I love how poetry (and most types of writing) can illuminate actions, items, and feelings that we might not normally explore or question. For the past five years I’ve solely taught autobiographical poetry workshops. The work generated from these workshops is the perfect mixture of poetry, my lifelong love, and my inherent fascination with others. [...]
Archive for the ‘Writing prompts’ Category
Writing Prompt by Steven Reigns
Posted in Los Angeles County Artist-in-Residence, Poetry, writers, Writing process and tips, Writing prompts on May 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Writing Prompt by Rob Roberge
Posted in Fiction, MFA Faculty, writers, Writing prompts on May 3, 2010 | 3 Comments »
A revision prompt: Go back through any story you’ve done (or essay or whatever) and highlight every simile or metaphor. Usually our first attempts at these are pat—using the borrowed language dead with, as Shklovsky points out (in the great book for writers “Theory of Prose”), the weight of familiarity. Say you’ve written a clunker [...]
Writing Prompt by Rob Roberge
Posted in Fiction, MFA Faculty, writers, Writing prompts on April 26, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I’m a great believer in forced limitations—stories/modes of composition that have some pre-enforced limitation that requires us to find creative and unique ways out of a bind (as writing is, among other things, a form of creative problem-solving). Lipograms, formal poetry, all these things tend to spur creativity. So, with that in mind, a writing [...]
Writing Prompt by Felicia Luna Lemus
Posted in Fiction, writers, Writing prompts on March 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Punk Nerd Revolution Writing Prompt Pick a central character you’d like to develop further. What is one thing you know for sure about said character? Revolt! Take the one thing you know for sure about your character’s identity and turn it on its head. For instance, if your character is male, make your character female [...]
Writing Prompt by Alistair McCartney!
Posted in Fiction, MFA Faculty, writers, Writing prompts on January 25, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Writing Prompt: The Pitiless In Volume One of his collected letters, Gustave Flaubert wrote that “the highest and most difficult achievement of Art is not to make us laugh or cry, nor to arouse lust or rage, but to do what nature does—that is, to set us dreaming.” He went on to say that [...]
Writing Prompt by Eloise Klein Healy
Posted in Los Angeles, Poetry, writers, Writing prompts on January 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The Red List Very quickly and without thinking, write a list of ten red things you have owned or come in contact with in some way in your lifetime. When you read down the list, one or two items will “vibrate” a bit more than the others. Choose one and start a free write about [...]
Writing Prompt by Majid Naficy
Posted in Poetry, writers, Writing prompts on December 14, 2009 | 3 Comments »
If you were a mother living in Gaza or Ashkelon… Biography of Majid Naficy: Majid Naficy, the author of more than 20 books in Persian, fled Iran in 1983, a year and a half after the execution of his wife, Ezzat, in Evin prison. He has published two collections of poetry Muddy Shoes (Beyond Baroque [...]
Writing Prompt by Lynne Thompson
Posted in Los Angeles, Poetry, writers, Writing prompts on December 7, 2009 | 2 Comments »
One favorite prompt of mine frequently arrives unbidden when I am in a new or unfamiliar location. The sights and smells of some place that is not “home” never fails to compel me to pick up a pen to write the words that will allow me to savor the extraordinary experience over and over again. [...]
Writing Prompt from Gail Wronsky
Posted in Fiction, MFA Faculty, Poetry, writers, Writing prompts on November 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Beauty of Collisions Sometimes you need to bang some very different things up against each other in order to make the sparks of poetry fly. It’s a way of “by indirection find(ing) direction out” (Shakespeare’s phrase) or of “tell(ing) the truth but tell(ing) it slant” (Emily Dickinson’s). Sometimes when you approach a thing directly, [...]
Writing Prompt from Ron Koertge
Posted in Fiction, Los Angeles, MFA Faculty, Poetry, writers, Writing prompts on October 12, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I play cards with a few friends and when it’s Laurie’s turn to deal she always says, “Everybody loves blackjack.” Well, everybody loves haiku, too. Any kid can count out seventeen syllables (5-7-5) and I quickly take away the demands of traditional haiku (the frog, the pond, the inevitable moon) and ask them to write [...]
