The Art of People Watching
Every writer faces the brutal lack of creativity of writer's block. Most find their own little techniques to clear it up—writing prompts, music, a nature walk, freewrite until a spark of creative juice makes its way out. My personal go-to is finding a good comfortable spot in front of a window or on a bench at a park and taking in all of the people in my sight.People-watching is a part of being a creative writer that I have found most helpful and has produced some of my favorite ideas.
The key to a good people-watching session: find a spot that will make you feel unseen and/or comfortable, have some sort of writing device on the ready, and be patient. Let the feeling of just being an observer of the world take over. I have my own room set up so that I can sit in my bed for hours with my laptop in front of me and the streetview out my window easy to observe. Another good spot is in the back corner of a coffee shop where you can be surrounded by the hustle and bustle of a morning rush. Then you just sit and let the world move around you and see what happens. From short interactions between strangers to coworkers complaining about their overbearing boss to a nervous couple on their first date, there are endless possibilities for inspiration.
An idea may not always come to you immediately, but if you sit and relax and just let your environment take its course, something will eventually spark that story that you want to dive into. Some days it can happen quicker than others; some days you may even not realize you found your inspiration until after the fact, when you find yourself still thinking about a person you noticed. Once I was outside walking along a trail and a man walked past on a phone call, wearing no shoes, a bag of bread in hand, and soggy sock foot prints trailing behind him. He was yelling about how the person on the other end had betrayed him and they needed to watch their back. Then he promised he would find them. I took that interaction and turned it into a short story about what I guessed must have led up to that moment.
An important part of people-watching is to not cross the moral line. Don’t use people you know, don't air out others’ secrets that are maybe too invasive, and try not to look like a stalker in the corner on the hunt for their next project. I like to have a book or laptop in front of me, or even doodle in my notebook until something sparks. Don’t just aggressively stare at someone expectantly, or you will scare them away. I wrote a play about a couple having a loud break up in the school library after hearing a girl getting broken up with over the phone in my earshot at the college library. I knew better than to actually write about this poor girl's real life troubles, but I used the idea to write something public and embarrassing for the characters in the play.
People-watching can be a reminder that inspiration is sometimes found in the (quiet) details of everyday life, not just an idea from within our own selves. Every stranger, every overheard word, and each silent gaze can hold the beginnings of your next story. The important part to keep in mind is to be curious and open in the process. It's ok to let the story find you before you actually find the story.
