Sunday, March 31, 2013

The Power of Photos to Inspire Writing # 3



Creative Concepts # 3 

Words and pictures can work together to communicate more powerfully than either alone.
William Albert Allard
American Photographer

            What do you do when your brain becomes oatmeal, your fingers become lead, and you watch the cursor on your monitor blink endlessly without moving even one millimeter? Brew another cup of coffee? Vacuum the rugs? Take the dog out for a walk? Pray for inspiration?
            “I wasn’t born to vacuum rugs,” writes Elizabeth Guy, poet, storyteller, and co-author of Reflect and Write.  “That’s why, when my brain turns to stone while I struggle for new ideas, I use photographs for inspiration.”
           
A New Photo Every Week

            Whether you’re a teacher, a student, an aspiring writer, a professional writer, or a poet, you’ll discover that the photos and ideas posted here during the coming weeks will help you overcome the dreaded “writer’s block,” while at the same time inspiring you to create new and exciting works of prose and poetry.
            Sometimes direct quotations will accompany the photos. At other times, suggested first lines will serve as motivation for writing. Occasionally, specific suggestions will present challenges. From time to time, keywords will stimulate ideas.
            For even more information about using photos to inspire writing, click on these links: www.creativity-portal.com/prompts/kellner/ and http://ebowmanguy.blogspot.com
            Please note: feel free to download the photos for your personal use as inspiration; for use in classrooms or workshops; or, for use in your blog with credit to Hank Kellner and a link to hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com. For commercial use please contact the author for rates. For information about and to purchase Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing, please visit at http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx. Photos by the author.

Descriptive Writing 

     In one of these photos a woman dressed in white stands before an outdoor bulletin board, her back to the camera. In a second photo a woman dressed in jeans sits on a fence. Both women appear to be engrossed in something they’re reading.
      Who are these two women? What are they like? What are the similarities/differences between them? What would they say to each other if they were to meet? What are their families like? Their occupations? Their hopes and dreams? What is the man in the background of the second photo thinking? Those are but a few of the many questions that can serve as inspiration for writing.

 Possible Writing Assignment:  The two women shown in the photos meet by chance in a coffee shop and discover that they are distant relatives. Write a composition in which you reveal the conversation that takes place between them.

Keywords: isolate, reading, women, onlooker

Suggested Opening Lines: When I looked across the coffee shop and saw the woman hunched over her laptop, I was sure I knew her.


Coming Next Week 
A Stone Wall and a Guitar Player
      
               Another Helpful Source for Inspiration 

         Reflect and Write contains more than 300 poems and photos; keywords; quotations; either “Inspiration” or “Challenge” prompts; a “Themes to Explore” section; a “Twelve Ways to Inspire Your   Includes CD with photos and poems from the book.
Students” section; a special “Internet Resources” section, and more. This collection will help stimulate discussion that will trigger meaningful writing at many levels.
    Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner and Elizabeth Guy , ISBN 978-1-61821-023-4, Prufrock Press, 2013, 153 pages, $24.95. See more and order at http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx.


Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Power of Photos to Inspire Writing #2


Creative Concepts # 2 
 
If one picture is worth a thousand words, can the same picture inspire a thousand words?

            What do you do when your brain becomes oatmeal, your fingers become lead, and you watch the cursor on your monitor blink endlessly without moving even one millimeter? Brew another cup of coffee? Vacuum the rugs? Take the dog out for a walk? Pray for inspiration?
            “I wasn’t born to vacuum rugs,” writes Elizabeth Guy, poet, storyteller, and co-author of Reflect and Write.  “That’s why, when my brain turns to stone while I struggle for new ideas, I use photographs for inspiration.”
A New Photo Every Week
  Whether you’re a teacher, a student, an aspiring writer, a professional writer, or a poet, you’ll discover that the photos and ideas posted here during the coming weeks will help you overcome the dreaded “writer’s block,” while at the same time inspiring you to create new and exciting works of prose and poetry
            Sometimes direct quotations will accompany the photos. At other times, suggested first lines will serve as motivation for writing. Occasionally, specific suggestions will present challenges. From time to time, keywords will stimulate ideas. For more information about using photos to inspire writing, click on these links: www.creativity-portal.com/prompts/kellner/ and  http://ebowmanguy.blogspot.com
            Please note: feel free to download the photos for your personal use as inspiration; for use in classrooms or workshops; or, for use in your blog with credit to Hank Kellner and link to hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com. For commercial use please contact the author for rates.

