ANK on Observations

I like to observe.
I like to go out, sit in a lively place and watch people. Or sit quietly and watch nature.
Old habits die hard - I am a scientist: Observations and resulting deductions, ideas and conclusions are a vital part of the job description; as is curiosity and an ingrained 'need to know'.
Who? Why? What? Where? How? The five corners of my 'Scientist's Pentagram' also apply very much to writing.
When I write, I ask questions.
When I work in a lab, I ask questions.
Question marks meet me on a daily basis. I question things I don't understand - I question things I think I do understand - to dig deeper. There is always another layer, there is always somebody who knows more.
I like to discuss my work and other people's work. I am curious. I want to find out, what is happening.
Curiosity is a great driver for creativity: If I don't write, I don't know where the story is going to go. I enter a dialogue with my characters, and we discuss the plot and take it further.
Sometimes we fight, sometimes we are in agreement, but whatever happens, it is thought out, questioned, discussed.
The process of writing is putting observations into words, express what's happening. The better I observe, the more detail I can provide for the reader to 'get into the character'.
It may sound counter-intuitive, but the better I observe and write, the easier it becomes for the reader to make the transition from observer to participant. And this is exactly what any writer wants to achieve: to invite their readers into their book, to make it easy for them to step over the threshold from flipping the pages to living the story.
Not saying I am anywhere near that type of genius... but it is something I aspire to, and sometimes it is good enough to know, where you want to get to in order to walk in the right direction.