the art of people watching

Understanding how a person interacts with a setting is powerful. It takes you from people-watching and puts you squarely in your subjects’ heads. Not only does it help you capture their personalities better, but it also makes you more imaginative and empathetic, which makes for better fiction.

Let’s say that I decided to write University Woman into a story. She would likely notice small details in the airport because of her cautious nature. She might notice the sparkly granite patterns on the floor or the body odors of the people around her.

This invites another question that can help us write better fiction: How do a person’s opinions of a setting determine what they observe in that setting?

But that’s the beauty of people-watching: It doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong. What matters is that you observe and use your imagination.

Every person on the planet has emotional vulnerabilities. Some people, like University Woman, develop healthy ways of coping with these flaws. Others, like Business Woman, deal with their flaws in unhealthy and sometimes destructive ways

Emotional vulnerabilities make characters endearing to readers, so they’re important to think about during people-watching sessions.

Here’s where it gets really interesting. Business Woman was right behind University Woman, and as soon as University Woman’s family cheered, Business Woman stared at the tearful reunion. For a microsecond, she puckered her lips and lowered her eyes.

University Woman reunited with a huge family and lots of hugs. When she spotted her family, her shoulders relaxed, and she tilted her head affectionately. The woman who had previously been so cautious completely transformed in the presence of her loved ones.

Put every person you see through their PACES.”

PACES stands for:

Physical characteristics

Attitude

Cues (nonverbal)

Emotional vulnerabilities

Setting