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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
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