Create a Short Story based on an image. Inspired by the timeless saying “A Picture’s worth a Thousand Words,” this type of exercise is utilized regularly to get students’ creative energies flowing and inspire ideas for short stories. For one minute a writer will observe an image (a painting, photograph, digital art piece, etc.) and take in as much as they can of the image. Then, you will call upon whatever creative ideas came to mind while observing and write a one to two-page short story based on the image.
STEPS:
1. Seek. Either find a picture you would like to use for this exercise or use a pre-selected option provided to you.
2. Analyze the image. Take in as much of that image for one minute and note any ideas you get from it for story crafting.
3. Draft. Once the minute is up, begin writing a draft for a short story and focus on it for the next hour or so. Attempt to craft whatever narrative the image made you dream up and explore those thoughts to your hearts content!
4. Draft some more. The saying may be “a thousand words”, but don’t be pressured to try and get that much down if you can’t. Aim for one to two pages to get as concise and tight a story as you can, but don’t be afraid to expand on it if you feel inspired!
5) Explore. Don’t be stressed to make it perfect. Drafts are meant to be written and then rewritten many, many, MANY times over. Just use this as an opportunity for exploration.
6. Have fun!
By Jake Semerdjian
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