Most of you know I have a page on facebook, that's more than likely where most of you have come from. I also have an account on Youtube. I haven't uploaded any videos of my own, but as work comes along, expect a few samples here and there and you can see a list of the videos I've bookmarked. As of Sunday night, I've also signed up on Twitter! So now you can even follow along with my stupid comments all day long. I've already declared that nine to five, Monday through Friday (Or any day I work at my other job) is #RentalStoreRealityShow time. I just figured that there's sooo much stupid shit going on ALL the time where I work, they need to have a reality show based on it. Heck, they have pawn shops and tow truck companies, why not?
The main subject I want to touch on today though is point of view. We all have one, some are the same, most are different. A lot of people can see the same thing in different ways; some might find it beautiful, others repulsive and some might be completely indifferent. What does this have to do with writing? Well, the thing that a lot of writers do with point of view, is they can understand how things might appear differently to different people; so they can take something and depending on the words they use, they can make it appear exactly how they want the reader to see it. I'm going to demonstrate with a few example paragraphs here.
The bottle sat on the counter, waiting patiently for it's turn. The liquid inside having the color and consistency of fresh blood. A light red which flowed slowly out of the small hole in the cap in excrutiating slowness. Pooling in one's hand before oozing between the fingers and dripping in long strands to the floor. The scent overpowering, yet barely covering up the smell of the dirty clothes in the corner.
It was waiting on the counter; brand new in it's clean plastic bottle. Opening it filled the room with the sweet scent, before it was slowly poured out, coating everything with a layer reminiscent of rose petals, making everything it touched feel soft and smooth regardless of the surface. Spreading evenly as it was poured.
I'm sure you can already see how these could easily describe the same thing, A bottle of Japanese Cherry Blossom body wash. I kind of doubt most of you would just off-hand agree to empty the stuff from the first paragraph and rub it all over yourself though. This is a skill a lot of writers have, being able to look at things from different point of views, and it enhances their writing greatly, manipulating the readers to see things as they want them to be seen. There is more to it than that though. The ability to see things from different points of view is an important one; and one that seems like a lot of people are missing. It's something that allows people to get along. If we can at least understand each other, even if we don't agree, it makes it that much easier for two individuals or even groups of people to compromise on issues rather then coming to blows over things such as whether a pizza should have olives or pineapple.
A little homework for those of you that are reading and want to try this at home. Just look around, find something ordinary in your house, a vase, a drinking glass, a picture on the wall. Just try to imagine it in two different ways. If you want, post your results as a comment below. Would love to see how well you all can change your point of view.
~ Shaun
Youtube
Space Corps Directive #34124: No officer with false teeth should attempt oral sex in zero gravity.
How fun, i'll check back in when I have time to righ it out :-)
ReplyDeleteJust a little update, as I posted this Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon I was informed Tuesday would be my last day. So no more Rental Store Reality Show updates on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteThe blades suddenly began to move and quickley gained speed. Soon they were moving so fast one could not see them as blades only a blurr of color. They chopped everything in their path and spewed it out into the room sending the carnage in all directions. Soon everything was covered in it's affect.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as the switch was flipped the fan began to spin. It did not take long for it to get up to a good speed. As it spun, air in the room moved from the ceiling to the floor. The cooling breeze made the summer heat much more bearable.
Ceiling fan.