It's All About Perspective...

Up for a challenge? Change your vantage point.

I’m sitting on a plane as I type this. Let me share a little something with you: I love to travel, but I hate flying. This means that all my adventures are bookended by fear. But I force myself to push through because the experiences are worth it.

I was so creatively stimulated by this week-long trip to New York and New Jersey. I found myself constantly taking notes, snapping photos, writing down descriptions, story ideas, research ideas - it reminded me of how important it is to shift one’s perspective in order to avoid feeling stuck. Or bored. Or uninspired.

(Millbrook Bridge outside of Princeton, N.J.)

How to shift your perspective:

-Take a trip (it can be by car, by plane, by boat, by train, by bus)

-Observe carefully and make notes: you will see different people, new food, new wildlife, new weather, have memorable interactions and hear new sounds.

-Take a different route. If you’re not able to leave town, you can still shift your perspective by walking in a new direction, visiting a different part of town, or stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something new.

-Visit a museum. This one is always a go-to for me when I’m feeling uninspired.

It’s amazing what a little mental stimulation can do to get the creative juices flowing.

Speaking of shifts in perspective, this concept was solidified by my recent reading of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys for the first time. Inspired by Antoinette Cosway, the madwoman in the attic character in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Rhys tells the story from Antoinette’s perspective, giving her a complete and complex backstory that completely shifts the way we read Antoinette in Jane Eyre.

I think it’s a great reminder when you’re writing (or painting) to try an exercise in shifting perspective in your story / novel / work of art. If it’s about a woman fighting with a friend, do some freewriting from the friend’s point of view. If you’re painting a scene of a bar from a patron’s point of view, sketch out the scene from the bartender’s vantage point. What do they see that couldn’t be seen from the first perspective? These “studies” will inform your characters  / art subjects and help you make more deliberate choices that are right for the story you are telling.

And who knows, you just may surprise yourself and realize that the new point of view is the stronger choice.

Discussion: How have you actively shifted your point of view in life? Through art? Can you think of any other works of literature that do what Wide Sargasso Sea does – taking a character from a previously existing book and writing from their perspective? I just love this concept!

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Finally, local folks, I’ll be speaking on a panel in Highland Park on Wednesday night. Come say hi! I’ll bring bookmarks.