The following is a homework prompt, presented by Mark Thalman in his workshop on June 22, 2015. Please complete the prompt and bring it to share on the Monday morning workshop, June 29.
Because.
Start with the word “because” and tell us how something happened, and another thing happened, and another thing, all because. Described as the Rube Goldberg machine or domino effect.
The following prompt came from Mark Thalman in his June 22, 2015, workshop on the business and art of writing poetry. It came from the section where he discussed the impact of writing a “shared experience,” one that connects a moment with other events happening all at the same time.
At this moment…what is happening in the world or in your mind at the very same moment.
The prompt for June 15 revolved around choices: What has been chosen and was it the right path? Or, something that was of your own choosing; how it would be different today if the choice was different.
This was a lively discussion and writing exercise at the writing class. Some choices were light-hearted and silly, while others dived in deeply to thoughts and experiences. It is your choice for this prompt…where does it lead you?
The prompt was:
Where do you go for inspiration? Is it your church, family, a place, a moment in time? How do you get there?
The prompt focused on an excerpt from the book Weep No More by Mary Higgins Clark where she described a place by its smell. You didn’t have to know where it was but you knew its location based upon the signature scents.
The prompt is to describe a place using smell as the main reference without naming the place.
In our case, the group attempted to guess where the location was based upon that description.
The prompt for our Memorial Day meetings was:
How we connect to people we’ve never met, and how have they changed us.
The prompt was based upon a fictional perspective between the thoughts of a dog and a cat, telling the same story from two points of view. Other suggestions were with a doctor and patient, husband and wife, police and prisoner, and mother and child.
The children’s book, I Am the Dog, I Am the Cat by Donald Hall is a good example of a story told by alternating points of view. A famous alternating point of view is Gary Larson’s famous Farside comic strip featuring what the human says and what the dog hears.
The prompt is to tell a story from two opposite points of view.
The prompt for the week of April 10 was about using your senses when writing. Incorporation of these into writing to enhance the experience for both the writer and the reader. Striving to create a description rather than ‘telling’ what it is.
The prompt is based upon “Hiatus,” a poem by David Feela published in LabLetter in April 2015.
A pot of tea steeping
on the marble sill, its steam
clouding the window.Sunrise on the counter
like the yolk of a broken egg,
oh happy disaster of morning…
Write a descriptive poem or short prose. Edit it to focus writing with texture adjectives and verbs. Choose words that are visual, painting a textural picture such as marble sill not just window sill, steam clouding the window not just steam rising, sunrise on counter not light, etc.
Today’s prompt brought out some fascinating writing. This prompt came from the monthly prompts published in The Sun Magazine, an exceptional journal featuring the published works, essays, poetry, and prose by top writers, helping us learn to write better.
The prompt is:
Saying No
Writers in the Grove 