People watching
I was back in my favourite cafe yesterday after their Christmas break. And as I sipped my cappuccino and reviewed yesterday's writing I realised what a great place it is for people watching.
There's the grieving widow struggling to cope on her own after 52 years of marriage, and the group of women fresh from their slimming club weigh-in ordering their toasted tea cakes. Then there are the couples who sit opposite each other sipping their coffee and don't say a word to each other. There are the noisy young women with unruly brats and gestures borrowed from some girlie TV programme. And that's not counting some of the strange types we get in the tourist season.
There are so many stories to be had from observing people around us. Why is that woman wearing that cheap and ugly false diamond necklace? Who gave it to her? Why was she willing to settle for second best and not the real thing? Will my grieving widow find a new life doing something she loves but had given up for her husband? And what about those silent couples? Will one of them eventually leave the relationship and start a new life?
People watching does what creativity teacher Julia Cameron calls 'filling the well', it loads our creative subconscious with images and ideas that we can pull out, mix and match at will, and provide inspiration for our characters. But observe your subject subtly, or they'll feel like suspects in a crime novel. Try it next time you're in a cafe, on the bus or train. Try really looking at the people around you and letting their interesting parts fill your character well.
There's the grieving widow struggling to cope on her own after 52 years of marriage, and the group of women fresh from their slimming club weigh-in ordering their toasted tea cakes. Then there are the couples who sit opposite each other sipping their coffee and don't say a word to each other. There are the noisy young women with unruly brats and gestures borrowed from some girlie TV programme. And that's not counting some of the strange types we get in the tourist season.
There are so many stories to be had from observing people around us. Why is that woman wearing that cheap and ugly false diamond necklace? Who gave it to her? Why was she willing to settle for second best and not the real thing? Will my grieving widow find a new life doing something she loves but had given up for her husband? And what about those silent couples? Will one of them eventually leave the relationship and start a new life?
People watching does what creativity teacher Julia Cameron calls 'filling the well', it loads our creative subconscious with images and ideas that we can pull out, mix and match at will, and provide inspiration for our characters. But observe your subject subtly, or they'll feel like suspects in a crime novel. Try it next time you're in a cafe, on the bus or train. Try really looking at the people around you and letting their interesting parts fill your character well.
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