Where Is Your Writing From?

Monday when rock star teacher Brandie Trent led the Morehead Writing Project‘s Spring 2017 Teen Writers Day Out I was inspired by a prompt that she threw out to us. She asked us to consider where our writing is from. This prompt was an alternative to those of us who have already written about our origins many times and weren’t interested in pursuing that idea at the moment. I do love writing about my origin story, but that day I wasn’t in the mood for it, But to think about where my writing comes from…now that intrigued me. 

One of my table partners and I chose to write very visceral pieces about the well-spring of our writing full of sensory and descriptive detail. Turns out we both were writing from pretty dark places at the moment. Perhaps we were influencing each other, but it had to be some sort of telepathy as we didn’t share our ideas before we wrote.

Sometimes the air is thick and heavy like a thunderstorm is about to unravel. Tall, dark trees overarch the fetid swamp while drapes of moss trail through dark pools of unknown depth. Unseen monsters lurk beneath ready pull the unwary down to drown, rot, and turn to carrion.

I told you it was dark, but then my writing is in a pretty dark place right now. I’m writing things out a lot just to help me cope. I’ve attended some pretty interesting writing events recently and hope to share some of those prompts with you soon, but for now I thought you might enjoy exploring the source of your writing.

And this prompt offers a great deal of potential for other forms of exploration. For example, if you are also in a dark place perhaps you should explore the origins of that darkness — in a more metaphorical sense. I’m thinking about doing that too. Let me know, using the #JustWrite hashtag, if you explore any of your origin stories in this way whether they lead you to poetry, prose, or some remediated form.