Developing Perspective Writing

When I was younger, I dabbled in fiction writing as an escape. I liked to write vignettes following a few characters’ lives over years, like a soap opera. I was particularly stirred to write when I was stuck on an essay, a research paper, or other difficult writing assignment in school. After developing characters, dialogue, plot, and settings, somehow the ideas and words for the assignment flowed. Sometimes I joked that I wrote my way out of writer’s block. 

I’ve found what I enjoy most is perspective writing — a type of writing that translates well between fiction and nonfiction. In working for the American Communities Project, I connect with and interview people in different regions from various backgrounds — including economic development leaders, public health officials, farmers, pastors, small business owners, bankers, educators, local reporters, and other community residents. I see how everyone looks at the world through a unique lens — encompassing where they live, how they grew up, what they’re exposed to and involved in professionally and personally.

For five years before while working for the National Association of Independent Schools, I was focused on the perspectives of educators at independent schools.

Capturing perspective enriches stories. As a researcher and writer, I am constantly striving to understand and articulate people’s thoughts and views precisely in a nuanced report. As an editor, I’m drawing out one’s experiences and/or sharpening individual reporting for public understanding.

All this work has fed my fiction writing, now a full-fledged passion. I wrote my first novel, The Moral Tango, from the first-person point of view with the focus entirely on the protagonist’s perspective. It made sense because Lisa Mandel, a 30-year-old Ph.D. psychologist, is constantly battling herself as she navigates life and love after her formal education. The plot’s essence came to me in an hours-long brainstorm. Lisa’s complex inner life is continually rocked by one moral dilemma after another, and she learns from many characters on her journey to self-discovery. 

My second novel, The Style Whisperer, also in first-person, showcases different perspectives and develops more characters — their traits, habits, families, careers, loves, and relationships to one another. Claire O’Donnell, an event planner and branding/marketing expert who’s newly married, finds herself suddenly out of work for the first time. Her family circle is her anchor and her way forward.

Both novels follow some of the same characters since I left The Moral Tango open-ended. In fact, I had written the outline to my second novel shortly after finishing my first but had trouble writing more than a few pages. Then, I started writing from more perspectives in my daily work. Then, the pandemic hit. As it surged and receded multiple times, I began to see its influence in the characters’ lives. I wrote the story feeling new purpose and urgency.

My evolution shows me that when writing seems daunting, it helps to start from wherever I am in thought, in life, and to render all experiences. The work can come together in the most unexpected circumstances. I am grateful for the ways the writing process spurs growth, including how perspective writing has deepened my understanding that I can relate to readers.