More People Watching
Janet Evanovich people watches and stores what she
sees and hears to help her create characters. Last week,
I first reported what I had discovered from my own
people watching. This week, I continued to people
watch, but took it a step further by trying to interpret
what I was seeing. Body language plays a huge role in
showing how we feel. Of course, our interpretations are
open to misinterpretation, but as fiction writers it doesn't
matter because we are creating characters from what
we see, not reporting facts.
This morning I watched a couple in church with their
special needs child. The girl was about three-years-old
and a handful. She was always in motion; always
climbing, crawling, talking. Her emotions appeared to
be up one moment and down the next. One minute she
was smiling and happy. The next she was crying in
her father's arms.
The parents looked tired. They tried to manage her and
and listen to the sermon at the same time.
I got the impression that they were used to her acting
up in public and didn't appear anxious or embarrassed
about what the other parishioners might think.
They did try to quiet her, but
weren't overly anxious about it.
I could imagine writing a story with parents like these.
They could be the hero or heroine, or perhaps the heroine
is a relative who steps in to give this tired couple a break.
People watching is indeed a great way to begin
developing characters.
I hope you give it a try.
Until next week,
Happy Writing!
Tina LaVon
Janet Evanovich people watches and stores what she
sees and hears to help her create characters. Last week,
I first reported what I had discovered from my own
people watching. This week, I continued to people
watch, but took it a step further by trying to interpret
what I was seeing. Body language plays a huge role in
showing how we feel. Of course, our interpretations are
open to misinterpretation, but as fiction writers it doesn't
matter because we are creating characters from what
we see, not reporting facts.
This morning I watched a couple in church with their
special needs child. The girl was about three-years-old
and a handful. She was always in motion; always
climbing, crawling, talking. Her emotions appeared to
be up one moment and down the next. One minute she
was smiling and happy. The next she was crying in
her father's arms.
The parents looked tired. They tried to manage her and
and listen to the sermon at the same time.
I got the impression that they were used to her acting
up in public and didn't appear anxious or embarrassed
about what the other parishioners might think.
They did try to quiet her, but
weren't overly anxious about it.
I could imagine writing a story with parents like these.
They could be the hero or heroine, or perhaps the heroine
is a relative who steps in to give this tired couple a break.
People watching is indeed a great way to begin
developing characters.
I hope you give it a try.
Until next week,
Happy Writing!
Tina LaVon
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