People Watching - Christmas Shopping Edition

People are endlessly fascinating. As writers, we become expert people watchers and I had some fun this weekend while doing some Christmas Shopping.

Here are some folks who may or may not show up in a future story!!

• the lady who, on Nov 27!!!, announced to everyone at the checkout that she was officially done her Christmas shopping. Her smug smile carried her through the front doors of the store while the rest of us in line either glared at her or whimpered after her with envy
• the man wearing leather and chains with tattoos covering his hand whose toddler couldn't keep steady on his feet with all the crowds, so he hefted him up to his shoulders and softly sang Jingle Bells with him while they made their way through the store
• the elderly couple pushing a cart through the store and chatting about Every. Last. Item. on the ends of the aisles. They held up traffic in the busy store, but, while I watched, not one person got annoyed. In fact, one teenager overheard part of the conversation and stopped to tell them that, yes, that pair of fuzzy slippers would be perfect for a twelve-year-old
• the two women, busy chatting on their cell phones, who rounded the ends of the aisles and crashed right into each other, both of them dropping their bags and their phones. Just like a cartoon. Luckily, they straightened out the mess without too much trouble
• the elderly woman who shoved me to the side so she could look at the jewelry I was checking out for my mom. When I stumbled (and nearly knocked down the display!), she sent me a glare and told me I should learn to be more careful. I froze a second before I started to laugh. She shoved her nose in the air, sniffed disdainfully, grabbed a necklace, and stomped off
• the mom who pulled out a softball sized lump of some kind of homemade Playdoh while she stood in front of me in a checkout line. Her son's face lit up and he shaped and pulled and twisted quite happily while they waited for their turn to pay. Brilliant!

How about you? Spotted any great characters lately?

People Watching - The Wedding Edition

I was out of town for a family wedding over the weekend. It was wonderful and everything a wedding should be - including unique.

As usual, I put my people watching skills into action and found lots of interesting quirks that may appear in future characters!

• One of the self-proclaimed 'Crazy Aunts' who tapped couples on the shoulder all night, insisting they kiss on demand to show respect for the newlyweds 
• The Grandfather who dressed identically to his grandson - right down to the cowboy boots, bow tie and shining bucking bronco belt buckle
• The groomsman who decided it would be much more comfortable without a shirt
• And the multiple elderly ladies who celebrated his choice. Loudly
• The friend from out of town who crashed into a car on the way, brought 2 different shoes, and forget the engagement ring he was gong to give to his girlfriend that night
• The young woman who wore orange (BRIGHT orange!) shoes because they DIDN'T match her outfit and she figured that would ensure no disasters for the couple on their special day
• The young man who sighed lustily after one of the bridesmaids all night long. She never even looked his way ... which probably made her fiance happy
• The granddaughter who answered the same questions from her grandfather (who suffers from Alzheimer's) all night and made sure he danced the night away when he thought she was his late wife

How about you? What interesting characters did you meet this weekend?

Oh, Those Characters

As you probably know by now, I'm a bit of a sports nut. I spent a few days down in Toronto last week watching tennis at the Rogers Cup. AMAZING!

I put some of my People Watching games into action and got all kinds of ideas for new characters. A few of my favourites were:

• the couple who'd finally got an evening free without the kids and had scooted out in such a hurry, they'd forgotten their tickets (had email proof and still got in) and their sweaters (would have never let the kids out of the house without them!) and their wallets (so were unable to buy sweatshirts). They snuggled all night to keep warm!
• the couple with two kids who were wide eyed at seeing their heroes up close and who were thrilled to find people who were able to 'talk tennis' with them despite a bit of a language barrier
• the couple wearing extremely expensive and chic clothing (3 piece suit, silk dress, high heels, wowza jewelry) who brought in a cooler of food and drinks to avoid the high priced snacks. They made egg salad sandwiches at 10 pm!
• the pizza vendor who insisted I sing a verse of MargaritaVille with him before he'd sell me a slice of his delicious Margarita pizza!
• the elderly lady with her pompoms, signs and noise makers who stood up and cheered VERY loudly when one of the players changed his shirt during the change over
• the man who must have asked me 10 times if I'd really driven 8 hours on the highway "all in one day????"
• the man who stated loudly he was a tennis expert and his date could ask him anything she wanted. He proceeded to make several errors in his tutorials, and despite the giggles around them, no one corrected him and his date appeared to be very impressed with his 'knowledge'

And so many more! How about you? Did you see any interesting characters on your vacations this summer?

Peepers on People!

I'm over at From the Write Angle today talking about People Watching tips. I LOVE to people watch and I've developed a few games I like to play. Watching people and looking for both the expected and unexpected is fun and I think it helps my writing. I think most writers are people watchers and look forward to hearing some of your stories!

I hope you'll check it out and add any tips of your own!

People Watching - Vacation Style

Like most other writers, I love people watching. I saw lots of interesting folks on my recent mini-vacation. Here are a few...

In the breakfast room at the hotel one morning, a woman and her son ate breakfast near us. He was about 8 - a real cutie and polite to boot. The woman took a cell phone call as soon as we sat down. The boy finished his breakfast within a minute or two of our arrival. He waited while his mom spoke. And waited. And waited. At one point he whispered, "I'm full." She ignored him. Didn't even make eye contact with him. She kept her head down the entire conversation. As we were leaving, I grabbed a pen from my purse and ripped a couple of pages out of my notebook so he could at least draw some stuff. He smiled and me and said a shy, 'Thank you.' She didn't even look up. Makes me wonder how she raised such a sweetie.

