TIL a story about a missing dog at the county fair completely rewired how I come up with characters.

I overheard a man frantically describing his lost beagle, 'Biscuit,' to a cop, and the specific, odd details he gave-like a white paw that looked dipped in paint and a fear of balloons-made me scrap my whole 'mysterious stranger' draft and start building people from one vivid, true quirk instead.