Study Relationships Behind the Masks

Relationships of all kinds provide fodder for the writer.  Take a day to create lists that reveal characteristics of family, friends, or associates at work.  As you go about your daily activities, add individuals you have more distant relationships with: store clerks, waiters and waitresses, attendants of all types, shoe and clothing sales persons, service professionals for cars and appliances.

Examine relationships to discover the hidden workings.  Delve beneath the surface appearances.  What's going on in this person's life behind the mask of behavior?

Watch interactions in a variety of circumstances. How do individuals relate to their surroundings, objects, buildings and nature?

Take notes about body language and facial expressions. What do you notice in hands and leg positions?

How do people interact or depend on each other in daily situations?  What happens if you toss in an emergency?

Explore layers and add your own ideas. What happened just before your view of a hotel clerk? What will happen after he or she leaves your vision?

Notice how superficial relationships define basic human needs.  Where's the tension lurking?

Creative Write: Create characters from your day's observation:

Use only body language and situations to define:  uncertainty, ritual behavior, boredom, consequences, attention and freedom.

Show an interaction between a waitress disagreeing with a cranky couple.

Write dialogue with only body language of someone showing enthusiasm to another who responds with words.

Provide the interaction for a returns clerk at an after sales event.  Reveal the unexpected.

Use these insights to set the stage for a story or poem.