Writing Capacities: Listening

Writing is the fruit of a writer’s discipline. However, as every farmer will tell you, much happens between seed, time, and harvest. It’s the same with writing. What happens on the page is the byproduct of biology, chemistry, and composition. We can talk about arranging (composition) or rearranging (editing) the elements on the page, but we need to back up to some earlier foundations necessary before the pen touches the page – or the fingers type the keys. One of the most important assets a quality writer possesses are their senses. In this section, let’s focus on your ability to listen.

First, I’d like to ask you to take out a timer, a piece of paper, and something to write with. No technology. Do this old school. Time yourself for two minutes, but before you do, here is your assignment: listen to your surroundings. Set the timer. Two minutes. Go.

When your two minutes are up, write down everything you could hear. Your environment – even if you’re alone in a room – is more than likely rife with activity. Did you hear outside noises? A bird’s song? Dog’s bark? Rain? Wind? An airplane overhead? A door slamming? Someone talking? Footsteps? What about sounds coming from inside the same space you’re occupying: the refrigerator humming? Someone snoring? Media playing elsewhere? A clock’s second hand striking? Overhead light buzzing? The pen or pencil scratching as you wrote? The brush of your hand over the paper? Did you clear your throat? Shift your weight? Did your chair creak?

Each of these noises not only defines an environment, but they also take up time. A story has a tempo just the way a song or a symphony does. Generally, it’s boring for you to list every sound occurring for your reader. But, pick out the most unique one or two and aha! You’ve brought your reader into the moment with your characters that much deeper.

Let’s go back to noises establishing environment. You may be sitting in a quiet room, but if you’re writing about a stampede, a car race, a candlelit dinner, or an elementary school play the specific sounds for each will be vastly differentiate from one another. Sound is powerful. Use it.

Songwriter’s have long used sound to play up mood and emotion. Couldn’t your writing do the same? Yes. And it should. What is the emotion you want to evoke in your reader? Can you select one note, one sound, that can accomplish that? Write it down. What sound evokes that emotion in you?

The tempo of your writing can also be metered by your descriptions. Dialogue rolls faster or slower based on how short you keep your quips verses how verbose your character waxes. Often, practiced writers punctuate their dialogue – providing space for the reader to take a moment for your last sentence to sink in – with a line of description, or a sound, that keeps the reader connected in the moment yet provides a beat for reflection. I find it very effective, similar to the Biblical use of the word, ‘Selah’, in the book of Psalms. ‘Selah’ means essentially to ‘pause, and calmly think on that.’ I’ve often appreciated that when reading in the book of Psalms the author/songwriter is providing a beat, a measure, a moment, for me to stop the song and process what they’ve been talking (or singing) about. It’s like taking a breath, appreciating the last stanza in anticipation of what’s to come.

Allow yourself time to listen. Pause. Calmly think on it. Your awareness of your own environment, even when there’s ‘nothing going on’, will infuse your writing with sensitivity. It will lead your reader at the best tempo through your story. Your capacity to slow down will help your writing rhythms, and the fruit of that is a more enjoyable read for your audience. Which is the point, after all, isn’t it?

Happy Writing!
Marissa