Up and Down

Sunsets can be spectacular here. To wit:

This photo I took from my balcony. No, that white line isn’t a meteor or a comet, it’s probably a flight from Melbourne to Sydney – and the passengers, I’ll bet, had a good, long view of the sunset from up there.

That I could imagine what they were seeing, reminded me of flying from Sydney to Bangkok. I had no real idea of how large this country is until that flight. For literally hours we followed the sunset over Australia; the airplane in the sunlight, the ground shadowy but not dark. It was amazing.

It also brings to mind what we writers try to do: have the obvious showing, but the true nature of the story hidden, or partially hidden.

It’s all about perspective.

What I could see from thousands of feet up in the air was totally different to what those on the ground could see. They may have seen something like this photo: A bright white contrail and the glorious colours of the sunset. While I saw the yellow orb of the sun and shadows beneath me, all at the same time.

Both images are true, yet different.

Anyone can have an idea for a book; two people can have the same idea at the same time, but the perspective, how that story is written, is different. The basic premise may be identical, the characters familiar, but with two authors, the tone is changed.

Each author brings something different to their work. It’s why writers get so pissed off when compared to another, because each author is unique. Oh, they can be influenced by other works, but in the end, when pen is put to paper, the author brings a unique set of influences to the work.

You can either take the view from airplane, or from the ground; your story can be written from the sky and from solid earth. The trick is combining the two: what you want your readers to see, and what you want to hide in plain sight from them.