writing with a prompt, version two

Today, I am offering you another technique for writing with a prompt. This prompt will include a picture and a few ideas for a first line to be used for a story or a poem. You have complete freedom to choose your genre, but you have to include the first line and refer to the picture that I am sharing. I find that the random line generators really help with starting stories because, for me, the most difficult part of writing is starting.

So, this is the picture. For your story or your poem, you’ll want to look at the elements of the picture, which would be the person, the location, and the time of year. Think about what this image is telling you about all of these elements. That will help determine where you want to take your writing.

Once you’ve considered the image, you can let your imagination loose. What could possibly happen in this image in the next ten minutes, the next hour, the next day, etc? And you could use those thoughts in your writing.

And now, for a few prompts:

On a quiet afternoon walk…

While walking along…

As you stroll along…

Your next step is to write. You could write a piece of short fiction or you could write a poem or you could write a monologue. If you were to write a monologue, you could think about what the person in the photograph is thinking as she looks across the river.

Have fun and happy writing!