Thursday, October 29, 2009

Non-fiction, fiction and Woodpeckers

FlickrCC

In reading the fall 2009 issue of Bird Watch Canada, I learned some interesting things about Woodpeckers. During breeding it's the males that excavate the nest, do most of the nest guarding and incubate the eggs. Some females will even have simultaneous nests with different males in different trees and the Lewis's Woodpecker females initate the breeding with the males. Go female Woodpeckers!

It occured to me that writing non-fiction can be fairly easy when you find gems like this to research. Nature is full of fascinating facts all on its own that make for interesting reading.
In pondering this on my hike this morning, I thought how I could transfer some of that interest into my fiction writing by simply changing up sex roles or putting a new spin on an old theme. This is nothing new as far as writing advice goes, but the theory made new sense to me.
I'll also be watching the Woodpeckers that come to our feeder this year with renewed appreciation.

4 comments:

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Take photos of those woodpeckers!

I love writing from the male POV. It's so refreshing!

LeSan said...

I love the pileated woodpeckers. We have them here but they are so hard to get into my garden. They always just skirt around the edges. I need bigger trees closer in.
I like your thinking about the writing. You so right about nature. It is far more weird and imaginative than we could ever be. Shoot, just look at some of the stuff living at the bottom of the sea!

Christina Farley said...

Great blog. I love your dogsledding pictures!

TerryLynnJohnson said...

Diane, I just heard an interview on CBC about female writers writing from the male POV. Good for you!

LeSan, I agree! And thanks for all your comments, love having an audience like you.

Christina, welcome to my blog! Thanks for stopping by. There's more dogsledding photos on my website.