Looking at Life Through a Writer’s Eyes

By Keith Fisher

Have you ever watched the look on someone’s face as you try to explain why you love to watch people? (Connie Hall did a wonderful job of explaining in her recent blog). Have you ever watched a person’s expression and thought of a whole scenario that will explain it? When you were a child, did you love to play make-believe? Did you ever look close at a clump of grass and see a whole world that exists below your feet?

Have you driven someone crazy by asking them questions about their area of expertise? Have you sat down to write for ten minutes before bed and suddenly realize that it’s 3:30 AM and you have to go to work in three hours? Have you skipped the second hour of church while you wrote down an idea you had during sacrament meeting?

If you answered yes to these questions chances are you look at life through a writer’s eyes. Now that you know about it I recommend you expand the talent God has given you and write down the story you created in your mind. The stories you created while playing make-believe will be great middle-grade fiction that will delight the teenager in us all. Think about that clump of grass and imagine you are traveling through Tolkien’s Mirkwood Forest. That little stick down there is a huge log that must be crossed. How is your character going to do it?

When you get to work after only three hours of sleep, remember that wonderful feeling you had when you were in "the zone". It was almost like when you spent hours digging in that dirt pile with your toy trucks. Or when you invented whole life stories for your Barbie and Ken or GI Joe and played them out to conclusion before bedtime.

If you are concerned that you have an illness or something and you just found out about it, don’t worry, you do . . . but it’s treatable . . . And there are support groups that will help you. Just associating with like-minded people will provide validation and education that will help you know that you are perfectly normal for a writer.

You will find that your writer’s eyes allow you to look at life and see things other people miss. Things that open up myriad of concepts, plot twists, character traits and sometimes whole stories, not only can be, but will be gleaned from a simple experience. Remember who gave you the talent and never abuse it. Keep your content clean and uplifting. Build others, the way Your Father in Heaven has helped you.