Wednesday’s Writing Wisdom!
I feel quite the kinship with this quote of Susan Sontag. I’ve always been called the watcher by my family, the one who seems to have this eerie ability to “see” and know all.
There were times I found it a curse. It can be hard being naturally attentive to detail and the subtleties of human nature. In most of my relationships I have proven the adage “I know you better then you know yourself” true. It’s not something I flaunt or revel in like a wayward super villian, it’s just another aspect of who I am as a person and as a creator.
The truth is I just find people fascinating! It helps that I am curious and inquisitive by nature, I love to learn by experiencing and have found that the more you watch, pay attention and flow allowing authentic natures to act and react of their own accord the more you become intune to the many varying perspectives of people in the world.
The more you begin to hear what people mean beyond the words they simply speak, the more you discover the individual beyond the situation or circumstance that they belong to. You become more aware of how nuance is layered in so many of life’s interactions and the varying degrees and levels in which it takes the form.
This is how you create three dimensional dialogue and characters. This is how you layer your story with allegoric interpretations that it might take one or more viewing, reading, absorption to decipher. This is what adds depth to your work making it something more then just a one time good time, by making it an adventure where there are more discoveries to be made upon subsequent devouring.
Think of the word narrative then think of the word statement, one suggests intimacy, warmth, person, whereas the other gives off the opposite. Statement is a mere telling, somewhat cold and disengaged. It doesn’t pull you into its confidence, it keeps you at controlled arms length.
Now think of this in terms of storytelling. I believe that we all strive for narratives feeling and that always begins with perspective based in the diversity of life. In the knowledge one gets from perceiving, observing and learning from the real world around them.
Originally published at writerdielife.wordpress.com on May 16, 2018.
