It’s the nature of a good storyteller/writer to be a good listener and watcher. I don’t mean in the sense of when someone is talking to you that you should focus on what they’re saying, maintain eye contact, become involved and interact on what is being discussed. That goes without saying. I’m talking about when you are not involved in a conversation and things are happening all around you, that is the time to pay attention.
Here’s an example:
You are at a restaurant, sitting at your table and your luncheon guest has stepped out to use the restroom or is otherwise engaged in a conversation with someone else on a topic that is not particularly relevant to you. This is the perfect time to open up your ears and attempt to listen to what is happening around you. Conversations that are happening at other tables, that are loud enough to say, “Everyone else in this place, feel free to listen to me!” It is through these conversations that you can glean a lot of information for you stories.
“We went to my mother-in-law’s for Thanksgiving and had to leave the dog in the kennel. What a bad decision that was. As soon as we brought the dog home she tore up the living room. Next time I’m bringing the dog with us, I don’t care what my mother-in-law says!”
“What does your husband say about that?”
“Oh, like I care! I’m only thinking of the dog.”
Something like this was overheard when dining at a local restaurant with my wife. It would be hard to make up such a good character like this. You can just imagine what it must be like in her home. It got even better when in the middle of the conversation, her cell phone rang and we only heard the one sided part of a conversation.
By the way, this is why when I’m out dining with others I try and speak at level that can only be heard by the person I’m sitting with, with their hearing aid turned all the way up. Lucky for me, my wife and son both have very soft-spoken voices. (With the exception when I’m not listening or disagree with them.)
Another example of observing that I enjoy doing is when I’m in traffic or at a stoplight; I like to check out (surreptitiously) my rear view mirror at the driver of the car stopped behind me. In this instance I get to see what is going on, without the benefit of sound so I can imagine what is being said or thought.
One woman I observed had decided that this was the time to floss her teeth with her fingers. She managed to pick every one of her teeth and smile into her rear-view mirror after every one to see if whatever she had eaten had been cleaned out. Picking the teeth was interesting enough, but the all teeth smile she kept throwing at the mirror was not a picture I think she would want in her family’s photo album. (If I only had my camera.)
Then there are the cell phone talkers. A lot of people when they talk on the phone use the hand not holding the phone to make gestures, as if the person was standing in front of them. Seen through a rear-view mirror is like watching a monkey locked in a cage, wailing away in an attempt to get out. It gets even more interesting when you have a hands free cell phone, so now you have the opportunity to gesture animatedly with both hands. Sometimes this even happens while these people are driving.
One of my favorites was a woman with an animated conversation in her car. Her arms are wildly moving all over the place as she talked and all I could see in the car, besides her was her dog sitting next to her. That was one of my favorites until just the other day when I was driving to a workshop and was caught up in traffic on the Long Island Expressway. As I looked to my right a small sports car drove slowly by in the right lane. As the traffic slowed down I noticed that the driver in that car had a cigarette in his mouth and was shaving, oblivious to all the cars around him. This went on for quite a while.
Being observant certainly adds a lot of fodder to developing characters for stories you might want to write or tell about. Keep that in mind as you sit in a public place or are in your car stopped somewhere. You never know, you may end up in someone’s next Pulitzer prize winning book or on their blog.
I would write more about this topic, but the guy in the car in front of me appears to be looking into his rear-view mirror too often for my liking, so I better keep my eyes on the road.
