Writing Prompts

I am a little bummed right now as I had thought of a great writing prompt this morning when I was in that wake-up sleep and because I wasn't smart enough to write it down, I can't remember what it was. I am just hoping it comes back to me - I am sure it is sitting up there in my Write-brain somewhere.

I do have another one that I have been playing with though. A few months ago I think I noted that I had a friend who had really lied to me. Well it was a whole mess and I can't believe how it affected other aspects and relationships in my life. This was a work friend from about 5 years ago - I thought we had a really good friendship and for about the last 3 years had written each other 3-5 times a week, sometimes just checking in - other times challenging each other or asking for assistance. Long story short, he had been claiming to be single the last 2 years which was weird because he was the kind of guy who was never without a girlfriend - he doesn't do well being on his own. I started questioning when he was going to get back out in the field, he claimed he was - he just didn't talk about all of his dates.

Well about 10 days after Mother's Day he says he has decided to disclose something to me - and informs me that he had been married for the previous 18 months and the week prior had just celebrated the birth of his first child - his marriage had also provided him with 2 step-sons - the youngest of which he was in the process of adopting. Weird, huh? Who lies like that. When I looked back at some old emails - it didn't make sense - this guy went out of his way to lie and make sure that nothing every was revealed. It also made no sense to me, why the double life. Now the therapist and psychiatrists I work with (who also knew him) believe that he is also gay and I was a safe person to stay in contact with in case he ever chose to come out. And once the baby had come, he realized he had made his choice and needed to cut off this odd portion of his life.

For me it has made me hesitant to start new friendship, question bonds with other friendships - old and new and affected the security I had in being a fairly good judge of character.

Now the writing prompt - have you ever told a big lie or had one told to you. Have you incorporated it into your story. I often think that reality doesn't tranfer well on to the paper - how do you make that lie believable, interesting and keep the victim appearing overly gullible?