Colorful Characters (On Writing)

This is a memoir on writing.

        I never have much of a problem coming up with characters. I tend to loosely base my characters on people I knew

from real life.

        When I was growing up, I had a friend who always wore men's clothes. She had a scab on her forehead, that she

was always picking at. She spent way to much time with her older brother, who would shave his legs, and chest; even

though he didn't participate in any sports. He was a genius. Her mother was a paranoid schitzophrenic, who used to call

my grandmother, and tell her that people were following her. Every meal that family ate, was fried. Her father used to

make fun of the way I held my silverware.

        Another interesting person I crossed paths with, was an older man in my karate class. He was kind of goofy. No one

else wanted him as a sparring partner, so I would get stuck with him. He smelled like fish. He used to brag to the

instructor, about how he was using his karate belts to walk his dog.

        When I was in high school, I had a friend that use to be in a cult. I can't imagine how much trauma that girl had

been through, because she had 99 different personalities. No one was permitted to say the words church, or program

around her. She was even forced to eat cat meat. I accidently called her a goober, and she tried to strangle me. I

couldn't be angry with her, because after going though a trauma, it really changes the way you look at things. I've been

through a few myself, although some things are just to personal too mention. I still miss her to this day. She was in the

audience when I got my 2nd, and 3rd place trophies in the karate tournament. I was so proud.

        When I was in my thirties, I lived in downtown Akron. I knew this guy that walked around talking to himself. He

would walk around with a fake microphone, and try to interview people on the street. Everybody knew him as

Radioman.

        I knew this crazy lady, that walked around talking on a cell phone, that wasn't even on, or even charged. One day,

when we were filling out the recertification forms for Mature Services in the lunchroom (I used to live in a disabled/

senior apartment building that provided meals), I noticed the cafeteria worker, take her to the side, and talk to her.

I guess this lady had filled out on the form, that she was both male, and female, and that she was over 100 years old!

She always thought that the government was after her. My boyfriend, and I used to sneak up on her, when she was

waiting for her mail, and tell her that the FBI was after her. She would take of running! One day, she freaked out,

and ran outside in nothing, but her bra, and panties! I'm glad I wasn't there. I found out from a good friend of mine.

She was known as FBI Lady.

         I had a crazy neighbor, who was obsessed with her landlord. She followed him everywhere. She even called him

at home in the middle of the night, claiming that people were destroying things around her apartment. I later found

out that she was destroying her own property for attention! She even made jokes about poisoning people, How

creepy can you get!

        Well, with people like that in your life, you can never have a shortage of ideas.

Author's Note

I avoided using names, and changed the details slightly to protect these people's
privacy.