A Boy, a Bicycle, and a Garden Hose

      One way to inspire writing in the classroom is to ask students to list the first words that come to mind when they view this photo. Aspiring writers can then compile a master list of keywords that will help to stimulate their imaginations. For example, the word bicycle suggests any number of possibilities, as do water, child, boy, and hose.
    Thoughts of another writer always provide inspiration for others. And sometimes just a portion of a direct quotation can serve as a trigger for new compositions, as in Walt Whitman’s “Silent and amazed, even when I was a little boy/I remember I heard…” Using this concept as the basis for an opening sentence, students can recall events that occurred earlier during their lives.
            Provocative questions can help to trigger written compositions. For example: Why is this boy not wearing any clothes while he washes the bicycle? What would be the responses of passersby when they see the boy, the bicycle, and the garden hose? Where are the boy’s parents? How would you respond to this situation if you witnessed it?

Keywords: bicycle, boy, childhood, garden hose

Challenge: Write a monologue from the point of view of a parent whose child is constantly creating problems for the family.

Possible Opening Line: I just don’t know what to do with that child. The other day my neighbor told me that …

Coming Next Week

Who is this woman?

Another Source of Inspiration

For more photos and information not included in this blog, please visit http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx. Reflect and Write contains more than 300 poems and photos; keywords; quotations; either “Inspiration” or “Challenge” prompts; a “Themes to Explore” section; a “Twelve Ways to Inspire Your Students” section; a special “Internet Resources” section, and more. Includes CD with photos and poems from the book. Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner and Elizabeth Guy (Prufrock Press, 2013), 153 pages, $24.95.  See the latest review of Reflect and Write at http://www.amazon.com/review/R29PUHZ6Z2QP53/ref=cm_sw_em_r_asr_3gqGF.1TBHQ8Y_r

Monday, March 18, 2013

The Power of Photos to Inspire Writing #1


Creative Concepts 

If one picture is worth a thousand words, can the same picture inspire a thousand words?

            What do you do when your brain becomes oatmeal, your fingers become lead, and you watch the cursor on your monitor blink endlessly without moving even one millimeter? Brew another cup of coffee? Vacuum the rugs? Take the dog out for a walk? Pray for inspiration?
            “I wasn’t born to vacuum rugs,” writes Elizabeth Guy, poet, storyteller, and co-author of Reflect and Write.  “That’s why, when my brain turns to stone while I struggle for new ideas, I use photographs for inspiration.”
           
A New Photo Every Week

            Whether you’re a teacher, a student, an aspiring writer, a professional writer, or a poet, you’ll discover that the photos and ideas posted here during the coming weeks will help you overcome the dreaded “writer’s block,” while at the same time inspiring you to create new and exciting works of prose and poetry.
            Sometimes direct quotations will accompany the photos. At other times, suggested first lines will serve as motivation for writing.  Occasionally, specific suggestions will present challenges. From time to time, keywords will stimulate ideas. 
            For even more information about using photos to inspire writing, click on these links: www.creativity-portal.com/prompts/kellner/ and ebowmanguy.blogspot.com.
            Please note: feel free to download the photos for your personal use as inspiration; for use in classrooms or workshops; or for use in your blog with credit to Hank Kellner and a link to hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com. For commercial use please contact the author for rates. For information about and to purchase Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing, please visit at http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx. Photos by the author.

 Four Chairs

    Four empty chairs are lined up in front of a coffee shop. One can’t help wondering why the chairs are empty. Did something happen that caused the former occupants of the chairs to flee?  Who were these people? What were they thinking? Where did they come from? Did they speak the same language?

Keywords: leisure, danger, abandoned, empty
 
Challenges: 

              1. Write descriptions of each of the four people who might  have occupied the chairs.  
              2. Write a monologue in which you describe one or more of the chair’s occupants from the point of view of one of the chairs.
              3.  Reveal the thoughts of someone who had sat in one of the chairs.
           
Possible opening lines:

A. At first I was happy to find a delightful coffee shop in Rome that wasn’t crowded with tourists. But when I settled into the a chair in front of the shop, my day was ruined when…

or

B. Rui finished arranging the four chairs and stepped back into the shadow of the café awning. He leaned against the door jamb and glanced along the thoroughfare. He scanned the crowds for the middle aged woman who would order an espresso and sit in the third chair most days.  Rui glanced at his watch, 10.50, it wouldn’t be long.  
                  
