Through the Eyes of a Butterfly #NewPerspective 11/17/2024

Viewing the World through the eyes of a Butterfly

Normally, my interaction with butterflies is confined to watching them flutter from bush to plant before soaring away to destinations unknown.  It had never occurred to me that butterflies see things differently than I do. Not metaphorically speaking, but actual visual perception. 

As it turns out, a butterfly needs to use its vision for everything from locating food, identifying flowers, and even determining genders. Something called photoreceptors in their eyes allows them to recognize different colors.

Another misconception on my part was that because I could see the butterfly, it could also see me. Like me, the butterfly is near-sighted. But when it sees me, it only sees my shape so to the butterfly I could be any large animal.

Also like me, butterflies see better in bright light. That makes them more active during the daytime when light is not dim or overcast. And they are most active on sunny days.

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#IWSG Cliffhangers: Thumbs Up or Down?

 

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG

The awesome co-hosts for the December 4 posting of the IWSG are Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine!

The IWSG question for Dec. 4, 2024 is:

Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories?

Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?

I have never ended a story with a cliffhanger and am not a fan of cliffhangers as a reader. Even Kathy Reichs’ endless “cliffhanger” chapter endings were irritating to me because they felt so contrived. 

Recently I read a C.J. Box “Joe Pickett” novel that ended with a main character’s plotline ending in a cliffhanger. The continuing plotline obviously required a novel of its own to tell the story and I had the next book already on the shelf so was not faced with a long wait. (And, after all, it was C.J. Box!) However, several reviewers were not so forgiving.

These days my writing is confined to researching and composing short stories - with no cliffhangers. And soon after the start of the Covid era, I began binge-reading series novels that have a beginning, middle, and satisfying ending in each book – again, no cliffhangers. But authors who choose to use the cliffhanger technique to keep their fans interested and returning for more are aware of the success of cliffhanger endings in serial stories of olden-day newspaper weeklies and radio presentations. And their willing fans are aware of each cliffhanger, a win-win relationship of their choosing.

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