writing prompt

Yesterday’s prompt was “You are asleep. You’re not at home.” Today’s was “Write about a town you’ve passed through.”

Both sessions were good, and both provided a lot of fodder for thought.

As I said before, I’ve lost that emotional connection with my writing. Yesterday’s prompt led to more of the Alice and Tom story — Alice falling asleep on a train and having a dream. While I had a huge emotional connection to the story, as well as doing a lot of craft stuff (making sure the symbolism worked), I came to the realization (that I’ve had before) that one of the reasons why I have problems writing certain characters is because emotionally they are unaware. They lie to themselves about how they’re feeling. They aren’t processing with what is happening, they’re pushing it off, burying it, ignoring it. They aren’t being emotionally true to themselves.

I’m probably over thinking this, because the characters are still real and are having real emotions. They’re just covering them up, pretending they aren’t having them, focusing on something else. It’s very real, in some senses, because it’s what people do. But it isn’t real, that emotional connection isn’t real, in another sense.

Today’s prompt was a bit difficult to get into. I’m trying to write fiction with every prompt, not journaling. So I started with Bella, then started describing a town, which turned into Laramie. And boy, do I have a lot of emotions and feelings about that place that I was able to draw from and get onto the page. It wasn’t cathartic, but it did turn into a really interesting exercise in writing description with emotion. It eventually turned into a story that I’ll never write about the rocks taking over people’s yards and houses (after first taking over their thoughts and hearts. . .picnic for Freud, anyone?)

I’m going to do some more writing this morning, I believe. Then I’m getting together with friends for a late brunch, after which we’re going to go see, “Thank you for Smoking.”

Hope ya’ll are having a wonderful weekend!