Voice

I had this crazy dream the other night.

My husband and I were skydiving, tandem style. I was strapped to his front and we were sailing along through the sky like birds, the wind screaming past us. Then it was time to pull the cord to let loose the parachute. Daniel reached back and yanked it and I saw the long cords string out above us, with a mess of white fabric at the end, but the parachute didn’t open.

I didn’t feel panic. I thought, it just needs a second or two, it’ll be fine, but then it came loose from us all together and sailed off toward the horizon. Looking down at the earth coming closer and closer I realized, again without panic, that we were about to die.

I reached back to run my hand through his hair and pull him close so he could hear me. “We’ve had an amazing life together,” I said. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Really?” he said, “because it would have been nice if the parachute had opened.”

Then, as we hit the ground, I woke up.

The funny thing about this dream, is that, if you know my guy, that’s exactly what he would have said. To bring it back to my writing (because this is a blog about writing, not dreams – no matter how entertaining I may find them), voice really is such a particular thing, and if you don’t really know your characters you might miss that perfect line.

It makes me think of that scene at the end of Star Wars V where Han is about to be frozen in carbonite and Leah says “I love you!” Apparently there was some debate about what Han would say at that moment. What did they finally land on? In case you live in a cave and never saw it – he says “I know.” It really was the only thing that character could say. Could you imagine him breaking into tears and crying “I love you, too!” Never.