Object Prompts

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Picture {Postcard} Perfect

June 19, 2014.  Prompt #49

denver2Today’s prompt may take you to places unknown.

Have a marvelous journey.

 

 

Instructions

  1. Do you have a collection of old travel postcards?  If so, choose one for this prompt.
  2. If not, in Google image, Flickr, or another image search, type “travel postcards.” Choose a postcard image from it.
  3. Write down thoughts and sensations inspired by the postcard. Write for 10 minutes.
  4. Rewrite your last line on the top of a new page. Write for 15 minutes.

Further Writing

  • Postcards are known for limited space.  Write a haiku elicited by the postcard.
  • Imagine you sent this postcard. What would you have written on the back? Who would you have sent it to? What would you have told them to console them, to lure them, or to make them jealous?

Variations for Writing Groups

  1. Postcards often offer a candy-coated version of what they depict. Write a short prose piece (200 words or less) either building on this lie or debunking it. Start the piece with three adjectives in a row.
  2. Bring a postcard to your group and have everyone write a poem or short prose piece based on it. Write for 10 minutes.
  3. Share your work. Do common themes emerge?
  4. Repeat the prompt with another postcard.

Next Week

Two of next week’s prompts will focus on editing and revision.  To prepare, find a story, poem, or essay to revisit.  You can use a rough draft or a polished piece with which you are willing to experiment.

 

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Self Reflection

June 14, 2014.  Prompt #45

image

All photos by Lori

Recently, my good friend Lori visited Chicago’s famous “Cloud Gate” sculpture,  affectionately known as “The Bean” by locals. Designed by Anish Kapoor, this bulging, looming, delightful public artwork reflects on levels. Its mirror finish reflects the buildings, plaza, and sky around it. It reflects the crowds of people looking at it. In turn, its viewers reflect upon it and upon themselves.

 

Prompt #1:  Finding Yourself in A Crowd.

  1. With Cloud Gate’s curves, its reflections distort the crowd gazing upon it. This makes it a (fun) challenge to find yourself and your friends in the giant mirror. Lori wrote, ” I found myself not where I expected to be.”
  2. Write about a character’s sense (or your own sense) of  a) being lost in a crowd, b) being buoyed up by a crowd or c) being changed by a crowd. Be as literal or symbolic as you wish.  Write for 10 minutes.

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Prompt #2:  Mirror Image

  1. A mirror, of course, shows us the reverse of ourselves. Add in the bends and bulges of Cloud Gate and its not surprising that you might find yourself reflecting, as Lori did, on identity. Who is this altered, amended, distorted, or perhaps, freed you?
  2. Write an mini-autobiography of yourself with a few changes regarding your history, appearance, temperament, beliefs, or life experiences. Write for 10 minutes.
  3. Circle a phrase or sentence that stands out for you. Write it on the top of a fresh peice of paper and write for 15 more minutes.

 

image

Prompt #3: Reflect Upon Self

  1. With writing group friends or alone, find a place (such as reflective street-level windows or dressing room mirrors) where you can stand among others, either strangers or friends.
  2. A few questions to consider:
    • What makes you unique?
    • What connects you to others?
    • How does your body define you?
    • How do you define your body?
    • Who are you without your body?
    • What is self?
    • What is Self?

    Write for 15 minutes.

 

 

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Sunday Shape Up: Oval

June 22, 2014  Prompt #51

eggs

For this week’s Sunday Shape-Up, we will carefully press a circle into an oval and give it a spin.

Instructions

  1. Quick Tip: The word oval originates from the Latin ov or egg. Hence, oval means egg-shaped.
  2. For five minutes, jot down phrases and images that come to mind when you hear the word oval.
  3. Re-read what you’ve written and underline a phrase or sentence that stands out.
  4. Write that phrase on the top of a new sheet of paper.  Write for 15 minutes.

Further Writing

  • Running tracks are oval. Imagine you (or one of your characters) approach one at 6 a.m. on a spring morning. What happens next?  Include outward descriptions and inward thoughts. Write for 20 minutes.
  • Oval Office.
    • Get inside the head of a U.S. president. Imagine what he thinks about when he is alone in the Oval.
    • Write about your favorite fictional U.S. president.

