Safe Place for Words
Prompts to Ponder
when it's not about the landing,
it's about the falling,
falling into words...
How about?
Open a book, or a magazine, and randomly select 6 words.
Write a poem using one, a few, or all of the words.
You know the saying, "Walk a mile in my shoes?"
Look at your shoes. Write about how it has been to walk in them.
You know the saying "Walk a mile in someone else's shoes?"
Look at someone near you and write as if you are him/her.
What is it like walking in his/her shoes?
Since you are looking at someone near you...
imagine you are their mother/father and write about
your wish for their future, or for their tomorrow.
You can stop looking at them now. Write about what you
wish for your own tomorrow...or your yesterday.
What is it?
There is a locked trunk sitting in the room. You have the only key. What is inside the trunk and what is its story?
You'll love this one!
Kurt Vonnegut created some of the most outrageously memorable novels of our time, such as Cat’s Cradle, Breakfast Of Champions, and Slaughterhouse Five. His work is a mesh of contradictions: both science fiction and literary, dark and funny, classic and counter-culture, warm-blooded and very cool. And it’s all completely unique.
With his customary wisdom and wit, Vonnegut put forth 8 basics of what he calls Creative Writing 101: * (Keep in mind that he is speaking to novel writing, though the concepts can be applied to poetry and short prose as well.)
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Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
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Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
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Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
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Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
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Start as close to the end as possible.
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Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
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Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
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Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
"The greatest American short story writer of my generation was Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964). She broke practically every one of my rules but the first. Great writers tend to do that."
* From the preface to Vonnegut’s short story collection Bagombo Snuff Box
Try This...
Fill in the Blanks: “I think the world needs more of _____________” or “I think the world needs less of ________________”. You can take the serious route (more love, patience, compassion), the absurd (more air fresheners, hamsters, pencil sharpeners), be the devil’s advocate (serial killers, discrimination, etc), or anything else. Use your answer as the first line of an essay, fiction piece, or poem.
Write about an emotion without stating the emotion. Challenge yourself to avoid stereotypical responses to the emotion; if your character is sad, convey it in a different way than making them cry, or if they’re happy, show it some way besides them smiling or laughing. "My skin remembers sunlight like......she wasn't sure if the crack was in the ceiling or in her heart...being invisible, he was able to bump into truth without bruising..."
I knew you/you knew me when: Think of someone that you haven’t talked to in a long time. Write a poem that is aimed to communiate with him or her for the first time in years.
I can go there. Take a topic you feel uncomfortable writing about. Write a poem about that topic.
I can't go there. Take a topic you feel uncomfortable writing about. Write a poem about why you can't write about that topic.
Safe Place for Words is the writing group of
Safe Place for Youth, S.P.Y.
located in Venice, CA
a caring connection for homeless youth