In a Coffee Shop, I've Met the Guy in Faded Jeans

I was waiting for a friend in a coffee shop when all of a sudden, a story got into my mind. As the first character started to appear, I hurried to get my pen and my small notebook which I always carry with me. On the page, I scribbled: “The Guy in Faded Jeans”.

I saw the guy vividly-- the naughtiness in his smile, the firmness in his built and the gentleness in his touch. I even saw how he effortlessly impresses young ladies with his confidence. He is simply fabulous. Even his clumsiness is found endearing. But there's something in him which I could not understand.

I carefully tried to feel how he feels. I’ve read before that “every feeling has its word, and everyone who has the feeling cannot seize the word.” I decided I must capture his feelings and words boldly.

Then when he said his very first line, I allowed him to possess me, even allowing other characters around him to live with me: their faces, their speech, their thoughts. I carefully wrote everything I learned about the guy in faded jeans and about the people around him. In three pages, I already had my set of characters. But I also knew then that I might meet other faces as soon as I begin to write the whole story. I smiled. I was so sure then that the three leaflets on my notebook had secret pages in it. I was so sure that when I get home, I‘d write a long story again which I could share in my class.

Thanks heaven, I was able to capture and to put into writing the guy in faded jeans before he left in my mind.

There is always this fear that I have. Often, when I meet characters like him, I get to forget the character in no time. The character just becomes a washed out memory, much like meeting a person in a bus or in parties—you get to eat, talk and laugh with the person but when you walk on your separate paths again, you can never be sure if he can still be remembered.

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