The Real Story…

Thank you to everyone who hazarded a guess yesterday as to why my daughter was duct taped to a chair. I loved your creativity! I decided to share the answer here, but if you’d like to read the rest of the post on Five Ways to Improve Your Characterization, you can check it out at Jaunty Quills

The real story…the other night my daughter and son were sitting in the room below my office when my teenage daughter started squealing about how thrilled she is with the characters in the novel she’s writing. The next thing I know, she’s calling for help.

Preoccupied with my own writing, I called down, “Can’t your brother help you?”

More cries rose from the floor below. Muffled this time. Something like, “He did it.”

None to happy about being interrupted, I tromp downstairs, to find out what’s going on. Imagine my glee when I find my daughter duct-taped to her desk chair!

“Wait, don’t move,” I exclaimed, and ran back upstairs for my camera. You see, the heroine in the book I’m working on gets duct-taped by the villain to a chair. I’m seeing … research opportunity!!
I want to know how her muscles feel straining against the tape; the yow of ripped hair when its tugged off; the sensation of the scream building in her throat; the taste of panic when she realizes she can’t get herself free. And just how loud can she shout with a piece of duct tape on her mouth?

Our dear pup even decided to get in on the action and play the hero, doing the courtesy of ripping her free!

By this time, my daughter is getting right into the “research”, and my son is rolling his eyes, no doubt thinking that instead of quieting his nutty sister, he’d created two monsters!