October Novel Prep Challenge

Normality to you is "get up, brush your teeth..." etc. But you're equating normality with the boring parts of your life, and I promise, not all of your normal life is boring.

I could tell you what my "normal life" (my "ordinary world" or "status') looks like without boring you. I run a music school business. I teach music to children and adults. Every day, I encounter routine, normal, but interesting things that happen. My kids say funny things that crack me up. My students make giant breakthroughs that fill me with joy. My employees do things that amaze me, and things that irritate me. My dogs make me let them in; let them out; let them in; let them out; and shove my Chromebook off my lap with their noses to make room for their little Yorkie bodies because they're divas like that. Before I tell you about the time my Yorkies and I were sucked through a portal into another dimension and acquired powers to battle crime; or met a handsome man in the dog park who turned out to be the future husband who broke my heart; or landed a record deal that ended up going sour; or survived an earthquake / hurricane / terrorist attack, I'm going to tell you what day-to-day looks like. But just because that's not the meat of my story, just because it's the introduction to the everyday me, doesn't mean it has to be as boring as "I get up every day and brush my teeth," and I can still show it through action and dialog.

I'm sure Harry Potter brushed his teeth in the mornings. But we don't care about that. We care about the mean way his aunt and uncle treated him; the way his cousin bullied him; how nosy his aunt was; how clueless his uncle was; and the fact that he lived in a cupboard under the stairs. That's his normal, day-to-day life, and it's not boring to read.

Who's your character? What is their life like, their everyday life, before The Plot happens? How can you show that in the most interesting way?

Cheers,
Michelle