March Prompt

Last month’s prompt was just three words: Arthurian, Invention, and Priest.

What I came up with was the story Sir Gawain and the Priest. The story that evolved was an epistolary short story. This is my first attempt to write a story entirely in letter form. I really enjoyed the outcome. I feel like I could have added more to this story but the end of the month came after only 28 days last month… funny how that works.

In addition to my own story, if you get a chance, read another take on February’s prompt. My friend Jennifer’s story can be found on her blog.

If you want to join us this month, March’s prompt is being taken from yet another source. For this month, I am turning to a book called The Writer’s Block. If you haven’t seen it before, it’s a little book that has pages with story prompts. The suggestions vary in their type from one word “spark words” to just pictures and even suggestions from well-known literary figures.

March’s prompt from The Writer’s Block (with some modifications):

A.S. Byatt won a Booker Prize and international acclaim with her novel Possession, a genre-bending story-within-a-story about two young scholars researching a pair of Victorian poets. More recently, she completed The Matisse Stories, a trilogy of stories that all concern (at some level) the life and works of the modern French painter. In an interview with The Writer magazine, Byatt explained that all three stories developed individually, and linking them together was not her original intention: “It was more that I am totally obsessed with Matisse. He sort of gets into everything I do. He’s my touchstone for art, the importance of art, as opposed to anything else, in its purest, most uncompromising state.”

Is there a visual artist who influences your work? Perhaps you’re mesmerized by the surreal designs of M.C. Escher, or the all American tableaus of Norman Rockwell. Whoever influences you, write a story inspired by that artist. Your story could focus on a specific piece or details of the artist’s life.

I am really excited about this prompt. I recently read the novel Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore that creates a fictional story surrounding the lives of several impressionist painters. It was amazing! I loved how Moore pulled in facts and incorporated works of art into the story line and then added his own unique twisted sense of humor.

Happy reading and writing this month!

Next story to be posted: March 31, 2015