Are you scratching your head yet? Good. In a recent discuss with my fellow writing geeks, it was brought to my attention that I have a unique tell in my writing. If I submitted a story, so long as this was part of it, they would go, “Ah-ha! This is Jami’s piece.” Further ribbing discussion revealed I wasn’t the only one with this little habit. Oh no, we managed to pinpoint a unique fingerprint in each story. I have decided to name this phenomena, the Pink Elephant.
The Pink Elephant can be a person, place or thing, or even phrase. (Yes, I realize this is not a game of Charades). Mine can be traced back to my obsession with HGTV and the Property Brothers. You see, in every book, someone, somewhere owns a *drumroll please* Flat screen TV. Not some measly little thirty two inch either. Oh no, we go for the gusto. It’s always a “large” flat screen TV. Because being able to see the on screen action from any room is a must.
When this was first pointed out, I came back with, “No I don’t.” because my inner five year old just couldn’t believe it. Sure enough, it was proven time and time again. And because the competitive curious spirit moved me, I discovered my fellow word slinger tended to express his love of all things related to the big, shiny, red apple, in his stories by peppering i this and i that with flagrant abandon.
Hmmm, coincidence? Perhaps but let’s move on to our next contestant…why lookie here, her love of all things plush has created Pink Elephants of overstuffed couches. No room is complete without the luxury of being able to sink into a couch cushion. Her characters tooshies must be supported by many layers of fluffiness. Uh…
And our find contender, what was her Pink Elephant? It wasn’t hard to identify, not at all. Right before her heroine headed off to face down the big baddies of the world, she’d ensure to fuel up first with a nice homemade meal. Feeling a little discouraged you couldn’t fight off that soul sucking demon without losing a sidekick? Have a nice cupcake, it’ll make you feel better. Still hungry? There’s a nice hand tossed salad in the fridge, help yourself while I get rid of this pesky ghost.
Now that you, too, can identify Pink Elephants, what’s yours?