I’m a homebody, I admit it.  We live in the country, old small farmhouse and a lot of land for the kids to play in.  We have a great view, a cozy woodstove and dial-up–okay, so I’d rather highspeed but I’m not complaining. 

Sure, I work in town part time and do the groceries and other errands but as for more long distance travel, not my favorite thing.  Still, with a go-for-the-moment husband and two active boys, staying at home isn’t always the option.

Take this weekend for instance, we headed into downtown Toronto to see MONSTER JAM! (Its capitalized because in my house you don’t simply say monster jam–the arms come out in a He-man pose and the gutteral sound is projected loudly to emphasize the engines of the humongous vehicles–thus MONSTER JAM!)

The one thing other than spending fun time with my family that I do like about these ‘family fieldtrips’ are the abundance of unique characters that tickle the writer inside.

On the GO Train on the way down, there was another group of what had to be eight to ten people, half of which were under three feet tall.  They took up three sections of seats and though the children ran all over the place, they were still fairly controlled.  Anyway, out of those ten, three stood out. Now, I’m one of those picky writers for details–not picky, as in hard to satisfy but picky as in there are few people who encompass a great character overall but lots of people have interesting quirks, looks, or something that I can tuck away to add to other things.  Take this family for instance.  One father had this AMAZING hair–dark, small but bouncy curls in just the write style and with a black goatee looked awesome–even though he wasn’t what I would call hero looking material.  The daughter of the other father was absolutely ADORABLE–quiet pixie would be my quick description, I swore if she had a little delicate pair of wings she would have laughed and flew off into another universe.  Now, the third one, the other father had no outward details that registered but the way he treated his daughter, spoke to her, tilted his head towards her–the little actions and endearments were heartwarming.

I could go on and on about the people I saw and/or talked to on our day in the city.  You would think some of the craziest, over-the-top type ones would have been the most interesting but actually, it turned out to be a couple on the train back home.  A young couple, both with the gorgeous exotic look of the East, dressed to match and sitting in front of us in a four seat section.  With my son on my lap in the overfilled car, I was able to observe from behind him he he he.  This couple didn’t really talk to each other–rather she only answered when she had too.  They weren’t a touchy feely kind of couple and she stared out the window for a bit while he tried–tried–to rest his head on her shoulder to take a snooze for the long ride.  You should have seen the looks that he didn’t see LOL.  She would try to subtly shift of manouver away, yet if he asked if he was okay she’d say yes so he’d lay his head down and the whole thing would start over.  Finally she got a book out and did the small fidgets until a he finally lifted his head.  She settled in to read and he leaned closer reading with her–but ticking her off because he obviously didn’t read the page fast enough LOL.  Basically, it was a break-up waiting to happen and the poor guy didn’t have a clue.  I felt bad for him but the writer in me wrote a hundred scenarios by the time we finished the hour ride to the train station.

Keeping our eyes open is the best inspiration a writer could have.  Like our first drafts, the people we observe or even our observations don’t have to be perfect.  Each little snippet of a personality, quirk, expression, style or voice can inspire our own characters to not only be more unique but more real, more relatable and thereby be more catching and endearing to the readers–which is what we want.  If they love our characters, they won’t put that book down until it’s finished and be more likely to pick up our next one–both of which are our main goals…entertain and imprint ourselves onto our readers mind for the future.

Next time you are out in your town, on a family fieldtrip or even a business trip, don’t forget to keep your eyes open–inspiration is everywhere!!