It’s true, and we all know it.

Some fiction writers are good. Very, very good.

Some fiction writers are bad – painfully so.

But almost ALL fiction writers are strange.

We HAVE to be. It comes along with the territory of living in an imaginary world. We have one foot in reality (or maybe only a big toe), and the other foot somewhere else. Where? Well that all depends on the writer.

I’ve been a dozen places in one hour and never left my seat.

Do any of you get distracted by a beautiful scene, or scent, or maybe a quirky person sitting on the front row of a presentation, hat askew, and murmuring to herself?

I’m a photo buff. LOVE TO TAKE pictures. But lots of times I take them because they start creating story-pieces in my head. (some I take of my cute family 😉

How many of you talk to yourselves? Or even MORE interesting, talk to you characters?

Anyone else get lost in a song because it makes your novel play in your head like a movie when you hear it?

Or spend years in a bookstore because you’re determined that some, overlooked treasure is hidden somewhere on the shelves – and most likely it will lead to the best historical climax in your novel.

Anyone else replay scenes of movies over and over again for research?

Or flip through websites looking for unusual facts like – what are some prints for feedsack dresses? The type of shoes worn in 1914? How to cook chicken over an open fire? Or what about the existence of 12^th century subterranean passageways? The flowers in bloom in Derbyshire in spring. What the Separatists ate on the Mayflower?

Seriously – the list goes on. And gets weirder.

But it’s fascinating. Mesmerizing.

Tomorrow is the Celtic Festival in our town. I’m just as excited as my 12 year old (who wants to be a professor of Celtic, Norse, Greek, and Roman Mythology someday). I can’t wait. It’s going to be hard to get a lot of research done while herding 5 kids – but Oh. My. Goodness – I’m giddy with the thought of it. How will it impact my stories? What new ideas will it inspire?

So- are you strange?

It’s okay to admit it. It’s the first step to acceptance. J

Got any cool examples?