Mining The Past
I'm working on 2 volumes of short stories and have been writing a lot about the past. It's interesting to look back, examine things, and move them around to adapt to these new characters.
5040 Used Cars
One of the books I've been working on for a couple years is called 5040 Used Cars. A collection of connected short stories that bounce back and forth between the past (1960) and each character's present. The present is different for each character. The present can be anywhere from 25 to 50 years later depending on the character. We see where they started and where they end up.
I think we all look back every now and again and ask ourselves, "What if?" What would have happened if I would have gone to a different school, married that person, taken that job that was offered, or not gone out drinking that night?
We run all of these scenarios through our minds but the truth is, we didn’t do those things for what seemed good reasons at the time. We end up where we are based on the information and the decisions we make at the time. Using “What if?” is a great thing to do when you’re creating characters and forging their paths, but ultimately I think if you spend too much time thinking about it in regards to real life, then it’s a waste of time.
And I know people who think a certain time in their life (high school, college, their twenties, ...) was the best. Some people have a tendency to say everything was better "back then", whatever that means to them.
When I look back I don't see things that way. The past is the past. Often it seems better because of our perception of ourselves at the time and maybe it reflects the place we're in now. Maybe things haven't turned out the way we thought they would. Also times change and people change. I wouldn’t want to be the same person I was 25 years ago. I hope that I have changed and for the better. These are some of the things my characters grapple with.
In my mind the best years of my life are not in the past. I hope my best years are in the future. If you are not looking forward to what is coming then what’s the point. I don’t want to believe that I “peaked” at some point years ago and didn’t realize it.
Personally I miss certain people and places from my past. It's nice to get together every now and again and talk about the old days. But then I want to talk about the present.
I prefer right here, right now. I'm glad the past is there to pull from but I have no interest in living there. It's certainly fascinating looking back and adapting it to my current work but that’s where it stops for me.
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