{"id":2720,"date":"2017-09-13T21:51:21","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T01:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/?page_id=2720"},"modified":"2017-09-13T21:56:14","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T01:56:14","slug":"2a-2b","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/prompts\/2a-2b\/","title":{"rendered":"2A-2B"},"content":{"rendered":"

PROMPT 2A: THINGS I WOULD DO
\n<\/strong>by Deb Norton
\nfrom Part Wild: A Writer\u2019s Guide to Harvesting the Creative Power of Resistance<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Make a list of \u201cThings I Would\/Will Never Do.\u201d Get everything on the page that you consider to be out of bounds, off limits, or out of character for you. If it\u2019s easier, just finish the sentence, \u201cI would never . . .\u201d as many different ways as you can, from the obvious to the shocking to the embarrassing: I would never spit on another person<\/em>; I would never eat a bug<\/em>; I will never forgive my sister<\/em>; I will never find the courage to ask that girl out<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  2. Read through your list and underline the things that have a little heat around them. Choose one to explore, and entertain the notion of doing that thing you would never do. Write about what it would be like.<\/li>\n
  3. Make another list of \u201cThings I Would Do in a Second, Given Half a Chance.\u201d All limitations are removed\u2014fear, time, responsibility, morality, the laws of physics\u2014and the sky is the limit. Really let it rip. Reach for all those unrealistic, impractical fantasies, travel, love, adventure, achievement. Maybe you would learn trapeze, start your own circus, marry a certain movie star, sit down with a certain world leader. Maybe you would become<\/em> a world leader. Don\u2019t try to be deep. Write the exhilarating and the ridiculous.<\/li>\n
  4. Read through your list and underline the things that have some energy to them. Choose one that\u2019s good and charged and write about what it would be like if you got the chance to do that thing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Alternative Prompt: Hot Tempers
    \n<\/strong>from Poets & Writers: The Time Is Now<\/em><\/p>\n

    Though many of us look forward to the higher temperatures and longer daylight hours of summer, studies show that particularly hot and humid days often coincide with higher incidences and expressions of anger, frustration, and irritation. Many elements may factor into this correlation, including people spending more time outside in crowds, an influx of adolescents and tourists during the summertime, increased heart rates because of the heat, and discomfort from dehydration and lack of sleep. A feeling of helplessness or lack of control over the weather may also contribute to snappish behavior. Write a short story in which your main character struggles to keep calm on one of the hottest days of the year. What is the catalyst that drives your character to lose patience or keep cool?<\/p>\n

    PROMPT 2B: SENSE OF SMELL
    \n<\/strong>by Deb Norton
    \nfrom Part Wild: A Writer\u2019s Guide to Harvesting the Creative Power of Resistance<\/em><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Make a list of all the smells you\u2019d want to remember forever. Freshly baked cookies<\/em>, the chlorine of the neighborhood pool<\/em>, your first girlfriend\u2019s perfume<\/em>.<\/li>\n
    2. Choose a smell from the list to work with.<\/li>\n
    3. Still working with that chosen smell, answer the following bulleted questions. Remember, memory is fluid, so there is no \u201ccorrect\u201d answer. Throw the net wide. Make crazy guesses and write things that make no sense. Don\u2019t think. Just hold the smell in your nose and move your pen.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      • If the smell had texture, what would it feel like? Fine grit? A thick, soft blanket?<\/li>\n
      • Where is the smell coming from? Who or what is making the smell?<\/li>\n
      • What is it doing to you?<\/li>\n
      • What does it make you want to do?<\/li>\n
      • Is it associated with a time of day? What season? What weater?<\/li>\n
      • Is it associated with a time of day? What\u2019s the light like? What angle does it come from?<\/li>\n
      • Is it associated with a place? Where are you most likely to smell it? Indoors or out? What\u2019s around you?<\/li>\n
      • Is it associated with a person or people? Who\u2019s around when you smell it? How do you feel about them?<\/li>\n
      • What does it mean to you? When you smell this smell, what\u2019s going to happen?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          \n
        1. Use these answers to start a poem or story about the smell.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Alternative Prompt: What Lies Beneath<\/strong>
          \nfrom Poets & Writers: The Time Is Now<\/em><\/p>\n

          Beneath the streets of San Francisco lay the remains of dozens of old ships left over from the Gold Rush in the mid-1800s. The\u00a0ships\u00a0transported prospectors hurrying to California, but eventually most were abandoned and buried under landfill as the city grew. Write a short story in which something monumental, such as abandoned vessels, secret documents, or mysterious remains, lies beneath the streets of the city. Which character becomes privy to this once hidden information? How can you be experimental or playful with the evocative image of a city built on top of layers of history?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          PROMPT 2A: THINGS I WOULD DO by Deb Norton from Part Wild: A Writer\u2019s Guide to Harvesting the Creative Power of Resistance Make a list of \u201cThings I Would\/Will Never Do.\u201d Get everything on the page that you consider to be out of bounds, off limits, or out of character …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":624,"featured_media":0,"parent":1237,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"coauthors":[265091],"class_list":["post-2720","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","column","twocol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/624"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2720"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2723,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2720\/revisions\/2723"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}