You see, but you do not observe. Arthur Conan Doyle "A Scandal in Bohemia"(1891) Do you truly observe and perhaps register it as being significant or do you, as I do many times, merely see and take no notice? The following are suggestions for anyone, but especially writers who like to bring their characters to life on the page. Take a notebook & pen (or laptop) to a public place & people-watch, only don’t be too obvious or you could get arrested. A mall is an easy place to find a comfortable, out of the way place to write. Or if you have time on your hands in an airport—waiting for your next flight—put that time to good use. Observe & make notes on choice of clothing, hairstyles, jewelry, tattoos, and don’t forget the shoes. You can tell a lot about a person by their shoes. Mine may be scuffed and run-down at the heel—I have noticed from old photos that my shoes have been this way since childhood—while my husband’s shine like he just left a professional shoeshine stand. By the way, ladies, do you notice the shoes on either side of you when you visit a restroom or am I the crazy one? And then there was a visiting minister at our church whose loafers looked older than he was, but man could he preach. We overlooked his shoddy shoes and his Hawaiian shirt because he was truly a man of God. So first impressions are not always reliable. Notice how people walk. Does a young man swagger down the mall? Does an elderly woman walk with a limp? What about gestures? Is a teenaged boy always flipping his hair out of his eyes? Look for attitude. It may be evident in a scowl, a frown, or stiff shoulders. If the mall is not your cup of tea, visit any café or coffee shop. What about a Waffle House? I think it is like a crossroads of America. My husband, the particular one, loves to stop there. We don’t very often because I think everything smells and tastes like grease. Once, an older woman dressed in a long fur coat with teased blond hair and tons of jewelry sat on a Waffle House bar stool next to a tiny, young woman dressed like a lumberjack, and a very dirty one at that. She drove an eighteen-wheeler and had gotten her rig stuck in a muddy turn-around near the restaurant. A wrecker was coming, but it could be awhile. So the two women talked and talked and shared family photos and talked some more. This is plain fun, folks. Enjoy! Future Blog: Dialogue. Learning to listen.
1 Comment
8/3/2014 10:33:34 pm
I love to watch people and wonder about their life story.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
This page is dedicated to my inspirations and those who have enriched my life along the way.
Archives
August 2016
|