Monday, January 31, 2011

Something (300 words)

For the third of last week's journals I asked my writers to describe a thing. The problem, or maybe advantage, of prompts like these is that I actually don't enjoy them. Instead I spent an awful lot of time debating and considering what "thing" I should describe, and how I should describe it. Should I write about the house I'm living, or one of my dogs, or what? By the way, it might be considered an advantage because it means that I recognize the limitations of the prompt and why I should actively avoid using it in the future.

A sidenote here--please keep in mind that 300 word posts should be reasonably coherent, but are not required to be deeply meaningful.

Prompt writing, like assignment-writing, is a blend of art and function. Too much art, and the prompt doesn't make sense (eg: Write a detailed personal-experience narrative that describes how you feel while eating burned popcorn and following the principles of Feng Shui); too much function (Describe an object) and it becomes--like this one--too vague. Knowing where the two meet, though, isn't as simple as it sounds. Mostly it requires a fair amount of trial and error and a willingness to get it completely wrong from time to time. Good (or even reasonably competent ones like myself) teachers are always trying new things. The ones that work, we keep. The ones that, if we're smart, we discard and never speak of them again.

So next time, I think I'm going to try to split the difference and maybe assign something like "Describe a moment in time that took your breath away." A little room for art, a little space for function, and hopefully a chance at some creativity that "describe a thing" sorely lacks. I suppose even "Describe an inanimate object that, when you see or use it, makes you happy" would be more effective.

And there, I just wrote 328 words about a writing prompt.

2 comments:

  1. I was once asked in a job interview to describe a pencil without using my hands. Try it. Virtually impossible.
    Strangely, feelings a easier to describe.

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  2. is there like a thing that tells us how many words we use or do we have to type it in word to find it out. im kind of guessing at this point

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