Nine

All week I’ve been telling you things that you should watch to hone your creativity and keep those ideas flowing, and I thought I’d carry on the theme into one more thing you should be watching. It’s a thing every writer should be watching, because none of us ever perfect it. Some of us are better than others, but it’s always a work in progress, and it’s never as good as the real thing.

Watch People

See, humans are dynamic. No two of us are exactly the same, and that’s very difficult to convey on a page. It’s easy to get stuck writing the same people over and over again, because they’re the people we’re comfortable writing. But eventually, we have to step outside our comfort zone and into the reality zone, and remember that there are literally millions of different types of people out there, and we have all of them to choose from.

By watching people, of every age, gender, race, what have you, we hone our skills in creating them. We can’t create what we can’t see. So watch them. Watch what they do, and take notes on what they’re doing. 

If someone words something interestingly, write it down. 

If they have a weird gesture they make with their hand, write it down. 

Whatever you see that you think you might possibly be able to use, write it down. 

You never know when it might come in handy.

I’ve honestly been doing this my whole life. People are fascinating to me, and I just really enjoy watching them. It helps that I can read lips. And yes, that might seem like eavesdropping sometimes, but I’m really not paying attention to what they’re saying as much as I’m paying attention to how it’s being said. That’s the thing that interests me.

For me, I’m always looking for new ways to expand dialogue in writing. For you, it might be something else. Maybe you’re an artist and you’re looking for a new face, or a new angle at which to paint. Watch people. It’ll come to you.

It’s really the best piece of advice I can possibly give you, when it comes to things to watch. It’ll give you a plethora of ideas, and it’ll be highly entertaining. I can promise you that.

Happy weekend, everyone! I’m cutting this short so I can get mine started. ;-)

[love]

{Rani D.}