Choose an old object from your home. If you don’t have one, find a picture of an antique.
Imagine that when you touch the object, you are transported to its original time and place.
Where are you? What happens? How do you interact with the object? What emotions does the object evoke?
Prompt inspired from Rochelle Melander, excerpt in The Writer Magazine, February 2012
Writing Prompt: Glimpse through the fog.
Set your timer for 15-20 minutes. Write whatever comes up. Keep writing until the timer rings, or until the fog lifts. Yeah, that might take awhile.
How to flesh out fictional characters . . . Give them depth . . . Get to know them intimately.
Let’s say your fictional character has just received devastating news such as a job loss, death of a family member or close friend.
How does he react?
What are her immediate thoughts?
What actions does he take next?
Imagine your fictional character had an epiphany about a betrayal, a loss, an old grievance. . . something new has been revealed. What does he or she do?
Take a few minutes to write about the purpose this character serves in the story.
Ready? Just write!
This has been Rachael Herron Week on The Write Spot Blog. It’s been fun highlighting her and her work.
Today’s writing prompt is inspired by her latest book, The Ones Who Matter Most.
“What begins as one woman’s search for truth becomes a deep bond forged between the unlikeliest of people. Their surprising journey reveals how strangers can quickly find themselves to be family, and how kindness can bridge even the widest of gaps.”
Choose something from this synopsis, or elevator pitch, to write about. Perhaps:
Write about a kindness offered to you, or something kind you did for someone.
Or, write about a surprising journey.
Or, write about a stranger.
Write about what a search revealed.
Write about family.
Note: An “elevator pitch” is a short summary of a book or project that can be explained in the time it takes an elevator to go from ground floor to the 30th floor.
Today’s writing prompt: What did you expect?
Don’t think about it. Write about it.
As soon as you can, write your response, your first reaction to What did you expect?
If you have been writing for awhile, you might notice that you keep writing about the same things over and over again: how Aunt Luella always sticks her nose in everybody’s business; how Uncle Ray tells those awful jokes and doesn’t seem to notice that no one laughs; how Nonna’s getting on everybody’s nerves, should Aunt Silvie be put in assisted living and what the heck is up with Joey’s latest tattoo?
We all have our stable of characters that we dwell about incessantly. Here’s an opportunity to look at old things in new ways. Inspired by the poem, The visible and the in- by Marge Piercy
Read the stanza below (or the partial stanza), then quickly make a list of everybody this reminds you of. No prolonged thinking. You can always add names later.
Ready? Go!
First stanza of The visible and the in-:
Some people move through your life
like the perfume of peonies, heavy
and sensual and lingering.
This reminds me of:
Some people move through your life
like the sweet musky scent of cosmos
so delicate if you sniff twice, it’s gone.
This reminds me of:
Some people occupy your life
like moving men who cart off
couches, pianos and break dishes.
This reminds me of:
Some people touch you so lightly you
are not sure it happened.
This reminds me of:
Others leave
you flat with footprints on your chest.
This reminds me of:
Some are like those fall warblers
you can’t tell from each other even
though you search Petersen’s.
This reminds me of:
Some come down hard on you like
a striking falcon and the scars remain
and you are forever wary of the sky.
This reminds me of:
We all are waiting rooms at bus
stations where hundreds have passed
through unnoticed and others
have almost burned us down
This reminds me of:
and others have left us clean and new
and others have just moved in.
This reminds me of:
That’s it. You can leave this as-is. Or the next time you write about Sophie and how she stole your lipstick in seventh grade. . . use some of these descriptions to expand upon her character, to draw out this experience with specific detail.
Of course this will work for fictional characters, also.
Have fun with this. Recreate the characters (real and imagined) who populate your real estate.
Today’s prompt is inspired by Poet Georgia Heard, who suggests the following as a way to create a poem from the inside out.
Choose something on your body: a strand of hair, a nail, a ring, glasses, a belt, a necklace, an item of clothing, a freckle . . . anything!
Take your time with this. Read what you have written. Add anything that comes up while reading.
Take a few moments to reflect. Settle in with what you have written. When you feel done with this part, go on to the next, the poetry part.
You don’t have to rhyme, or follow any rules when writing your poem. You simply need images and inspiration and emotions. Anger, pain and bursts of joy are perfect material for poetry.
Do not strive for perfection. This is still the freewrite phase of writing.
When you are done and completely satisfied, then . . . set your writing aside for a day or two.
Come back to it when you are ready to revise and polish. Then set it free: Share with a friend, submit to a journal, post on The Write Spot Blog. We would love to read your inside out poem.
Girl with watering can and daisy, beaded pin by J. Pierce.
Fiction! Essays! Poetry! Art! Got any? West Marin Review, a literary and art journal, wants ’em.
Deadline: September 1, 2016. West Marin Review is such an upbeat publication, this should be called Upline: September 1, 2016.
Need ideas for material to write about? Click Prompts. Choose one and write. Edit. Submit.
West Marin Review Submission Guidelines.
Cover art for current issue of West Marin Review.
heavy linger delicate