Writing 101 -- Writers Observe

There's a saying out in writer land that Writer's Write. It's what we do.

I'll agree with this . . . up to a point.

But before writers write, we observe. Some people would call it daydreaming, but we call it world building or plotting.

We people watch. We watch interactions between our friends, with our family members, or simply sit on a bench at the mall and watch the world walk by.

Do you think all those writers who are at Starbucks are actually writing? Well, they are, but they are also sipping their beverage of choice and look around at the people coming and going.

And then they proceed to make up stories and back stories about those characters.

Writers study human nature. The ability of an action inspiring a reaction depending on the personalities of the involved parties. We can psychoanalyzing various personality types, but we don't have to write a paper or explain to other family members how to deal with it.

We just lie about it on paper.

It's called fiction.

So many people will ask writers where they get their ideas. It's not hard to figure out, all you have to do is look around and observe--just be sure to change the names . . . 


If you want to be a writer start your journey simply by observing. Yes, you will eventually have to learn to put your world onto paper, but you will be learning a lot about human nature, motivation and characterization.

Later, Peeps!

Cliff Swallows

A few months ago I commented on the barn swallows, well, I misidentified them (verified in a Field Guide for birds East of the Rockies). They are actually CLIFF SWALLOWS.

Pardon my mistake, but those silly birds must not have gotten the memo that there are NO CLIFFS to be had over most of Tulsa, OK. I still love watching these birds swooping and diving from their mud houses at the top of expressway pylons, skimming through the air to catch a variety of insect.

I've taken a few pictures on my walkies. The quality isn't that good due to 1) it being my phone camera, 2) I managed to gwark up my camera lens by sweating on it!

The evolution of a cliff swallow nest:  

And there you have it. The happy families.

Later, Peeps!