Writing the Crowd: Grand Central

based on George Perec's "The Street"

1. Observe the crowd with some concern for system. Take your time -- at least an hour.

2. Note down what you can see, anything worthy of note that is going on. Do you know how to see what is worthy of note? Is there anything that strikes you? If nothing strikes you, perhaps you don't yet know how to see.

3. Set about it more slowly, almost stupidly. Force yourself to write what is of no interest, what is most obvious, most common.

4. Force yourself to see more flatly. Take off your glasses. This often helps.

5. Describe the movement of the crowd. What moves them? What drives them together? What separates them? Are they strolling, rushed, from in town, out of town? Who seems to be from in town and who from out of town? What makes you so sure?

6. Don't say, don't write "etc." Make an effort to exhaustively describe the subject in painstaking, almost ridiculous detail. List every miniscule detail your mind can capture. Be obsessive. Remember, in this task "stupid" is an asset. You must engage the tediousness of describing everything as if you were an anthropologist from another planet. Exhaust the topic down to the most obvious details. Even if that seems grotesque or pointless or boring while you are actually doing it, the detail will produce good writing and please your reader -- just as it does in Perec.

7. Detect a rhythm. Do people arrive in clumps? in groups? as individuals? Count the people. List every pair of shoes that passes you. Note their faces, their expressions, their activities.

8. Read what is written in/on the people: their bags, their clothes. Does anyone carry a sign? What kind of signs can you read throughout the place? Can you observe any relation between the signs and the movement of the crowd? How does the writing relate to the purpose of the building? What about advertising? Graffiti? Stickers? Are there any codes or tags that suggest larger, unseen systems?

9. Note the fashion trends. Are heels too high this season? How does this impact the movement of the crowd?

10. Note the loops and circuits that exist within the crowd. Why does that security guard walk by that trash can every ten minutes? Who chose his route?

11. Carry on until the place and the people in it seem entirely strange, as if you were an alien from outer space observing this culture for the first time. Reconsider #1-10 from the perspective of an anthropologist from Mars, sent to understand the lives of earthlings.

12. Keep writing until you cannot go on any longer, until your hand feels like it's going to fall off.

13. Return to your piece the next day. Organize it into paragraphs and, if you like, into sections. Fix the grammar, punctuation, and so forth. While you edit your piece, eliminate the parts that seem superfluous or that distract from the most important observations and movements.