Everyday stories kaze / fū
Tell one gust of wind from three different viewpoints
Keep a fictional event unchanged while limiting what each observer can know. Discover how viewpoint chooses the details of a scene.
Wear this characterStart with a scene
Invent a simple scene in a public square. A gust lifts a loose sheet of paper from a table, carries it past a fountain and drops it beside a bench. A person at the table, someone inside a nearby shop and a seated observer all notice part of what happens. Write down the event once as your planning note. The three accounts will disagree in emphasis because the observers have different information, not because you secretly change the action.
A closer look
Give each observer a different piece of the event
For the first account, stay beside the table. This person knows what is on the paper but loses sight of it behind the fountain. For the second, look through the shop window: perhaps the motion is visible but the words being called outside are not audible. For the third, begin only when the page lands near the bench. Decide what that observer can read without borrowing knowledge from your planning note or the other characters.
Write roughly seventy words for each observer. Use the same tense and a similar tone so that viewpoint remains the main difference. Underline every statement about what somebody thinks, hears or knows. Ask how the chosen observer could have that information. If there is no answer, remove the statement or make the uncertainty visible. A guessed shopping list and a known drawing are different descriptions, even when they refer to the same piece of paper.
See it in words
- 風
- kazeWind
- 風景
- fūkeiScenery
- 和風
- wafūJapanese style
A meaning to make your own
A thought to give
For someone who writes or enjoys stories, include your three miniature accounts with a 風 design. Let them choose which observer interests them, rather than supplying a single correct interpretation.
Make a gift cardOne more question
Is this the same as writing in three different tones?
No. Here the main constraint is access to information: where somebody stands, what they can perceive and what they already know. Keep the tone similar at first. You can experiment with voice later, once the viewpoints are clear.
A character to carry with you 風
風 means wind. The gust connects these small accounts while remaining only one part of each person's afternoon. As a personal association for the design, it can recall curiosity about what lies outside your own view.
Wear this character
