One of the stories I'm writing at the moment is requiring a decent amount of research into specific cars, because I'm not much of that kind of car person. I am a good driver, and I enjoy driving, and I enjoy learning about mechanical subjects, but I have never had the opportunity to learn about the mechanics of cars outside of what I needed to know for my own good.
I did not previously know that 1967 is the first year of the Camaro, that one could have bucket or bench seats, that Sierra Fawn is one of the many (single) colors or that a two-tone code was possible with Nantucket Blue & Deepwater blue, and that the SS was later replaced with a much sportier LT range. I do cars, but in very specific ways, and not these ways. Also, I liked the Galaxie of that year better and lusted after it when I was about 14. I also had a deep and abiding love for the Karmann Ghia when I was about that age, and still do, which is a bit like saying you love MG's, which is a bit itself like saying "I like rust and a good view through the floor pan." Like I said, I do cars, I just don't do cars in that way.
The story that I'm writing is centered around a car person who doesn't see himself as a car person, and the person handling a thing for him is also a car person, which is why I have done so much research into a few specific vehicles. There's a 1973 Ford F-150 (truck), a 1967 Camaro (coupe), and a 1999 GMC P30 (step van). All three of those vehicles have names, in this story, and one of them is going on a road trip, another one is simply a trick of character-development, and the third one is going on an adventure, ostensibly without anyone.
I enjoy driving. I enjoy looking at pretty and interesting (and pretty interesting) vehicles. I lust after some specific old makes. I also know better than to own any of them, because I never got around to learning how to repair, restore, or otherwise work on anything like them, which is regrettable but not the worst thing. I enjoy driving because it gives me peace, and time to sort out my head, and something to do, and something to see, all wrapped up in one thing. I enjoy long drives, and would very much enjoy the kind of trip my main character is embarking on. There is freedom on the road.
Part of me worries, of course, that the story that I am writing is unoriginal. I think that the subplot and specific parts of the story that I have outlined help me to avoid the cliches, but there will always be some element of escapism and tropish qualities there. I'm certainly writing a story that I wish that I could undertake myself and would, were life not getting in the way.
I think that the important part is that the main character is not setting out to find himself. He made a choice to travel after a particularly crappy day, but the trip itself had been planned (more or less) for a while, and that day was just the last push he needed to make it work. He's not going to find himself. He's going to enjoy the drive and the stops along the way, and maybe allow a little perplexity into his life. Nothing more.
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