Wouldn't that person avoid stepping on cracks, walking under ladders, and crossing the paths of black cats? Does this person have a mental disorder (think Monk)? Has this person been raised to believe in superstitions? Does he or she behave any differently than if this were a mental disorder?
What if a family lives in a large house and turns on every light, inside and out, at twilight? Is the house actually a pretentious monstrosity or is someone who lives there deathly afraid of the dark? Does the family want to make sure that everyone sees who they are and what they possess or does one of the people who lives there sleep by night-light and have a flashlight tucked under their pillow?
What if someone believed the fortunes they received in their fortune cookies actually came true? Would he or she eat Chinese for lunch and dinner seven days a week? Or would they go once of month, to make their fortune especially fortuitous?
What would you do in situations like the ones above? What do you believe about superstition? What motives that belief, and how does that belief and motivation affect your actions and your behavior?
As a writer, my primary questions are: 1) What if? and 2) What would my CHARACTERS do?
It's Friday the 13th. I'm off to play "what if" with my characters. I wonder, are they superstitious much?
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