Variation for Writing Groups

Eggs

  1. Bring two eggs (raw, boiled or both) to writing group. Pass them around (gently). Feel the weight of them in your hand. If you are at someone’s home, try cracking one open or peeling one.
  2. Next, for 10 minutes, write down all your associations with eggs.
  3. Read your work out loud.
  4. The person to your left chooses one word or phrase they find inspiring from your writing and uses it as their prompt.
  5. Continue around the circle until everyone has a key word for their prompt.
  6. If you have more than 4 people in your group, pair or triple up to share work and choose a prompt word.

Ovaltine

  1. Stir up a glass of Ovaltine.
  2. Sip and write. Sip and write.

 

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Breaking News

telegramJune 9, 2014.  Prompt #40

I just finished binge watching marathon viewing four seasons of Downtown Abbey. The very first episode opens with a close-up of a telegraph in motion, complete with taps and beeps as the operator sends a message. The telegraph not only grounds the story in history (in this case, 1912) but also conveys the urgency of the news being sent.

Instructions

  1. Write a piece that begins with the delivery of news.
  2. Start with an object of communication, for instance, a television, computer, or newspaper. You could choose a newer form of communication, such as an email, text, or Skype call, or one from the past—a telegram, letter on the Pony Express, or a phone call on a party line.
  3. Next, choose a message to be delivered. What does the message say? Who sends it? Who receives it? Who announces it? Who hears it?
  4. What happens next?

Further Writing

  • If you wrote about bad news, write a second version with good news or ambiguous news. If you wrote about good news, try making it disturbing or unclear. What is the effect on the tension, tone, or pacing of your piece?
  • Slow down the action. Record in detail the moment that the news is received. Describe in detail in the surroundings, the sounds, the smells and the textures.

Variation for Writing Groups

  1. On an index card, write two messages in the style of a telegram: clear and concise.
  2. Place the cards in the middle of the table. Either deliberately or at random, choose one and write in response to it. Write for 20 minutes.

 

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Sunday Shape Up: Try Angle?

June 8, 2014  Prompt #39

old tri

 

For this week’s Sunday Shape, we turn to the triangle. Here’s a chance to examine language closely (and playfully, perhaps) and link images with people, actions or memories with abstract ideas.

 

 

Instructions

  1. For five minutes, jot down associations, phrases, and images that come to mind when you hear the word “triangle.”
  2. Read what you’ve written and underline a phrase or sentence that stands out.
  3. Write that phrase on the top of a new sheet of paper.  Write for 15 minutes.

Further Writing

  • Choose one of these phrases as your springboard: Love Triangle. Bermuda Triangle. Research Triangle. Musical Triangle. Triangle Fire. Write for 15 minutes.
  • Write a triangle poem of four lines.
    • Line 1: one interjection or command
    • Line 2: two adjectives
    • Line 3: three nouns
    • Line 4: four verbs

Variations for Writing Groups

  1. On individual index cards, members write down a word or short phrase from each of these categories. a) A setting. b) A person or animal. c) An object. For example, “City park in the early morning,”  “Black dog,” and “Baby carriage with a broken wheel.”
  2. Keep the three sets of phrases in separate piles. (Or, mix them for another variation.)
  3. Members choose a card from each pile and writes the phrases, one each, on each side of the triangle.
  4. Write a piece in which the three phrases appear, connect, or interact.
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Inspiration Online [Part II]

Agnes Long Fox [Sioux, 1914-1984]

Agnes Long Fox [Sioux, 1914-1984]

 

 

June 6, 2014.  Prompt #37

Today we build on yesterday’s visit to the Smithsonian’s image gallery.  If you haven’t read my June 5th post, do that now. Today’s prompts build on yesterday’s images.

 

 

Further Writing

  • Project yourself into the image you are viewing. Write for 10 minutes. Does this change your point of view or what you write about?
  • For ten minutes, write a visual account of the image, noting details and relationships between the parts of the painting, print, or photo. Did you notice anything new?

