Authentic Schmootz

As a New Yorker, I have my Yiddish expressions. I'm not Jewish, but the fact is you can't grow up near Manhattan without picking up some Yiddish, some Spanglish. And my favorite word is schmootz. As in (as a mother), "Come here, Demon Baby, let me get that little bit of schmootz off your face." Then, like a true mom, I use a little spit to wipe away the chocolate or whatever it is that is on his cheek or chin. Come on, all moms do this (maybe without the Yiddish). Now they even have THIS. (You MUST check this link out.) What an inspired bit of genius for THAT product.

Now here's the thing, there are some details so spot-on that without them, frankly, I don't buy a character. Maybe the mom in your work in progress doesn't wipe away schmootz, but there are some things about moms that are universal. And I don't mean mothers. See . . . anyone can be a mother. It takes a special kind of woman to be a mom.

As a student of life, I look for the authentic details to get "just right" about my characters. Until wine became trendy in the last 10-15 years, with people actually--besides the very upper class--becoming interested in tastings and so on, no self-respecting man ordered wine in a bar. As a former bartender, I know. They ordered beer. NOT that some didn't, but if you wanted, in a character, say a cop, to have made him a bit different--give him a nice pinot. Because that was uncommon. And white wine was a chick drink. And I can tell you, still, only a woman will order the abomination that is a white zinfandel (sorry to anyone who likes the stuff, but it's not real wine).

As writers, we notice the details without even noticing that we're noticing (at least that's what I think . . . I don't even realize how much I notice about scenes and people until I go to write later, and I don't take notes). In THE ROOFER, when Ava sticks her finger into the nicotine glaze on the walls of the bar, that was real. I know. I did the same thing.

Only a mom will use her sleeve in a pinch to wipe a runny nose and not think about it. Only someone who hates to lie will come up with something complicated when telling a lie. Lying makes them nervous. They embellish so it sounds better. Liars--habitual liars--know the simplest lie is best.

Anyway, you get the idea. So what's one authentic bit of schmootz or detail from your work in progress? And how many of you are rushing to buy that product I linked to? Come on. You know you want to.