Writing For Writers #4

I'm a fan of children's illustrations like Where's Waldo and Richard Scarry where there are a gazillion things happening on the page. I'm also a fan of paintings that have a big landscape and some little itty bitty thing happening in the corner:

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

incidentally also a William Carlos Williams poem.

Or: Virginia Lee Burton's illustrations for The Little House.

So write a scene that shows a big landscape with something small in the corner. Interpret that how you see fit.

Feel free to post any results in the comments if you like.

Writing for Writers #3

One of my favorite contemporary artists is Amy Cutler:

http://www.tonkonow.com/cutler.html

http://www.artnet.com/artist/4699/amy-cutler.html

and one of the things I like about her work is how it uses bright colors to tell dark stories.

So write a dark story (scene, poem, essay) in bright colors.

Writing for Writers #2

Read Brigit Pegeen Kelly's poem "Three Cows and the Moon" in Song. It's not online, you'll have to hold the book in your grubby hands.

Then write a piece of prose, however long, but longer than you first thought, about a moment in the falling dark.

Writing for Writers #1

1. View one of Gregory Crewdson's staged, incredibly lit photographs:

Victoria & Albert Museum

Luhring Augustine

ArtNet

Guggenheim

White Cube

One of my favorites is Woman in Pool (Twilight).

2. Write a thousand word story or a poem that includes only elements seen in the photo and using the point of view established by the camera. For example, if the camera is outside a window from a middle distance use either a first person narrator who is outside the window or use a third person narrator with a middling psychic distance. (psychic distance is essentially how close or how far the reader feels from the action). Try to find a way to capture what he does with lights in language.