[In this series, Creative Blog Profiles, joshpcreative.com takes a peek at what other creative bloggers are producing and profile them here. They don’t necessarily know it’s happening (although we do the pingback/trackback where we can), so we’re prepared to remove an entry if they get mad. Hopefully they won’t. We just want to find creative stuff to tell you about.]
I was perusing the “writing” tag at wordpress.com today, and was lucky enough to find an entry by L.E. Delano at http://ledelano.com/ called, “They Always Say ‘Write What You Know'” that was fresh off the press. It was a post that reminded me of some advice my mom gave me when I first started writing. See, I was wringing my hands wondering if I had anything new to say, and she said, “Josh, just write what you know. Write about your experiences.”
And I did.
And I still do. And I’ve found that those experiences include people. People that find their way, in fragments, into my work.
See, L.E. Delano tells a touching story about her family. Delano has a son on the Autism spectrum, and she has a daughter that she says, “struggles with the balance of an often embarrassing brother that she loves and protects fiercely.” This is such a stark and real tension, and it has become the subject of one of Delano’s upcoming books.
Delano wrote not just about what she knows, but WHO. And that gives others a chance to take a peek inside the world of people–a peek that can provoke strong feeling through familiar intimacy. If authors tell us about the folks they know, in a real and heartfelt way, then the reader gets a chance to make the same acquaintaince, even if they don’t know the characters personally.
Today, while you’re out there in the world interacting, think about this: don’t look at people for what they are, but for who they are. Try an exercise. Walk down the street, through a mall, or into a restaurant, and try to look upon each person with absolutely no judgment. Do not think about the money they make, the clothes they wear, or the cigarettes they smoke. Simple gaze, witness, and move on.
Sound easy?
It’s not.
If you’re a writer, try the same thing with your characters. Develop them, write them, and then…well…sympathize with them. Without judgment.
Really try to get to know people for who they are. After all, the best way to find out about someone is to get to know their true story. If they sense judgment on your part, you’ll get nothing but judgment, and silence, in return.
Ponder that today as you think about not only who you know, but who you’ll meet or write.