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People Watching

posted in: Writing Craft 2

Have you ever had that feeling like you’re being watched?

CP Bialois
CP Bialois

I know I have, and it’s usually someone I never met that just sits across the room from me and placidly stares. To be honest, this used to freak me out. I didn’t understand what they were doing and my thoughts ranged from “She/he must think I’m cute” and “Wonder if she/he figured out where to hide my body yet?”

Then I started writing this, well, this became somewhat normal. (This will sound tin foil hat-ish, but always be aware of your surroundings. Not everyone is innocent, just as not everyone is guilty. It’s better to be aware than not.)

We all people watch at some point. It doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing. We nearly always watch someone. If you doubt that, how many times in your life have you watched a mom deal with a crying infant or chatted with a friend about the strange looking person that took a booth in the restaurant you were eating in?

See what I mean?

Most of the time we do it subconsciously. At least, I do. A perfect example was a few years back when I was at a local library and the security guards were arresting an individual. I’m not going to go into detail, but the exchange was interesting and the guy looked like your everyday Joe Schmo.

It got me thinking about how we often appear one way while thinking or being the polar opposite. It also helped me with a horror story I was writing at the time, so it just goes to show you never know what event, little or big, will spark you.

By: mer chau

The best thing about people watching is you don’t have to go far. Many times, the perfect persona that’ll inspire you will be someone you know, and possible talk to often. I know I inspired a few characters in my wife’s stories (For that, I’d like to thank my mom and dad for exposing me to off the wall sayings. Lol), and most of my characters have bits a pieces from everyone I’ve met at some point. It helps to bring them alive and, let’s face it, not everyone wants to read a story filled with the same emotion of stereo instructions.

A different approach, but one I think is the same at its core, is the character archetypes. By that, I mean how each of us have a set number of personalities and habits we use when writing. While it can seem formulaic, it’s also a comfortable and familiar blanket we and our readers can wrap ourselves in.

I know I have a couple and, let’s face it, it’s hard coming up with different characters all the time and often enough a tweak is all that’s needed to refresh said character for a new story.

Think of it this way, if Uncle Bob from Story A was bald and liked to tug at his ear, we can take the same character and put him into Story B as Daddy Rob, a balding, man that prefers to chew cigars. To some, both habits may be considered negative traits and unless we’re looking for similarities, we’ll most likely gloss over it as long as he sounds different.

To me, that’s where paying attention to people really comes in handy. You can have a similar character in their description, but you may want a different style of speaking. Uncle Bob could have a New York accent while Uncle Rob may be from the South. Their characters will have different sayings given their environment, hence giving us two separate, yet similar, characters.

Something as simple as that can be done by watching TV, movies, reading books, or paying attention next time we go to the store.

I often say the best inspiration is all around us. All we have to do is pay attention. I know it sounds simple, but those tend to be some of the best answers, am I right?

How about you? Do you people watch or do you already have a set parameter for your characters? Do you tweak them to make them fresh? If so, how has that worked for you?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Until next time, remember to let your imagination fly. 🙂

2 Responses

  1. Dean Murphy
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    CP: My WIP antagonist/homicidal maniac is the average Jo [not ending with an e]. No one suspects her. The psychological motivation for murder is what sets her off. Your blog post got me to thinking. If we ever have drinks in a bar, I’ll draw your attention to something behind you, and then switch drinks. But since you now know this, I’ll just leave them, and you’ll switch them.☺

    • CP Bialois
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      Hi Dean! Sounds like a great story. I used the excuse, “It sounded cool” a few times. lol

      Inconcievable! 😀