It is a truth universally known that a good-girl in possession of a Day Job must be the target of senseless bulling. No matter what stage of life or career there will always be a villain or two lurking in the shadows, plotting your destruction. Like this guy who haunted me during my turn at McD's:
Even if you have a cush DJ at a grocery store you never know when an evil panda might strike, like this:
Most of us don’t have to look far at any Day Job to find pricks, gangsters, and goons. Sometimes you only need to look in the mirror.
Whether your DJ villain is your boss, your know-it-all coworker, or yourself, conflict drives every plot forward. Heck, we wouldn't use conflict to propel our character arcs forward if it didn't ring true-to-life.
So get inspired by real life – even the frustratingly ugly parts. Take it on the chin and then get to work. Whether you slay the dragon in real life or on in your next novel is up to you. As writers, we can use our DJ villain as fodder for the next WIP. We get revenge with pen and paper. Use your DJ angst to fuel your writer-fire. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than professional therapy.
Have you ever based a Protag off of a real life villain? Have you ever used a work conflict in a WIP?
Need more on how our Day Jobs can make us better writers?
Check out this post about taking criticism.
Or this post on Stability and Creativity.
Or this post on Discipline - you gotta have it.
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