Writing my tenth book is making me miss Hawaii like crazy. I based the book on Kauai where hubs and I spent almost three weeks in January. Knowing I planned to write this story and desired to make it as authentic as possible, I took loads of reference notes and pictures while basking in paradise. Cool mornings, warm beach visits, exotic fruit, and the cleanest air I've ever inhaled.
Even this glorious picture of Kauai's southeastern coast can't project all of Hawaii's sensory delights.
I enjoy living north of Atlanta, but I still dream of living in Hawaii someday. At home, when I inhale during my morning walks, the air often holds an undercurrent of oil and lawn chemicals. The birds sing overhead, but they aren't as loud. No ocean breeze cools my skin. Fruit trees are few in number.
But it's home. My neighborhood and the nearby park are my safe places. I can walk or jog at any hour, day or night, and I don't feel threatened. When I'm out in nature, even when it's horribly humid and hot, I feel closer to God. Like everything is turning out the way it should despite the lack of progress I may feel. I often pray or sing to myself on my early morning walks so I don't feel alone.
But these rituals got me thinking how important it is for a protagonist to have their own "safe place(s)." If they don't, one of their major goals is probably finding or reaching it. Think of plotlines like:
leaving a toxic relationship where the home is always chaotic
fleeing to a relative's to escape tension
working to quit a job with a terrible boss
escaping a literal warzone where people are being hunted
Safety is important for us all. When people feel safe, they are more likely to thrive in their environment and succeed in life. If a child is afraid, they are less likely to try something new without encouragement from those around them. If a parent is afraid in front of a child, the child learns to fear whatever the parents fears. People who suffer from fear in silence are less likely to seek deep relationships, especially if their fear is related to past painful relationships.
We all experience fear differently. As an introvert, I can't stand being the center of attention. If I'm hurt or upset, my first instinct is to hide away so no one sees and asks me about it—to flee to my "safe place." This stems from having people in my life who stifled, made fun of, or refuted my emotions while I grew up. Because it wasn't "safe" for me to express fear or sadness at home, I learned to suppress or retreat.
Even now, I sometimes struggle to burden others with my issues.
But having gone through that, I have tons of material to pour into my characters. I'm nearing the end of my first draft, about to really bump up against my protagonist's fears. In order to dig deeper, I wanted to pause and reflect.
Is the protagonist's fear deep enough to drive them into a corner? A bad decision?
Can I pump more emotion into their motivation?
Can I build them up higher, making them think they've succeeded until they find their new direction isn't what they want?
Does my character's "safe place" stay the same?
Over time, my childhood safe places shifted. My family moved about a dozen times between age seven and sixteen. My safe places have been a tree's branches, my grandmother's dirt crawlspace, creek beds, video game worlds, a boulder that resembled Pride Rock, and my locked bedroom.
Safe places don't have to be a stationary location.
I recently joked with my extroverted husband about boundaries. While he's driving, he'll sometimes slow down and yell a greeting out the window (even if he's yelling across me in the passenger seat) at a neighbor. I told him my car is a safe place, that I'm not obligated to say hello to anyone while driving. Sure, I'll wave, but nothing verbal. This made him laugh like crazy, but I stick to this rule!
To me, that's a safe boundary. Not "safe" as in the neighbors are dangerous, but safe as in there's no pressure on me to make dreaded small talk. To my husband, there's nothing wrong with small talk. He'll often say, "Yeah, I know that neighbor," about someone he's made one passing comment to. They're still strangers to me unless we chat about something meaningful or memorable.
But these behaviors have heavy past roots. Hubby loved being the center of attention and being surrounded by many friends. I preferred a few, close people so I didn't have to guess what they were thinking or if they liked me.
For characters, it's the same. They should all have certain (non-threatening) scenarios that make them timid as well as places they can fully relax. The more unique they are, the better. Identifying those "places" and describing what they mean to that character could add another layer of depth that takes them from passable to super unique.
And no matter how wild a character's "safe place" or how threatening an innocent scenario may feel to them, someone out there will be able to relate 100%.
Keep on smilin'!
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