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Observation is the key to good fiction writing. The successful fiction writer observes the human condition, human behaviors and human speech. The successful fiction writer also observes the world in which humans move - their shopping malls, their cities, their communities, and the world around them - the effects of changing seasons, and the natural world.

The writer is not so different from the visual artist in this acute sense of `seeing', only the methods of recording what is observed differs. The artist carries a sketchbook - the writer a notebook. Anyone who wants to be a successful fiction writer should get into the habit of observing, and carrying a notebook. This is the daily writing practice that will really develop fiction skills.

The writer is all eyes and ears, seeing and hearing snippets of scenes every day. But there are other senses to engage as well - the smell, feel and taste of things. The writer who wants to develop superior fiction skills takes notice of everything about the moment. The artist is looking for line and form, capturing the look of a scene. But the writer needs to capture all of it.

Take your notebook to the nearest shopping mall. Order a coffee, and take a seat. It doesn't matter which of your five senses you engage at first, all of them will have something to tell you. Listen to the sounds - above the white noise of chatter and the clatter of coffee cups, can you hear snatches of conversation, music, the occasional announcement over the loudspeaker system? Describe what your ears can hear.

You will taste the coffee, and make judgement on it. Good or bad? What makes it so? How does it compare to your usual cup of Joe? Sniff the air - many different smells will come to you - donuts frying, the sweet and sour at the table next to you, perhaps some smells you can't quite identify. Maybe someone nearby used liniment that morning.

As your senses engage their curiosity, more and more impressions will come. The expression that man's face - is he harboring some deep sorrow or just as disgusted with the coffee as you are? Why is that woman so rugged up on a warm day? You will notice different postures, body language signs that indicate what people are feeling, small interesting behaviors like the person who tears open the sugar packets one at a time, while his companion just grabs the lot and rips them all at once.

The writer is interested in everything. People may glance at you oddly when you scribble in your notebook, but mostly they

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