Today's Pumping Your Muse prompt is a picture prompt writing exercise. I chose these images to challenge your muse to describe something new with elements of things familiar. As writers, no matter our genre, we will come across things we need to describe that stump us. The more we write, the more we learn to overcome these challenges.
I remember when writing The Inheritance coming across a scene where it said the character gave an incredulous look. I stopped. The choice of words showed nothing. It screamed "passive telling." Something we don't want in our writing. I looked up the word hoping to find a something more descriptive but it didn't help. So I went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror and practiced giving an incredulous look. That visual helped me find the words I needed. You know, the lip curling into a sneer kind of thing.
Today's writing exercise: picture prompt
Using a picture prompt can do the same with your backdrop; your worldbuilding. I chose the image below because I think it is different enough to challenge most of you, but also creative enough to inspire fantasy writers and children's writers. The idea is to challenge your muse to describe what you see, but don't limit it to the sense of sight. Include strong verbs that let the reader feel, smell, and sense where they are. If this picture doesn't inspire, use one of the others above.
The benefit of this writing exercise
Why practice describing something unfamiliar, different, or unknown to you? Because you will come across such things in your writing. When I was ghostwriting western romance, I had plenty of things I had to research and describe. Like the inside of a train carrying passengers from New York to Cheyenne. As a fantasy writer, I often describe things not of this world. What does the portal look like? How does it work? Does it have a smell? Or showing how magic works. In my current WIP, one of the characters has the ability to make things grow, and when he comes across a swath of trees cut down by loggers, he uses his magic to tap into the life in the stumps and regrow the trees quickly. I thought time lapse photography, but what about how it feels? What about the smell? Include the senses as your write your description. Enjoy the journey!
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Image credit: Artist Iris Esther
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