dream dictionary, and dream themes. Just browsing the dream theme colors gave me an idea for a short story called "Red" that ending up winning first prize in a fiction contest that I'm now submitting for publication.

Dream moods even has a search engine where you can plug in words like snow. Since I was driving in a snowstorm in last night's dream, I thought I'd see what it had to say about that. The closest entry I could find to snowstorm was blizzard, and here's what it said:

Blizzard
To dream about a blizzard, suggests that you are feeling emotionally cold and frigid. You feel excluded and left out. It may indicate a lack of love and the absence of warmth within your own family circle. 

Again, I'm not using Dream Moods to figure out my family of origin problems. (That's a post for another blog someday.) But it makes an interesting premise for a scene, doesn't it? Couldn't you build some reader empathy in your character by giving them a vivid dream and then having them process it the next morning?

I get scads of ideas whenever I surf around Dream Moods. I hope it can be a resource for you, too.