Character Frustrations

First, a few reminders:

Thanks to LaVerne for her post. She's giving away a book, so scroll down, read her post, and leave a comment. Winner announced on Saturday.

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One of the points I made in my blog at the Guide to Literary Agents, which was about characters, was that you should kick them out of their comfort zone. I wonder how my characters might have dealt with what should have been a very simple problem, easily fixed.

I've had issues with the cell phone I bought when we moved here. Given our remote location, there's only one provider, so choices were limited (not to mention the cell reception up here is terrible anyway), so even with this provider, there's no point in using a cell phone at home. But it's something I like to have when I'm away.

So, about two weeks ago, I noticed that the external button that's supposed to control the volume wasn't working. And, if I wanted to text someone and turned the phone sideways to get the larger touch screen keyboard, it wouldn't display what I'd typed. I stopped in at the closest store, and the clerk agreed the phone (actually this was phone #4 in less than a year) needed to be replaced. But, of course, they can't do that at the store, so I could either drive an hour down to the Springs and hang around there (speaking from experience—first and last trip took over 3 hours), or call customer service. She documented the problem in my file, and told me to request a different phone entirely.

Confronting the Unexpected

What I'm reading: Rain Fall, by Barry Eisler

Thanks to Marie Nicole for sharing her story. There's still time to leave a comment on her post to enter the contest for a copy of her book. Scroll down. I'll still be here.

What's been going on in Florida started me thinking about disruptions, and how we deal with them. We spend a lot of time getting to know our characters so we'll know how they'll respond in any situation we subject them to. Or will we?

It's just as important to know how your character will behave when confronted with the unexpected. And, as authors, we need to keep the unexpected happening. After all, "Only Trouble is Interesting."

For example, here in Florida, we've had the longest cold snap on record. And it's been cold. Ice on the cars and rooftops in the morning. Some days, the temperatures never hit 40. True, if you're from Minnesota, you're probably laughing, but I've lived in Orlando for 22 years, and we've never had the heat running 12 days straight. Heck, most years, we don't have the heat running twelve HOURS, period. Now, it's been chugging along, eating up more kilowatt hours than our a/c does.

Some of the local power companies have been overburdened, and have had to cut power here and there. We have a nifty (usually) gizmo on our electrical system that allows the power company to shut down power to our heat or a/c units for brief periods of time when demands are too great. For this, we get a small rebate on our electric bill each month. In 22 years, it's been turned on exactly three times. Two of them this week.

Postal System Followup; Only Trouble is Interesting

What I'm reading: Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, by Diana Gabaldon

Today's 'not surprising' news brings another email from the Postal Service informing me that although I canceled a 'click and ship' label, it was scanned into the system, and I should go immediately to their website and pay for the postage. And, of course it's one of those "do not respond to this email" messages.

Apparently the problem arose because although I'm dealing with the USPS, I'm going through two separate payment systems, even though (I assume) all the money goes to the Postal Service. I checked my AmEx account, and lo and behold, there's one charge, and only one charge, and it's for the correct amount.

I emailed a blow-by-blow via their 'contact us' site, and we'll see what happens. I'm beginning to think this might be an omen as to how I will fare in the contest, which is why I was sending the package to begin with.

My next "only trouble is interesting" event of the day started with a surprise bit of publicity in an article in the January issue of Orlando Magazine for several local romance writers. One of my books, Finding Sarah, is mentioned in the article. I popped into my local Barnes & Noble to see if they had any copies. After scanning about 8 racks of magazines, I went to the counter to ask if there were any copies of Orlando Magazine. She said, "we keep them right here" but since they weren't "right there", she checked the computer, and they haven't arrived yet. OK, I can deal with that; at least I didn't miss them.

So, I asked if she might like to order a few copies and I would autograph them for potential customers. When she checked the computer, she discovered that although What's in a Name? is there, Finding Sarah is flagged as "not available for order." Naturally, there's nothing she can do about that.

I did get an immediate response from the Cerridwen office (surprising since it was early Sunday morning), and she shot off an email to their B&N contact, but there's no telling how long it will take to correct the situation.

Let's hope anyone interested in Finding Sarah will figure out that the publisher sells the books, and they're on Amazon.com.

Synchronicity

I subscribe to a writer's Quote of the Day. This morning's quote was:

Conflict is the fundamental element of fiction, fundamental because in literature only trouble is interesting. It takes trouble to turn the great themes of life into a story: birth, love, sex, work, and death.
~Janet Burroway

In a surprising bit of synchronicity, I had just finished posting my guest blog at The Romance Studio where I discussed this topic in relation to my travels.

Stop by and take a peek. Leave a comment. Share your own travel glitches.

http://theromancestudio.blogspot.com/

I'll be back with my travel journal tomorrow.