Confession:
I am a chronic eavesdropper.
I know, I know. We’re told not to do it. It’s rude.
But y’all.
I’m a writer.
I eavesdrop and people watch pretty much everywhere. Many of my books are started (or writer’s block unjammed) by a tiny gem of an idea I hear in common places like writing at Panera, Starbucks, or even sitting in the food court at the mall.
Today, for example.
I’m at Panera working on a sequel for The Engagement Plot to pitch to my publisher.
There is a woman and a man sitting (separately) next to me. They strick up a conversation, and I am enthralled. She just handed him her business card… and accidentally gave him her credit card instead. They laughed. I wasn’t watching (cause I’m typing this…) but I could just picture her blush from her obviously embarressed reaction to her blunder.
He helps entrepreneurs start businesses, and she helps established businesses grow. I’m sure they are both married, but my romance brain can totally take this and run far if I want. Oh, I might need to write a book about them. *happy sigh* Or maybe not, but let’s just say, if my heroine accidentally hands my hero a credit card instead of a business card in a future book, you now know where that came from.
Funny enough, my Christmas novella, A (kinda) Country Christmas, started from a similar eavesdropping. My hubby and I were visiting Gatlinburg, TN and went to a little theater there. A few rows behind us, a man was sitting a few seats away from a woman and her older-teenage-looking daughter. He was TOTALLY flirting with her. Told her he flew around the world on business.
I wondered…
Why was he, a guy who had just been in Hong Kong the week before, sitting by himself in a tiny Vaudeville theater in Gatlinburg?
Why was she there with only her daughter and so willingly talking/flirting with the man? Was she enamored? Was she just being nice? Mother-daughter were both blondes… and they along with the bald businessman unknowingly became pawns in my book.
Of course their story was purely a figment of my imagination, but they were the inspiration.
So here’s my question and forewarning for the day.
Question: Do you ever “eavesdrop” or people watch? Is it creepy that authors do this? Where is your favorite spot to people watch (if you do…)?
Forewarning: Somewhere out there, there is a GOOD possibility that there is a book that was inspired by a random conversation you had with someone in a Starbucks or Panera or some other random place! So if you read a book that seems just a little too familiar….. *wink* You just might have been their inspiration!
Krista Phillips writes inspirational romance with a dash of smiles. She believes a sprinkle of laughter (and a wee bit of chocolate) makes everything a little better! She blogs regularly about life as a wife, mother, follower of Jesus, and mother of a child with a rare congenital heart defect at www.kristaphillips.com. She is represented by Sarah Freese of WordServe Literary.
I am not an author (but am now scared! only kidding) but I do people watch. I also earsdrop cos sometimes you can’t help it. I am also one of those who talks to anyone. I love hearing where you get your inspiration.
Oh on people watching an older lady who was friends with my mother use to knit for a designer and she would often people watch to see what they were wearing and to spot interesting designs.
Hi Krista, it makes sense that you are inspired by what you see and hear around you- after all, sometimes real life is stranger than fiction hey!!
I don’t really people watch or eavesdrop, but I’m happy to strike up a conversation with those around me and learn their story.
It has been unseasonably tropical here- here in the southern states of Australia we do not typically get a lot of humidity, but oh my, these last couple days! And tomorrow…!
Blessings:)
I am guilty of people watching and, yes, eavesdropping too! I don’t do it often, but sometimes it’s unavoidable and interesting. I am not the type to start a conversation with a stranger since I have a hard time even talking with friends. But my mother talks to anyone and everyone.
An interesting blog. As a retired teacher, mother and grandmother, I enjoy people watching wherever I am. I enjoy seeing the development of my grandkids. Enjoy watching young parents drop off children at school or interact with their children at storytime at the local libraries. Watch people at restaurants and the theater. During the summer, we locals watch tourists at our beaches, the kids Fountain, or fruit farms. Rarely eavesdrop unless folks are really loud. One day I may still write a book. Best wishes.
Sometimes you can’t help but hear it all. We have that quite often! Hubby and I will be out and end up discussing and imagining scenarios of what we have overheard. If someone wants to write about my conversations then go right ahead! Haha!
I love people watching! I think my favorites to watch are parents with little kids. I don’t find it creepy or weird. I think it is a good way to pass the time.