Coming Next Week

Why isn't this boy wearing clothes?

Another Helpful Source for Inspiration

For more photos and information not included in this blog, please visit http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx. Reflect and Write contains more than 300 poems and photos; keywords; quotations; either “Inspiration” or “Challenge” prompts; a “Themes to Explore” section; a “Twelve Ways to Inspire Your Students” section; a special “Internet Resources” section, and more. Includes CD with photos and poems from the book. Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner and Elizabeth Guy (Prufrock Press, 2013), 153 pages, $24.95.





         
      


                       

Tuesday, March 12, 2013



 Did you know that the human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than it processes text?

Memories of an Outdoor Café
           
            When I saw the little café in Copenhagen, I knew I had to photograph it. Quickly, before the image could disappear from my mind’s eye, I aimed my Leica at the scene and captured it. The lighting was perfect.
             “Another shot of a storefront?” remarked my longtime partner and co-author Elizabeth Guy. “You must have a million of them in your files. Don’t you think you’ve photographed enough of them?”
            “Maybe,” I  responded. ‘But you never know. Someone might be able to use this photo some day.”
            Six years later, while we were developing a major project for a publisher of educational materials, Elizabeth walked into my office and handed me a sheet of paper with a poem and a photo printed on it. I hadn’t read the poem before that moment, but I did recognize the photo I’d taken several years earlier.

An Outdoor Café in Europe

I met him at an outdoor café
In Europe.
Copenhagen, I think.

We talked until the sun—
A scarlet wafer in the sky—
Disappeared.

That’s when he kissed me.

His breath was sweet:
Honey floating in the air.

When morning came,
I reached for him
In our little room
Above the café.

But, like the sun,
He’d disappeared.

Gone like the lovely night—
A misted memory.
Disappeared at morning rise—
Another shattered dream.

Ah, well, I sighed
And stretched
And thought:
Long distance relationships
Almost never work out.

                    --Elizabeth Guy

            “That’s a nice little poem,” I said.  “I like the ending. By the way, who was your lover with the sweet breath?”
            Elizabeth smiled. “There was no lover. Don’t be such a wise guy.”
            “By the way,” I continued,  “Isn’t that one of the photos I took while we were in Copenhagen? The one you complained about? The same one about which you said, ‘Don’t you think you’ve photographed enough storefronts?’”  Truth to tell, I was beginning to enjoy what I thought would be my moment of triumph.
            Elizabeth didn’t miss a beat. “That’s not what I said,” she responded. “That’s your interpretation. The fact is, what I really said was: ‘I’m glad you took that photo. I’m sure that some day it’ll provide inspiration for someone to write a poem or other work.’ I just didn’t know it would be me.” She placed her hands on her hips and smiled.
            Knowing that it would be futile to contradict her, I grinned at my partner and offered up the ancient incantation behind which men always hide when they know they’ve been outmaneuvered once again.  “Yes, dear. Of course you’re right,” I declared.

Coming Next Week and Every Week Thereafter
     Don't miss our upcoming series of evocative photos and accompanying prompts that are sure to inspire writing both in and out of the classroom.
____________________________________


        Reflect and Write contains more than 300 poems and photos; keywords; quotations; either “Inspiration” or “Challenge” prompts; a “Themes to Explore” section; a “Twelve Ways to Inspire Your Students” section; a special “Internet Resources” section, and more. This collection will help stimulate discussion that will trigger meaningful writing at many levels.  Includes CD with photos and poems from the book. 
        Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner and Elizabeth Guy ISBN 978-1-61821-023-4, Prufrock Press, 2013, 153 pages, $24.95. See More and order at http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx.