On the beach, an elderly couple walked along the water's edge. Slowly. They had big floppy hats on and they'd rolled their pantlegs up. They carried their sandals in their outside hands so they could hold hands with each other as they strolled. Every once in a while one or the other would raise their joined hands to point out something of interest. I want to be them.

One multi-generational family hung out on the beach just in front of us. The gang talked a woman in her late-fifties into trying out a paddle-board type thing. It was wider than a surfboard but about as long. She knelt and paddled around for a bit. Then, with a little prompting, she stood up and paddled. At first she was pretty shaky, but she kept at it - to the cheers of her family. Then one of the young teens snuck up behind her and shook the board. With a shriek she flipped into the water, came up spouting water and giggling like a young girl. Awesome!! She returned the favour later on :)

A rather buff young man tossed a football on the beach with his younger brother. A group of young ladies arrived and set up nearby. Bring on the eye contact, giggling, whispers and the poor little brother having to catch footballs thrown much harder than they'd been before the young ladies arrived.

The thing that surprised me the most however was how many people I saw texting. On the beach. All the time. I think hubby & I were the only people over the age of 12 who didn't have cell phones with them. In the evenings with the sun setting on the horizon in all its glory, there were multiple couples who strolled the water's edge. Cell phones in hand. Texting with someone else. So much for the romance of the moment!

I kept expecting these guys to show up...

I wonder which of these characters will make it into my next story. So, have you spotted anyone fun in your people watching lately?

Familiar Strangers

You know who I mean - those people you see all the time, but never really know.

The man in the red truck you pass at the light every morning.
The lady with the bright pink running shoes you pass on your weekend walk.
The family who shops at the grocery store at the same time you do every week.

In our family, we make up stories about some of them. Our favourite was Herb. He was an elderly gentleman who sat at the picnic table outside his apartment building when I drove the kids to the babysitter's before work. We never spoke to him, but we looked for him every morning. I don't remember which of us came up with the name Herb.

It got to the point where the kids would wave. Herb never waved back. Not sure if he ever saw them wave. One day Herb was joined by a lady friend. Then she started showing up regularly. When it became a daily thing, we dubbed her Herbette.

Then one day, Herb wasn't there. Ever again. We looked every morning. We decided not to stop and ask. Herb and Herbette had obviously taken off to enjoy a vacation somewhere and liked it so much they stayed... That's our story and we're sticking to it. The alternative is too hard.

I discovered another familiar stranger in my life passed away over the weekend. We'd dubbed her Granny on the Go because she could make her wheelchair MOVE! We saw her at Tim Horton's on a regular basis. We saw her whizzing across the parking lot to the local grocery store almost every week.

We never learned her name. Only spoke to help her with her coffee or change at the counter. Yet we feel a loss.

Are we more likely to have these familiar strangers because as writers we tend to notice people? Do you have any familiar strangers in your world?

***
On another note ... thanks so much to the adorable Cherie over at Ready. Write. Go and the lovely Layna over at Layna Pimentel for awarding me the Irresistably Sweet Award! If you haven't met Cherie or Layna yet, do yourself a great big favour and pop on over for a visit. You won't regret it!! :)

People Watching

I think all writers are people watchers. It's so entertaining and enlightening. Plus it's fun!

While at the Roger's Cup tennis tournament last week, I spent a lot of time watching people: fans, people dragged to the event by fans, people attending so they could be seen, security, players, volunteers, ball kids, umpires, vendors...

I don't know if most people realize how much is revealed about their personality in the little things they do. They don't realize writers lurk in every crowd and watch.

Clothing says so much about a person. Many people wore the most inappropriate outfits imaginable to the event. The temperatures ran in the high 30s (Celsius or 90 - 100+ Fahrenheit) before you poured 10 000 people into a bowl and watched them stew and simmer for 12 hours. Probably not the best place for 3 piece suits or silk blouses and skirts. Or terry cloth dresses. Or polyester pant suits. Sweat stains make the most interesting patterns.

One poor lady cried when she stood up and saw the large diamond shaped sweat pattern on the front of her dress and then realized the front looked much better than the back.

We sat beside one young man who'd brought a girl he was trying desperately to impress. He was so excited to be there with her. He babbled. A lot! He bombarded her with information about the players, the game and the rules. Way more than a tennis newbie needed (or wanted) to know. It might not have been as bad if he'd known his facts. He enthusiastically tossed out incorrect info that had every tennis fan around him stiffening then smiling. He was excited, eager to impress and kind of adorable. I hope he got another date. :)

One man had the most interesting hair on his forearms - long, curly, almost prehensile.

One lady wouldn't stand up or move her legs to let the ready-to-pop pregnant lady pass. She had to climb over the woman!

A security guard stopped people from getting to close to the players with only the slightest movements - a tilt of the head, a lift of an eyebrow, a movement of the finger. Awesome presence!

Some fans wore crazy costumes supporting their favourite players - including wigs (did I mention the heat!).

One of the ice cream sellers probably used up more energy than the players. He ran up and down those stairs continuously. He was so careful to never get in anyone's view, to never move during the play. He made eye contact with his audience, smiled, responded politely to everyone. He probably made more money than all the other sellers combined.

A family sat behind us for one session - parents and 3 boys. The youngest was about 7 & his favourite player was Rafael Nadal. The little guy cheered loudly and at the right times. But when the game got tense, he'd whisper, "Give him hell, Rafa." Then he'd ask his older brother if his parents had heard him. :)

Some of what I observed this week will provide me with quirks or actions for upcoming characters. So even if I didn't have a computer I was working on my writing. After all, it's not just what we do, it's who we are. :)

Those are a few of my favourite people from the past week. Who are the most interesting people you've watched lately?