I have learned many things by reading but I've learnt more by observing.

Observation is a habit shared by most writers. It requires a subtle technique and takes years to master. The observer needs to create some distance and a slight disconnection from the subject, because no one can evaluate the mêlée from within. It's important to be able to listen to what's being said and figure out what's really being meant and why the speaker chooses to use the words and phrasing they do while noting tell-tale body language that reveal concealed truths. Those of us who are intent on observing the human condition are the same people you'll find in the kitchen at parties. That's where we practise the art of being simultaneously present and distant in order to watch and, hopefully, not miss out on the fun. Parties are a rich, if sometimes intensely uncomfortable, source of character fuel. All human life is there.

Be warned. If you are a regular and care-free party goer, watch what you divulge to whoever you stumble into in the kitchen because your words are probably going to be written down, maybe not straight away, but eventually and with cruelty and derision. Parties might be fun to you, but to a writer they are the diamond-edged grit that leaves scars.

Observation is exhausting. Photographers and film-makers do this too. They contribute nothing and take everything. 'Look!' They'll protest. 'How we have immortalised this moment, this condition, this soul.' But it's all take and no give. No photographer contributes to the scene, except by artifice. No film-maker alters the condition they examine. Observation exhausts the subject and the taker alike. The observer is not fulfilled by watching, they are emptied.

I have learned many things by observing but I have learnt far, far more by doing. My third book is in progress and only now am I properly understanding the depth the structure demands. Observation is not enough. Sometimes we just have to pee on the electric fence.