paying attention to the world

A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world. - Susan Sontag

I think that my job is to observe people and the world, and not to judge them. I always hope to position myself away from so-called conclusions. I would like to leave everything wide open to all the possibilities in the world. - Haruki Murakami

I had an interesting conversation once with a photographer about the similarities between photography and writing, and how good writing can be 'photographic' because it captures details of the world that might otherwise be overlooked. In fact, one of the first pieces of writing advice that really struck a chord with me was that observing life and the world carefully is one of the most valuable things a writer can do. I've looked at the world like this as long as I can remember, storing up observations and details, especially any that are so small or insignificant that other people might not notice them otherwise. When I notice something that I want to remember, I've got into the habit of taking what I think of as a kind of mental 'snapshot', just enough that I won't forget. This snapshot doesn't have to be visual - it's just a quick record in my mind of a particular sight, sound or detail that I make before I carry on with my ordinary life.

Many writers say that you should just carry a notebook and write everything down. I've never been totally sure about this. Writing the observation down in a notebook straight away would force you to put it into words, which is often quite a difficult process, and so I think sometimes a memory of the thing itself is better until you've worked out how to do the reality justice.

Recently, I've been exploring the area around my new home in County Durham, and noticing very different things because I'm in a less familiar place. So when I went for a walk outside town this weekend, I challenged myself to pay attention and take some real 'snapshots' showing the things I thought were worth stopping to notice.

For example, this perfectly straight path...

Or how the view in one direction was sepia and the other, technicolour! I took these photographs standing at the same point, just looking in opposite directions...

Or how the sun in between gusts of snow was still strong enough to make halos around the thorns on this gorse bush, and the furry buds on this willow...

The path is a disused railway line, which explains why it was so straight. The North-East of England has a whole network of these old railways which have become paths and cycle tracks. This one is the Lanchester Valley Railway Path. It's supposed to go past some ruins called Beaurepaire, but we never found them; obviously I wasn't paying as much attention as I'd thought!

How about you? What kind of things do you stop and notice?