Since my last exchange on the forum was a little nastier than I would have preferred, I thought I'd offer up something that I hope will be a little more fun.
One of the things I love about writing is taking a character and mixing it up a bit. Here is an example of something off the cuff:
He sat there, his hat slightly askew on his head, a beer drinking cap if Brian ever saw one, tilted slightly and a little forward. The cap was red with a Budweiser patch on it but the eyes that peered at him beneath that cap were much more serious than drinking beer. Brian's guilt crept up his throat, like vomit threatening to spill and he couldn't help but wonder if dear old dad's intentions could become more ominous than fishing.
"She Said ya haven't been yerself lately, Brian," he said, letting his jaw sit low. "Said ya bought her flowers for the first time since ya married 'er."
The old man lifted his cap from the top of his head, looking up to the sun. Brian found himself unable to speak. It felt like he caught a fish and swallowed it whole.
"Hope them flowers mean somethin' other than what she thinks they mean, Brian. Hope I ain't got to protect my daughter from the man I convinced her to marry. Shi'it. That'd make it as much my fault as yers, Brian. That'd make it my responsibility to fix, ya see."
His father-in-law leaned back, croaking a belch from deep within his gut, but Brian was sure it was an act because when he leaned back, the butt of the old man's gun peeked out from beneath his coveralls.
When I am writing a character, this is what I'm hoping to accomplish (most of the time). I can't always pull it off something this interesting and not all characters should be like this, but I definitely like this old man.