Another Helpful Source for Inspiration  

          Write What You See: 99 Photos to Inspire Writing is a collection of photographs and writing prompts designed to inspire writing. In addition to the many photos and ideas it presents, this collection includes a section that cites “Ten Ways to Use Reflect and Write” as well as a second section titled “How Some Teachers Use Photos to Inspire Writing” An added bonus is a CD with photos and writing prompts.
      Write What You See: 99 Photos to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner, Prufrock Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-877673-83-2, 118 pages, includes CD, $24.95 See more and order at http://www.prufrock.com/Write-What-You-See-P791.aspx



      

Sunday, March 10, 2013



      I'm delighted to offer a guest blog by Vivienne Neale, the director of The Writing Retreat and a prolific writer and author. Having earned a Masters degree in Creative Writing,  Neale is well qualified to conduct creative writing tutorials via Skype, as well as actual writing retreats from her base in Portugal.  You can book a tutorial or retreat by emailing info@writingretreatportugal.com.You can also catch up with Neale's blog at www.writingretreatportugal.com. Her poem "Black Saturday" graphically depicts the carnage inflicted on Great Britain during the opening days of World War II.
     

The Writing Retreat Steps Back in Time

     I had always been fascinated by World War II as a kid. It was not surprising really as there were so many people around me who had direct experience of it. My father was in the navy and I guess he always encouraged me to read as much as I could about that dreadful period.
    The reading I did as an adolescent has haunted me. Poems like "No More Hiroshimas" by James Kirkup, for example, have remained in my mind and if you don’t know the work it is well worth tracking down.
      I started using this conflict in my poetry when I was a teenager and often return to it. The video footage now on YouTube is fascinating but it was a visit to The Museum of London that was the starting point for the poem I share today.
     The Museum is set in Docklands and there are all kinds of exhibits outlining the tremendous damage that happened in the East End of London during the 1940s. I was mesmerized by the interviews of Londoners who had survived the appalling bombing raids that used to happen night after night all along the banks of the Thames. The Luftwaffe was determined to knock out the docks which was Britain’s lifeline in so many ways to the rest of the world.
     Such suffering and death are a million miles away from the environment I inhabit at the writing retreat in Portugal but I just couldn’t forget about what I had seen back in London and it was inevitable I should write this poem.
     I wanted to write something in memoriam. The names of the docks are part of the geography, the sociology, the history and the identity of everyone who lived there and somehow I wanted to bring the experience of that time back to life. I concentrated on the sounds and smells of the docks with its variety of goods all housed in massive warehouses and the desperate scenes firemen found as they arrived to tackle the intense blazes. Imagine dealing with all different types of fires but always very dangerous and volatile.
We owe much to all those who lost their lives and who showed incredible bravery. I just hope I have done them proud.

Black Saturday

Observers had mistaken a 20 mile formation of bombers over the East End Docks, for Allied planes.

In September 1940, the empire’s treasure struck back;
cracked pepper singed the air, fire fighters choked
as spices roasted, igniting in spumes of gritty smoke;
liquid fire poured under warehouse doors, elsewhere
barrels shot white firework flames skywards. Crackling
drowned the hissing hoses and yells of men burning;
the Thames soaked up explosions as timber yards, transit
sheds, rubber, jam and pickle factories took direct hits.

The Isle of Dogs was caramelised; West India Docks roasted
in oils; Millwall’s middle sector, lined by global shipping,
buckled, into a scrap metal flotilla. McDougall’s flour silos,
now exposed, pointed the way for yet more bombing. Black
smog, thick and toxic, spelled: ‘We’ve lost it!’; traitor’s talk.
Night fell but skies were alight, glowing daybreak pink, sunset
red. St Paul’s’ iconic silhouette fragile, as Silvertown, Woolwich
Arsenal, St Katherine’s Dock and Beckton Gasworks, copped it.

Coming Soon

        Be on the lookout for my upcoming Creative Concepts series! Each week I'll publish a different photo accompanied by keywords, direct quotations, suggested first lines, challenges, and many more prompts designed to inspire writing. 
       If  you're a teacher, a student, an established author, or an aspiring writer, you'll find that these photos and prompts will help to stimulate many creative ideas for writing. 
      Of course, you'll be able to download any of the Creative Concepts photos for your personal use, for use in the classroom, or for use at writing seminars. 

More Photos and Creative Prompts


        For more photos and creative prompts that won't be  included in this blog, please visit http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx. Reflect and Write contains more than 300 poems and photos; keywords; quotations; either “Inspiration” or “Challenge” prompts; a “Themes to Explore” section; a “Twelve Ways to Inspire Your Students” section; a special “Internet Resources” section, and more. Includes CD with photos and poems from the book. Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner and Elizabeth Guy (Prufrock Press, 2013), 153 pages, $24.95.