The First Job of the Writer

Hey, first off—thanks everyone for chiming in with those funny sentences using our Epic Words for Spring. They were hilarious and showed real creativity! These exercises are just like playing in a sandbox; we may not hang on to the finished product, but they feed our joy and creativity with words in the long run.

Today’s reminder comes in the form of one of the first things you learned to do as a baby: look.

When kids are young, their parents hold them in their arms as they enter new places. One of the most common things to do with a toddler is to point things out to them. “Look!” we say. We might name new things, or point out a familiar person, or direct their attention to something amazing happening.

As we grow, our ability to look also grows. We might stare at something longer. Instead of just watching what someone does, we might look at their faces while they’re doing it. By focusing on the face, we might see how they feel on top of just what they’re doing.

These are all important ways of seeing as we develop as writers. Making observations about people, their actions, and their words are all ways of telling about how they feel. Rather than saying what someone feels internally, we can tell about how their body or words (on the outside) reflect how they feel (on the inside).

Here’s an example.

Instead of saying, “When she saw the text that she should get to the hospital, she was anxious.”

We can say, “When she saw the text that she should get to the hospital, her eyes grew wide. She didn’t blink as she quickly drew a breath. Tears came to her eyes, and she scrambled to find her keys.”

Do you see how the second communicates the feeling “anxious” without using the word? We are gently painting the picture of the character’s feelings, but we are letting the reader put it together.

All this begins with looking. What does someone look like when they are anxious? Do their shoulders grow stiff or slump down? What does their face do? Does their voice sound different?

You can try this out with multiple emotions and internal reactions. What does panic look like? What about surprise? Joy? Anger?