RESEARCH FOR FUTURE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, OR A FEW THINGS I'VE JUST DECIDED TO TRY FOR THE FIRST TIME

I'm fifty-six, fairly frugal, and generally disinterested in change for change's sake, and therefore, not prone to following gimmicks, but I have to admit, a few things have intrigued me over the years, and I've decided to give them a try . . .  for the sake of research.

Quirky characters need a little schtick, some idiosyncratic tendencies to define them and establish their personality. In my current WIP, (work in progress), I have a lady with a manic attachment to her wigs and make-up. We immediately know a lot about her appearance as well as her personality.
Who knows? I may create a character with a fetish for having their face waxed, or their bunion straightened, or I may have a character who simply can't resist walking past that "You Saw It On TV" rack near the Wal Mart checkout. So what must I do to accurately portray such situations? Conduct a little personal research. . . Of course.

(Are you buying any of this pseudo-logic?)

Today was my experimental day. Well, my face-waxing yesterday actually kicked off the trend. I mean, if I can remove my unsightly miss-tache and bride-burns, what other improvements could I, (I mean a future character), make?

Today I headed off to conduct some research. My test products? The bunion corrector, the home-waxing kit, and the eyelash curler. (I know, I know. You're wondering how I have gotten through life without one of those.)

The truth is, this torturous-looking eyelash curler is actually quite practical for glass-wearers. I gave that squeezy thing a try, and after nearly puncturing my eyelid, I managed to curl my extra-long lashes into a lovely up-do, and for the first time, I can actually wear my glasses properly without the annoying swish of lashes on the lenses. Long-overdue success number one!

Item two--the home-waxing strips. In years past I asked for, and sadly was the unfortunate recipient of, several hair-removal tools, including the hair-ripping "Epi-Lady." That thing could double as a blood draw tool. I watched a dozen replays of an infomercial with smiling users applying this delicate product to their legs, then sliding a nylon stocking over their clean gams to prove the absence of stubble. Well, I'm woman enough to admit I cried when I revved that puppy up. All I can say is this. Those models must have either been masochists, or they received advanced pain management prior to the shoot. Today I'm going to give the pre-waxed strips a try. We'll see.

The home bunion corrector. This little marvel looks like it may have been designed by alien abductors bent on restructuring humanoid bodies, but alas, after fifteen minutes I managed to get the contraption on and must admit I was pretty impressed with how straight my incredibly crooked toe looked when strapped into this harness. Will it make my toe straighter? We'll see. But if it saves me a reportedly painful surgery and recovery, I'll count myself blessed.

I'm two-for-two with crazy new products. Let's see which of these items shows up in the next story I write.


Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)