May Mania ~ Stretch #24

Addictions can trip up even the strongest of us. At first you're watching a baseball game every now and then, and before you know it, you're TiVoing every main sporting event known to man. Okay, maybe that's just me, but anyway...People can become obsessed with or addicted to almost anything, one particular person, video games, sex, books, food, cats, shopping, nasal spray—uh, it happens, hand raised but kicked the habit years ago. An unquenchable desire in a character can be the basis for a story or even a novel.

Write from the POV of someone who has an addiction or obsession. Will he/she continue chasing what is craved? What lengths will he/she go to to get it? Will others get hurt? Does you character care? Does your character want help or merely to keep from getting caught? Continue asking questions and pick your addict's mind.

Dig into some ugliness and begin asking questions and hounding your character for answers. Maybe you'll find a psycho killer on the rise or a church-going soccer mom hidden in the shadows of shame. Find illumination in an addiction.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.