Why do we do the things that we do? More importantly for writers, why do our characters do the things that they do? And how do those choices appear to others who are not privy to their thought processes?
We won’t even get into the political choices minefield. But life choices of all sorts can look really strange to friends, acquaintances, or strangers. You want to marry WHO? You took this job WHY? You’re moving WHERE? Is NOW really the right time for this? Yes, it needed to be done but is this HOW you really want to do it? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? A veritable journalistic list of questions.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Famous last words. What made it seem so?
Here is a bit more of that story from writing prompts:
Duck was a good neighbor, in her way. Clever Bunny did her best to understand her, but she thought that Duck had flown away from a soft deal on the farm. "Why nest out here? No burrow, no fence. Foxes!"
She wasn't sure her meaning was clear. Duck settled more firmly on her eggs. "Mine!"
Clever watched the farm fowl, searching for clues. They got grain in the evenings, grazed all day...the humans went around with a basket twice a day. Once the basket was full enough that Clever could see that it contained...eggs.
Oh.
Tonight’s challenge:
Have your characters made choices that look questionable to your other characters? Show some of their thought processes leading up to the choice, as well as the others’ reactions.