Variations for Writing Groups

  1. Print out your image or be sure you’ll be able to bring it up on a laptop or tablet.
  2. Looking at your image, use your imagination to answer these questions. What sounds do you hear or associate with the image? What smells?  Propel yourself into the image, then “touch” part of it.  What textures and temperatures do you feel? Is there anything in it you could taste? If so, describe it. If the image is abstract, this is an especially good opportunity to flex your creative muscle.
  3. Go together to a museum or gallery. Plant yourself in front of an artwork and write for 20 minutes. Note: Get permission from guards or gallery owners first. They might ask you to write in pencil or have other requirements.
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Inspiration Online: Paintings, Prints, and Photos

Summer Sky

“Summer Sky” by Dan Namingha, [Hopi-Tewa, born 1950]. From the National Museum of the American Indian.

 

June 5, 2014.  Prompt #36

Today we turn to the Smithsonian’s image gallery to be inspired by one of the thousands of images there. Warning: This is a mesmerizing site. Don’t get so lost in exploring that you forget to write.

 

 

 

 

Instructions

  1. Go to www.siris.si.edu.
  2. In the “Search All Catalogs” box on the right, type in a keyword. (If you can’t decide on a keyword, type in “summer.”)
  3. When you receive your search results, scan the images until you find one that inspires you. If you can’t decide which to use, choose the 3rd one.
  4. Enlarge it and free write for five minutes, noting any questions, emotions or observations that arise while you look at the image.
  5. Next, circle three words or phrases that stand out for you.  Write one of them at the top of new piece of paper.  Write for more fifteen minutes.

Tomorrow:  Further Writing Tips and Variations for Writing Groups


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Inspiration Everywhere: Public Art II

June 4, 2014.  Prompt #35

photo 2

Today’s prompt follows up yesterday’s post on artist Gary Hirsh’s Bot Joy interactive mural. Learn more about the mural here and at #botstories.

Instructions

  1. Writing for five minutes, list people, situations, activities, and emotions that you are afraid of.  For instance, mine would include gondola rides, small planes, glass elevators and global climate change.  (I also think clowns are creepy, but I’m not actually afraid of them.)
  2. Next, for fifteen minutes, choose one of the items above and write about it in details.  Include large and small descriptive details and well as emotional ones.

Further Writing

  • Write about something that is both scary and pleasant, perhaps at different times or at the same time. (Mine would be light houses.)
  • Write about a fear you’ve overcome or a new fear that didn’t used to bother you.

Variations for Writing Groups

  1. As suggested above, write about a time you experienced fear. Re-reading what you have written, circle twelve to fifteen of your strongest or most surprising words and phrases. Re-write them all on a new piece of paper to create a poem or prose poem.
  2. Using a story, essay, or poem you are currently writing or revising, work in a moment of fear. How does this enrich the work?
  3. Write a piece that combines fear and joy.

 

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Inspiration Everywhere: Public Art

June 3, 2014.  Prompt #34

photo 3

 

Last month in Boulder, artist Gary Hirsh of Bot Joy painted an interactive mural at the northeast corner of Arapahoe and  13th Street, near the Farmer’s Market.  The mural poses several introspective questions of its viewers. You can find out more about the mural here and at #botstories.

For today and tomorrow’s prompt, we’ll work with two of the “bot prompts.”  Feel free to draw your own bot to complement your writing!

 

Instructions

  1. For five minutes, free write about joy. Include whatever associations, people, places, activities—general or specific, arise.
  2. Next, for fifteen minutes, focus in on a time when you were filled with joy. Include the both large and small details of the setting, who you were with, what was happening around you and inside you. Include sensory details. Did the joy last for days, hours, or just a moment? Had you worked to create it or had it unexpectedly emerged?

Further Writing

  • Write about a time when you experienced unexpected or fleeting joy.
  • Write about daily small joys that you try to cultivate in your life.

Variations for Writing Groups

  1. As suggested above, write about a time you experienced unexpected or fleeting joy. Re-reading what you have written, circle twelve to fifteen of your strongest or most surprising words and phrases. Re-write them all on a new piece of paper to create a poem or prose poem.
  2. Using a story, essay, or poem you are currently writing or revising, work in a moment of profound joy. How does this enrich the work?

 

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Uniform Writing

ice womenMay 31, 2014  Prompt #31

To wrap up Clothing Week, today’s prompt is short and sweet:  Write about work clothes.  Your work clothes might be an actual uniform or simply what you wear when it’s time to earn a living or get the job done. If you need more structure, refer to the prompts from earlier this week. The guidelines and suggestions are largely transferable.

Have fun and get to work!