The Birding Series

​In the past five years I have become fascinated by watching birds.  I know, it sounds as appealing as watching paint dry on a sunny Saturday afternoon.  Trust me, it’s not.  Recently I attended my first birding conference in Ashland, Wisconsin, the Chequamegon Bay Birding and Nature Festival hosted by the local chamber of conference.  This was their 10th year of the three day conference and 400 people attended.   With ten years’ experience this event is both a well oiled machine and an art form.
In previous years I have attended bird walks, primarily at Old World Wisconsin.  These events start at 6:30 am on a Saturday morning and are attended by about 60 people.  We divide into groups of no more than ten and a trained birder guides us through a 2-2 ½ hour hike.  It was at Old World Wisconsin that I was introduced to the art of identifying birds by their song.  As a result of that experience I learned two things about writing.
One fundamental of writing is to engage all five senses.  Before birding I had largely ignored sound in my writing.  When I re-read some of my own chapters I discovered that my characters lived in a world of silence, except human conversation.  This wasn’t natural.  All sorts of sounds surround us every day and helps create the dynamic fabric of our lives.  Adding sound in writing gives depth and adds to the reader’s experience of being in the scene.
Second, I learned the importance of listening.  Try an experiment.  Visit your local park some sunny afternoon.  Sit on a bench, maybe in the shade of an oak tree.  Close your eyes and just listen.  Then try to identify things going on around you just by their sound.  This perspective will open new worlds to you, trust me.
Anyone who wants to write needs to learn to be open to everything in the world around them.  By listening we also learn to express ourselves and use the craft of writing to share that with others.
Next week I’ll write about how birding techniques can be applied to writing both non-fiction and fiction.