In my autobiography that is under contract, I have a portion set aside where one of my roommates and I have an early morning discussion. I have a hangover and he’s upset because I almost upchucked in his car the night before on the way home from a birthday party. The language between us gets very raunchy and he uses the “f” word with frequency. I haven’t shown him the dialogue and after reading the books that I have, I don’t think I will. To “sell” him to the readers of my book, I’m going to have to dig into my own character and “act” as though I am him.
It’s all well and good that I tell him he’s a part of the book, but I dare not share that with him because were he to read what I have written, he would tell me he is nothing like that character. Nothing at all. Therefore, I must use my imagination to “become” a person who is “like” him in many ways but not him in any way, shape or form. I must control the character instead of letting the character control me.
I don’t use the vulgar language this character uses; I just find I don’t need to talk that way to live my daily life. Yet, I know all the words and can pull them out and use them. However, can I do them successfully as another character and not as myself. I’ve placed myself in my character’s shoes and I think I’ve come up with a pretty good character study of someone who shoots from the hip, pulls no punches about how he feels about the carpets in his car, the side paneling on his car door, the cover on the car speaker in the car door and all the other amenities that could be affected by spray from someone regurgitating. He’s very upset and the only way he can show that is through vulgarities and profanities; he can’t have a conversation without profanity.
On the other hand, I’m so hung over that I can’t comprehend what he’s saying because he’s using profanity. I need him to just get to the point. Did I put a dent in the door, leave the door ajar, kick the door shut, break the light in the door, forget to readjust the seatbelt? I can’t comprehend what he’s saying; I just need coffee because I’m late getting dressed for work and want to deal with the matter later. He doesn’t.
When he finally reads this section of the book, he should only be able to ask, “Were you writing about me,” to which I can answer, “I used some of your mannerisms, but that’s all. You’re too kind to be this person.”
Poet George Thompson is a critic for the pop culture site PopSyndicate.com, and a regular contributor to Wicked Wordsmith.