Viewing the World Differently

Picture it - Labor Day, I'm watching a repeat of The View, and they're talking about comedians. At one point, Whoopi says I think, we as comedians, have a different way of viewing the world!

Her words almost slapped me upside the head. They rang so very true for me and, of course, started the brain cells synapsing.

My Question: Do we, as writers, view the world differently?

My response: YES! YES! YES!

The world around me - work, life, going to the grocery, the bar, the wherever - provides endless sources of inspiration. An email from a friend, a simple comment, and so much more equal inspiration.

Last year, sometime in the autumn, the trees displaying their absolute brilliant fall colors - reds, gold, yellows - and I'm walking the dog early one very chilly morning. I approach the maple trees near the front of our subdivision and see the leaves falling like ethereal pieces of gold. As I get closer to the trees I hear a popping sound - pop, pop, pop - as the leaves disengage from the tree and float down to the dew soaked ground. Yes - pop, pop, pop! The sound was audible in the crisp quietness of the morning. I stood there for the longest time listening and watching, absorbed in this transitional moment of the stately maple tree. I mean, who knew leaves made a popping noise. I certainly didn't.

This one moment in time, viewed with a writer's eyes, became a moment in time for a character in one of my manuscripts.

At some point in my life, at the bar with friends, enter the dance bar, and there's a man, somewhat overweight, on the dance floor. The fog is spilling onto the floor and this man is dancing . . . all by himself. He's the only one on the dance floor. He's living his life, and not just existing. He had way more courage than I would ever have. You're not going to catch me being the only one on the dance floor. Heck, without copious amounts of alcohol, you're not going to get me on the dance floor at all.

This one moment in time, viewed with a writer's eyes, became a moment in time for a character in one of my manuscripts.

I look at the world around me differently. I look at the world with a writer's eyes. Every moment in time - an argument in a restaurant, public displays of affection, a harried waiter, a woman sitting alone at a table in a nursing home cafeteria while everyone else is sitting with someone, and so much more - is inspiring to me.

You see, I see the world just a little bit differently. The leaves popping off the tree on a crisp autumn day are a thing of beauty. A man dancing by himself on the dance floor is also a thing of beauty. Why is he dancing alone? Why doesn't he seem to care that he's dancing alone? What brought him to this one singular moment in his life? How did he gain so much confidence as to dance alone as if nobody was watching?

My brain cells kick into gear and a glimmer of an idea, a scene for this, that, or some book, begins to form.

I have a different way of viewing the world. How about you?

S