Practice Your Powers of Observation—A Writing Skill You Can Hone Anytime

Less than five days left in the year. What are you beating yourself up about today?

The end of year holidays are often filled with contradiction. Time to spend with our loved ones—stress and pressure from endless social obligations. A time to thoughtfully consider the year, and be grateful for what was in it—a to-do list that leaves us cursing our lack of time at all. A vacation from one set of obligations (if we’re lucky)—a different kind of mental-emotional work.

The opportunity to work on our book project…if we weren’t trying to catch up on our sleep.

And yet, there is work you can do for your book at this time of year, and it requires less time and effort that you might think…with bigger payoffs than currently seem plausible. In fact, this might be the best time of year to do it.

You can practice your powers of observation.

The Devil (and the reader’s interest) is in the details

I’ve flogged my recommendations for specificity in detail here before. The detail is what sells the story. For example:

On a recent flight, we struck terrible turbulence in the last thirty-five minutes before landing. While I checked the seat pocket in front of me for a puke bag, the woman next to me spent the rest of the trip with one arm propped up, leaning forward, her other hand clutching her face. Her boyfriend rubbed her back, murmuring reassuringly in her ear, while I scooted my feet as close to my own body as I could.

You’ll do more with one well-placed detail than a heap of generalities.

Where do you find all these wonderful details? Why, in the world around you, of course, just as I did on my flight. All you need to do is tune in.

The 5 senses are the way to go

You don’t have to go anywhere, take any notes (though after a while, you might want to), think any deep thoughts. I want you to consider the input from your five senses: sight, sound, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. Think of this as mindfulness for writing. Instead of focusing on your breathing (though you can do that too; think of what wonderful details you can provide for someone with a cold, for example), consider the world beyond your skin.

You can do this anywhere: while waiting for your flight, while making polite compliments about your acquaintance’s appetizers, while walking the dog, while cursing the lowness of your attic ceiling. Whether you’re stuck in traffic, in line, or with a chorus of screaming children (or other relatives), the power of observation running along your five senses is your friend.

Eavesdropping on random conversation while you’re waiting in line to return an ill-advised gift can be entertaining, as well as instructive.

Tune in.

Reading can give you material, too

Perhaps you’d like to spend your end of year time curled up with a good book. These can be excellent sources of concrete examples—specificity in action! Or newspapers, television, you name it. How does someone else tell a story? What do they do that makes it work (or not)? What do they do you’d rather avoid?

Take mental notes.

I’m forever observing how other writers handle dialogue, a skill that doesn’t come naturally to me. What details do you find tricky?

When you read (or listen) this way, you are putting in valuable time on your own book. Even if it seems to you that you’re just enjoying yourself.

The bottom line

Observation doesn’t require a lot of time or effort—just the conscious choice to pay attention. You don’t need to dedicate a non-interruptible stretch of time. You can pick up clues to help your own writing in all sorts of interstitial moments. Who knows; maybe the stress and the hectic interludes will provide you with just the material you need to make your own work sizzle and pop.

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Observation can go both ways–want someone objective to take a look at your manuscript? A manuscript evaluation could give you just the information you need.

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