Signs

I belong to a Facebook group which is about sharing pictures – many if not most of the members are much better at photography than I am, some could be professionals if they wanted (maybe even are) and the images they share are just wonderful, and inspiring. However, there are all sorts of images posted, some amusing, some clever, some breathtaking in their beauty or subtlety,, some of exotic and far-away places, some of mundane and everyday objects and scenes. Every weekend there is a challenge to post photos on a particular subject, and every six weeks or so there is a challenge to photograph objects with a specific theme.

This weekend’s challenge is signs, and there has been a profusion of pictures interpreting this in different ways:

I shared this one from our village…

…and this one I saw in York…

…and I might share these from New Jersey!

Signs and signals are very obviously things which show the way, and as a writer I need to put in signs to my reader, hints to show them along which mental path to travel – they can follow the plot (I hope) but sometimes there are more subtle story-lines which when the outcome is revealed, must make sense and although they maybe surprising, they must fit in with what the reader knows – if they have picked up the subtle signals I’m careful to write in. I can’t parachute them into an unexpected denouement and say ‘Yes! That’s who shot the butler!’ or ‘See! He was the mysterious lover!’ if the shooter is a mysterious Peruvian who has never made an appearance in the story before,  or this is the first mention of any lover, mysterious or not.

There is nothing more frustrating as a reader than coming across something which makes you exclaim ‘But that’s ludicrous! How ridiculous! No one mentioned the Scottish parrot before!’ or finding the path has petered out and a final destination is never reached on a particular narrative thread, ‘But what did happen to the old lady with the jewels sen into her bodice?’, ‘Who was the man in the green hat?’ ‘Why did he shoot her?’