Week 6 Prompts: Thinking about Place and Fiction.

1) After re-reading "Man Made of Words," I've been thinking a lot about place. Momaday gives us all a prompt:  

Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures tha are there and all the faintest motions in the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk.

Try to take Momaday's advice, in full or in part. Write about a place that you know well. Try to describe it at every season.

2) Thinking about Fiction: What Makes a Story? Supposedly, Ernest Hemingway once wrote a short story in six words. “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Do you think this constitutes a story? Discuss.

Then, try your hand at writing some 6-word stories. Post at least 2 of them. For inspiration, check out this link to results from a similar exercise by a dozen or so famous horror and science fiction writers in Wired magazine: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html

3) DIY. Do it yourself. Make your own prompt about this week's readings. What speaks to you?