Character Chatter — Ol’ Joe

I woke up feeling rather ‘show and tell-ish’ and thought I’d let you guys in on a character in the manuscript I’m working on. I’ve mentioned him in slight passing in a previous post, but here he is.

I love to introduce to you, Ol’ Joe:

In Quest for Milo, Ol’ Joe is a bewitched beer mug who talks, sings, whistles, and expels embarrassing noises. Toad, a young thief, spies Ol’ Joe in the wagon of a traveling fortune-teller and steals the mug, for he realizes his value. In the world of thieves, Ol’ Joe is a legend: Whoever possess the mug is the Thief Lord.

Toad’s companion, Melena Snead, is repulsed by the mug and finds him obnoxious, rude, and downright annoying to be around. But Toad harbors a deep affection for his grinning beverage glass and will not contemplate tossing him out.

In reality, Ol’ Joe is an actual beer mug that my grandfather bought a long time ago. I believe it passed into my dad’s possession when the grandparents moved out of their old home. There it rested on the top shelf of the wine cabinet, looking utterly ridiculous and startlingly out-of-place, steadily gathering dust. One evening, while cooking dinner and consuming a glass of wine, I was struck with sudden inspiration. How could I NOT include this outrageous piece of pottery in my work, and better yet, have him do what he so clearly wants: talk.

The mug now resides in my bedroom, tucked away on my bookcase. He is a fright and yet a delight. So far in my construction of his character, Joe has proven to be just as difficult as Melena finds him to be. There is much that I want to do with his character–I have big plans for the mug–but he has teasingly slipped out of my reach on more than one occasion.  Question marks still surround him. I know all that it requires is rolling up my sleeves and plowing onward in the writing, but still it would be nice if Joe could lend me a helping hand, even though he doesn’t have any.