If my Mistress wrote a plot in which a priest hijacked a plane, everyone would say that it wasn’t very likely to happen, but it has. Mind you. If she had written a story in which a Bolivian former prisoner and drug addict had become a priest in the first place it might have seemed to stretch the point of miracles. It all just goes to prove that truth is so often stranger than fiction.
Then of course there are social networking sites. What better way to develop a fake identity for yourself than to pick up another person’s past. My Mistress says it’s a useful way to develop a character. You can look at a photograph and be able to see the whole career information that went with a person who looked like that. Of course, you never reproduce the person just as they are, that would be foolish, but it’s certainly enough to set the imagination ticking. Some types of character are harder to invent than others. At the moment she is trying to work out how a child of 8 might interact with her other characters. He’s an only child and used to dealing with adults, but my Mistress is struggling to hear his voice. So if there are any 8 year old boys out there who want a character modelled on them, now is the time to speak up. Just to reassure you, you’d be one of the good guys in the book, although that may of course put some of you off. If it makes you feel better, you come from a broken home, live with your mum and see your dad every other weekend. He’s got a border collie called Tammy too and you really love her. It sounds like I’m asking you to apply for a job. If you think you could be that boy, then drop me an email, we want to know the sort of language you use.