Although my writing focus is on poetry at the moment, I continue to practice some of the writing tools I have found useful.
One of these is reading the news with an eye to an interesting or unexpected story. As someone deeply engaged in politics I also read political blogs and websites to understand different responses to those stories.
This is proving to be a real eye opener – although I don’t agree with many responses I have a much better comprehension about why some people want to see the world structured in particular ways.
From the human, bloggers for peace, point of view, understanding is imperative to social cohesion.
From a writing point of view, it’s a great way to test out characters.
You can take any character you have written and imagine them reading a post. What do they think? How do they react? Is the topic something they would have a strong reaction to or discuss with friends? What is their political point of view? Are they engaged with current affairs, do they watch the news or read a paper?
You might never write about anything of this nature but it doesn’t matter: the better you know your character, the more believable and consistent they will be.
So if you find yourself reading something which doesn’t reflect your view, take a chance on it, and read through the eyes of your character. It might provide the spark of engagement you need to find.
Happy writing,
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 
Leave a Reply