Truth: Revision resembles a backyard filled with peanut butter slathered toddlers, wiggly puppies and hungry grizzly bears. While chaotic and confusing, there is a lot of good stuff happening, great even, but what’s bad is horrible and fixing it requires finesse, heavy-duty tranquilizers, Dawn dish soap (peanut butter is tough to get off) and vats of cheap liquor.

This week I’m tackling plot points, choosing more interesting actions to reflect my character’s personalities and push them toward certain actions. Some examples involve high-end stationary (did you know people pay $500 plus for 100 notecards – insane), hidden identities, and bad gifts. This last gives me much trouble. Normally a quick Google can solve most of my problems (like Dempsey & Carroll is one of THE places for exemplary card stock – now you know).

I need a gift idea that appears thoughtful and generous at first, but over time reveals my character’s flaws.

So, off to Google I trotted, efficiently typing “bad gifts from boyfriends,” and wow. Guys, I kind of feel sorry for you. It seems tacky to complain about gifts, but with ex-boyfriends, some leeway is needed. FYI – there are women who will never be happy with what they receive, regardless of the cost. Another helpful tip, no NOT buy flowers from the grocery store or candy – ever (you can buy me candy anytime – just saying).

I did agree with many commenters that self-help books, gym memberships, and exercise clothes shouldn’t appear under any Christmas tree unless specifically requested. That just sends the wrong message. And some clueless and/or uncaring fellows did their shopping at the dollar store, not the best source for romantic gifts.

But also what made a bad gift was one proving the guy didn’t pay attention, like the boyfriend who bought his girlfriend tickets to the Nutcracker even though she repeatedly mentioned how frightening nutcrackers were to her.

This all got me thinking about what makes a bad gift. Or more importantly, what makes a gift bad for my character? My character doesn’t know what she wants; let alone what she doesn’t want. I think she’d enjoy any gift under the “it’s the thought that counts” philosophy.  So this gift must also represent a betrayal of her trust in him.

So, dear reader, what are your bad gift experiences? Why did it fall in the bad gift category? Hit the comments while I dive back into my revisions. Now where is my tranquilizer gun?

Get more of me on Twitter @aereichert.  

Truth: Revision resembles a backyard filled with peanut butter slathered toddlers, wiggly puppies, and hungry grizzly bears. While chaotic and confusing, there is a lot of good stuff happening, great even, but what’s bad is horrible and fixing it requires finesse, heavy-duty tranquilizers, Dawn dish soap (peanut butter is tough to get off) and vats of cheap liquor.

This week I’m tackling plot points, choosing more interesting actions to reflect my character’s personalities and push them toward certain actions. Some examples involve high-end stationary (did you know people pay $500+ for 100 notecards – insane), hidden identities, and bad gifts. This last gives me much trouble. Normally a quick Google can solve most of my problems (like Dempsey & Carroll is one of THE places for exemplary card stock – now you know).

I need a gift idea that appears thoughtful and generous at first, but over time reveals my character’s flaws.

So, off to Google I trotted, efficiently typing “bad gifts from boyfriends,” and wow. Guys, I kind of feel sorry for you. It seems tacky to complain about gifts, but with ex-boyfriends, some leeway is needed. FYI – there are women who will never be happy with what they receive, regardless of the cost. Another helpful tip, no NOT buy flowers from the grocery store or candy – ever (you can buy me candy anytime – just saying).

I did agree with many commenters that self-help books, gym memberships, and exercise clothes shouldn’t appear under any Christmas tree unless specifically requested. That just sends the wrong message. And some clueless and/or uncaring fellows did their shopping at the dollar store, not the best source for romantic gifts.

But also what made a bad gift was one proving the guy didn’t pay attention, like the boyfriend who bought his girlfriend tickets to the Nutcracker even though she repeatedly mentioned how frightening nutcrackers were to her.

This all got me thinking about what makes a bad gift. Or more importantly, what makes a gift bad for my character? My character doesn’t know what she wants; let alone what she doesn’t want. I think she’d enjoy any gift under the “it’s the thought that counts” philosophy.  So this gift must also represent a betrayal of her trust in him.

So, dear reader, what are your bad gift experiences? Why did it fall in the bad gift category? Hit the comments while I dive back into my revisions. Now where is my tranquilizer gun?

Get more of me on Twitter @aereichert.