Dear , I realize you may not be in the North Charlotte area this Saturday, much less have spare time in the afternoon. And if that's the case, scroll on down because, so that you don't have to miss all the fun, I have a visually inspired prompt just for you. (And in keeping with this week's word, it's even Icarus-related.) But if by chance you are nearby and free,
I would love to have you! Here are the details:
EVERY PICTURE HOLDS A STORY
(Writing Inspired by Visual Images) Are you ready to preserve the stories your pictures could tell, for yourself and or future generations? Would you enjoy using photographs, paintings, and other visual art as writing inspiration? Come learn foolproof methods for capturing treasured family stories
and creating memorable fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and poetry from images. Explore the use of visual images as a means to create powerful fiction, non-fiction, and/or poetry. Preserve the stories your photographs could tell. We'll look at ways successful writers have used images to inspire their works, including Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. Participants are encouraged to bring images of their own they would like to work with, especially photographs. A wide variety of images will be provided as well. You'll take home drafts of essays, memoir, poems, and/or fiction and facility with the playful and profound magic of images as prompts. Expect beautiful results from this playful, yet profound process. All levels welcome. This workshop is offered FREE! WHERE: Mountain Island Branch Library
4420 Hoyt Galvin Way, Charlotte, NC 28214
WHEN: Saturday, August 16th, 2014 from 2 to 3:30 pm
TO REGISTER: Call the Mountain Island Branch Library, 704-416-5600. Or register online here. More WordPlay opportunities here.
WordPlay Now! Writing Prompt
This is WordPlay -- so why not revel in the power and potential of one good word after another? This week, it's "flying." I think it's a lot of fun to use visual image to inspire my writing. How about you? While magazine pictures are abundant and photographs are rich mines of material, paintings are also a time-honored source of literary material. (The fancy name for this is "Ekphrasis," by the way.) A painting that inspired both W. H. Auden and William Carlos Williams is Pieter Brueghel's "The Fall of Icarus." |
Today, it's your turn to try your hand! I'll make it easy for you with ten "ingredients" to get you started, with examples, no less... As you gaze at ieter Brueghel's image, write down ten words, one fitting each of the descriptions below, that this image brings to mind for you. These should be words that are beautiful to you for both their sound and their meaning. - a color word (amethyst)
- a "sound" word (Niagara Falls, whistle, lullaby)
- a "smell" word (Vanilla, White Shoulders, ocean, pungent)
- a "taste" word (raspberry, sweet)
- a "touch" word, something you love to hold (prickly, leaf,
fossil)
- a "place" word (thicket, Schenectady, home)
- a "time" word (evening, soon, yesterday, April)
- a verb of motion (glide, canter, lope)
- a way a person can be (persnickety, audacious)
- an abstraction (forgiveness, hope)
Now, write a piece, in any shape or form, that incorporates as many or as few of the words from your list as you like. You can try your had at a poem like Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts" or Williams's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," but paintings can also inspire a piece of fiction, an essay, a bit of memoir.... Enjoy!
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MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and two collections of poetry, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water. She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another."
Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best learn -- and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with intentionality and focus, is, after all,
serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours! |
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