As a writer I am privilaged to be able to share my alternate world with my daughter. When I speak of word counts, characters, or made up places she understands and can discuss them with me the way most people can talk about family relationships and doing laundry. She simply understands.
It is a language she knows without me having to explain what I mean when I say I have to use that in a manuscript. Or he would make a great outlaw. Or how can I rework that to make it fit my work in progress.
She knows.
But what happens when you're faced with someone that doesn't? I've gotten many a questioning look from my mother and sisters, a few from other relatives and friends but tonight I discovered what it was like to talk about writing and a particular manuscript with someone that isn't a reader and had no idea what we were talking about.
It started when this person made a statement that made my daughter think of a character in one of my manuscripts. I knew what my daughter was thinking by the look on her face. This character is one that is weird and creepy while being funny and unforgettable at the same time. And a few words was all it took to make my daughter think of this character.
As we explained the character to this person, gave a brief summary of the plot, told the story of the main characters we got a chance to see how our world looks to someone that doesn't enjoy books the way we do.
In the end my daughter read her favorite scene aloud, commenting from time to time about this character that holds no real significance in the manuscript but it one of those people that give the story life.
And I was given a look into the world of people that does not share my love of books.
It was an eye opening experience.
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