Twisted?

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So, my friend Allison and I were hanging out at my house with the kids and husbands and we, Allison and I, were bantering back and forth stories from the comical to the grotesque and comically grotesque. I was regaling her with a story about a cat I had and how this cat would present me a gift on my birthday - a rat with the head still attached. Other times, she would present the rat without the head but consistently on my birthday it would have the head. So, I laughed and said that I Prefer Flowers to Rat Heads would be a pretty good title for a short story. We laughed. Then we noticed our husbands looking at us funny. They told us that we were dark and twisted. That made us laugh more.

I don't think of myself as dark or twisted but I do have, perhaps, a sideways view of life with an appreciation of the ironic and a sarcastic and cynical sense of humor. But dark? I don't think so. Twisted? Not really. But perhaps a writer's outlook has to lean more toward the dark rather than rosy.

Think about the stories you like. Every one of them has some sort of trouble/conflict/suspense/drama. Even the humor stories have some element of dark in order to show the light. It is the dark side of the story that brings forth the humanity, humor, love, or whatever the theme is meant to be. It is the twist that gives the story interest - showing the paradox or irony or duality.

So, maybe it's okay to be dark and twisted. Maybe that's what it takes to craft a story. Maybe, that's what it means to really see and experience all the emotions of life. And I do prefer flowers to rat heads.

Opposites Attract

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It is a force of nature that opposites attract. We see this in magnets and on the molecular level between protons and electrons. We see it in relationships too. The perfect example is my husband and me. I can say this because we are the perfect couple and in many ways we are opposites. Yes, I am a planner and he is more spontaneous, but there's more to it than that.



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My husband is outdoorsy. He likes hiking and backpacking, camping, skiing, hunting, windsurfing (in his youth), and all manner of being outside. I, on the other hand, view the outdoors as that place I briefly passed through going from one temperature-controlled bug-free environment to another. I will admit, however, to having enjoyed sitting outside with a pitcher of sangria or dining al fresco in the evening, as long as it's not too hot or too buggy.


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Hubby is also a morning person and I am a night person. He is up right at dawn, feet on the floor ready to start the day beginning with breakfast. I prefer sleeping in a little past sun up, then into the shower, have coffee and look for brunch. At night, my husband is ready to go to sleep shortly after sundown (I exaggerate), about 9:30 and I am looking to go do something fun. For those of you a certain age, the television show Green Acres should instantly pop into your heads. It's terrific because it works for us.

Opposites not only attract but they are attractive. How many times have we turned our heads for a double-take when we see a very tall person with a short person, even more fun if it is a tall woman with a short man. Even bi-racial couples still turn heads. There is a popular breakfast cereal that has made a commercial about opposites being attractive. Opposition is not bad. It is the whole Yin-Yang of the universe that actually binds us together. Opposites are not conflicting, but complimentary. They give us a different point of view, humor, and sometimes, just something different to think about. That's what makes them so attractive.

It works in writing. How many times have we enjoyed a book that made us think about something different? How often has an author employed the use of paradox to highlight a scene? Isn't there a protagonist and an antagonist? What about the opposition that is within all of us? Shouldn't that natural state also show up in our characters? Revisions are imminent and opposites must be included to keep the story strong and natural and attractive.