Funny!!! Well, think about it, when inspiration hits, it is good to run with it. I am thinking this is how some really good books get done. I feel it is the same with me. I quilt. I like to people watch (inspiration galore), I like to go to places of nature, zoos, botanical gardens etc. (inspiration) And all of these come out on my quilts. No, I don’t find it creepy that you as writers listen in on conversations. I mean, really, if people didn’t want their conversations heard by others they would not be in public. Others, well, they just don’t care who hears. So, when a writer overhears and incorporates some of it into a story, and that story is a huge, who is to say one way or the other? personal thoughts here :)
I love your inspiration story! That shows a creative mind. If someone found themselves in your story- it just might make their day! I’ll be looking………..
I’m a writer not an author. I think I’ve always people watched. I use to live in Miami and I loved to go to Orange Julius and order a fresh fruit drink, sit with my toddler in the center of the mall and people watch. Great way to get ideas for stories. Also, ex. a young pre-teen just starting to develop was strutting (no other word would fit) with her shoulders thrown back (almost touching each other), her back end helped make her back a reversed C. My girlfriend and her little girl (toddler) and I couldn’t keep from laughing once the girl was out of ear shot. Something I’ve never forgotten and its been enough years that if I ever use it maybe she wouldn’t recognize herself.
It’s fun to read about your eavesdropping! I’m not a writer, but do enjoy listening in if I have to sit and wait. On rare occasions I’ll start up a conversation (usually in the line at the grocery store). Happy writing!
I’m not an author but I do enjoy people watching. A really good place to people watch is a courtroom or the waiting room of the probation officers. I’m not a criminal or anything, I had to go to court as a witness and got there 2 hours before the case was called. While I was at the courthouse, I decided to stop and say hi to an old neighbor that worked in the probation office, she was with a new “client” and I had to wait a while. Oh! the things I heard.
Hi Krista,
This was a fun blog to read. I could just imagine the scene AND I look forward to reading it in one of your books.
Years ago when I was in college several students would go late to the local airport and sit in the observation area and study. (That was before all the heavy security stuff now) Many times we would see really strange things and people. We’d make up stories about them, and where they were headed.
Today I still like to watch people at airports. There are so many more people and they all are rushing here and there. Their looks are so varied too. FUN!
Thanks for sharing how you’re able to take a bit of an interaction and work it into a story. As a non writer, I find that fascinating. And even though I don’t write I do like to people watch and eavesdrop.
That is cool that a knitter uses people watching too!!
I live in Tennessee in the US, and we get a LOT of humidity here in the summer!!!
You are better than me, I am NOT good at stricking up conversations!!!
Yup, I don’t usually go into a situation TRYING to eavesdrop… but when you’re talking loud right next to me when I’m trying to write…. you’re just asking to be written in, LOL!
I bet your book would be fun!!
I love people watching. Sometimes just walking through the store and take in the different styles, personalities and whatnot.
I cannot TELL you how many times my husband and I have been eating quietly at a restaurant and then look at each other and bust up laughing from something being said at a table nearby… we know by just once glance at each other that we’re both thinking the same thing!!
Oh yes, little kids with their parents always make me giggle!!! My youngest is now 7, and I remember the baby and toddler stage very well!!
That is fun that you people watching for quilting inspiration!!
I don’t eavesdrop on purpose… usually it is a loud talker or just a quiet room so it is hard NOT to, ya know?? But still, I thank them for the fodder they provide!!
LOL I’ve thought about mentioning them in the acknowledgments “To the chick and dude in Panera… thanks for the story idea!” :-)
HA! I’m the mother of 4 girls, so I understand this well (although my girls tend on the modest side so I’m not sure would ever do that, HAHA)
I don’t think it’s creepy that we authors eavesdrop and people watch–maybe because I do it ALL the time! Ha! The place I do it most often? When I’m eating out somewhere. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been sitting in a booth eating, and hear an interesting conversation going on between people in the booth behind me–and I think, “That would make a great story!”
Yes, I’m very guilty of people-watching/eavesdropping. My favorite place to watch people is at the baseball games or at the airport, where you get to sit for a long time. I will know now when I read your books where some of these scenes come from. What fun!
While my daughter was trying on prom dresses , two women were discussing the one’s mother-of-the-bride dress she was considering. They were speaking Low German, thinking no one else in the store could understand them, but I know the language and could understand every word they were saying! Then it becomes more difficult to pretend you don’t understand what they’re debating. :) And I love to people watch.