Reality? Really?

Nobody could be that stupid, could they?

How often have you encountered a moment in a book or film that has provoked that response?  You look at the thing the character has just said or done and immediately condemn the author or screenwriter, and your willing suspension of disbelief takes a serious hit.

But why?  I don't know about you, but it is a rare day in my life that contains no such acts of stupidity - some of them are even perpetrated by my own well-intentioned self, and don't ask what my evil self gets up to - for that you will just have to buy the book (if it gets published).

But think about the seemingly unbelievable behaviour you have seen authors inflict on their characters and then think about the last time you walked through a busy town centre or mall, or along a highway, or even along the sort of relatively quiet streets that surround my home.  What about weddings, family get togethers, end of year parties in the workplace, or any gathering of humans large and noisy enough to allow an individual to feel anonymous?

Pay attention to your fellow human beings for even a few minutes - you will quickly fill a page or two in your notebook with misdeeds - foolish, stupid, and sometimes, downright malicious - that were committed out there in full view of the public.  Imagine what those people do when they think nobody is watching?  Perhaps they did think there were no witnesses?

Not enough?  Turn on the news and watch as people get themselves and others killed or maimed, as politicians say or do remarkably idiotic things, as police or security guards forget that they are operating under the unblinking gaze of public security cameras, and in the presence of a population that is armed with more data gathering and storage capacity than was dreamed of even a decade ago.

How often have you seen some wealthy and powerful individual facing the Press scrum on the courthouse steps and wondered "Why - he had everything anyone could want, why would he steal more/do that?"  More than one police officer has said to me "thank heavens so many criminals are stupid - it makes our job so much easier"

So don't condemn the author too quickly - chances are that the unbelievable bit of stupidity that one of their characters has just committed is identical with something the author has seen (or even done) in real life.  You only have to look at the annual Darwin Awards to get a sense of just how far human beings can go with something that "seemed like a good idea at the time"  If that isn't enough, there is the vast, on-line collection of videos by people, of themselves, or their nearest and dearest, pushing that "good idea" just that bit too far.

More often than not, my short stories include snippets of behaviour gleaned from that great jumbled warehouse I call Memory - much of it from an age in which, thankfully, smartphones and their miraculous recording abilities did not exist.  I have at times left out or toned down incidents that I felt might present as beyond credibility, and not just because I feared a libel action. Perhaps it was wisdom on my part, perhaps a lack of courage - but thinking about it makes me respect those writers who have been braver.

I am trying to write further into those crazier, darker aspects of human life, even if I have not yet felt able to reveal any of those pieces to critical eyes.  For what it's worth, though, I can recommend doing it, even if you tear the paper up, shred it, and feed it into a hot incinerator after writing - if it is there in your consciousness, it is asking to be written.  How can you say no?