Post 6: Characters Raising their Hands like Horshack

 New ideas for characters bounce around inside me like bullets in a washing machine. Little harmless pops here and there and not a problem if  you're on the outside of the walls of the machine. I'm not always on the outside, and that is when the trouble starts, but that is another story ... actually that is really the story of Carl's World in RF. Which, is definitely a story, even the parts that are true - especially the parts that are true. I'm reminded of a Bukowski poem where he playfully discusses a metaphor for how his poems come to him, in a similar fashion. Quick Buk poem interlude:

tough company 

poems like gunslingers
sit around and
shoot holes in my windows
chew on my toilet paper
read the race results
take the phone off the
hook.

poems like gunslingers
ask me
what the hell my game is,
and
would I like to
shoot it out?

take it easy, I say,
the race is not to
the swift.

the poem sitting at the south end of the couch
draws
says
balls off for that
one!

take it easy, padner, I
have plans for
you.

plans, huh? what
plans?

The New Yorker,
pard.

he puts his iron
away.

the poem sitting in the
chair near the door
stretches
looks at me:
you know, fat boy, you
been pretty lazy
lately.

fuck off
I say
who's running this
game?

we're running this
game
say all the
gunslingers
drawing iron:
get
with it!

so
here you
are:

this poem
was the one
who was sitting
on top of the
refrigerator
flipping beercaps.

and now
I've got him
out of the way

and all the others
are sitting around pointing
their weapons at me and
saying:

I'm next, I'm next, I'm
next!

I suppose that when
I die
the leftovers
will jump some other
poor
son of a bitch.

Ok, a little long for an interlude, but this is how I've been feeling about my characters now that I'm on a roll, or at least, now that they are rolling about in my head. Regardless, this is one of Buk's whimsical lighthearted poems that I love so much, and I bet not many are aware of, especially those who pigeon hole him as nothing more than an angry drunk.

My big break through character-wise yesterday was dumping a recovering drug habit for Karen as well as  her relationship with a crazy meathead jealous anger issues still addict ex-boyfriend who was to step up as a major villain. As much as this would have added some immediate danger, an old friend of mine, a Muse even (whether she likes it or not) suggested this wasn't a good fit, and that I try just letting Karen be Karen without wedging in a storyline just because I'm aware of such a storyline. She was right on the mark, and it's really what I wanted to do anyway, I just had to explore it as an option.

But where now do we get a antagonist for Carl who also is close to Karen in some way? Easy, since Karen is Wiccan, she has Wiccan Priest or is it a Warlock? (Still some research to do) who, along with a Wiccan Priestess are managers at the Book Store where Karen works as a Barista. Of course, Carl was recently fired from said Bookstore by him. It was totally not his fault either (rolls eyes) - I mean, with what they were paying him, he was pretty much entitled to swipe all those books.

Sigh.