Alternate World

I really love being an author. It gives me control over this "Alternate World" that I've created. In real life, I don't feel that I have too much control over things. We all do, to a certain point, but there are some circumstances that are out of our control.

But in my books, I get to pick the location and characters. I get to put the right friends into the life of my main character. I get to choose the quirks my character has, and I can give her or him minor or major flaws. I really love curly hair. (Just putting that out there!) So, my characters will often have curly hair. Usually only special ones. I would never waste dark curly locks of sexiness on a serial killer or a loser of any kind.

So, in a story I am currently working on, I have a secondary character (Ash) with obsessive compulsive disorder, and it really helps define her personality. As the writer of this story, I chose to give her OCD. With that being said, I also have the control to take it away or decide not to give it to her at all. Wow. It's almost too much responsibility. Until I stop and think about how I'm not REALLY messing with anyone's life, they're MY fictional characters.

In real life, I can't create a new character for my life. I can't choose my flaws or some physical attributes. We can't even control our locations until we're of a certain age and have the financial ability to do so.

My alternate world is made of magic, and when I don't feel like I have much control over my physical world, there's always my world sculpted of words waiting for me to dive back into.