Today the quick-write prompt that I chose was to write a story from the perspective of another character. This prompt actually coincided nicely with the topic that my writing group chose in my workshop today, although I am tweaking it a bit.
Before I start with my writing, I want to say that I really liked the idea of using a word cloud to help to discover a theme in a piece of text. I think this would be a great experience for students. I also think it would be a good exercise for them in word choice.
Summerfest from the perspective of an inanimate object
Brainstorm: Stage
Spitting Different types of music Breath Heat Over-worked Different shoes
Loud Back breaking with dancing Equipment scrapes Annoying screams
Here are my attempts:
Heat spills off my back
Stomping, jumping, and twirling
Can’t they just stand still?
Ear-piercing sound vibrates through me. Tonight it is one of those pathetic boy band groups. I know I will have to hear teenage screams all night as well as the nauseating music. Every year it seems to get worse. When I first started, the music was decent at least and that made it easier to have the stamina to get through it all. Now, the endurable music is few and far between and I feel exhaustion creeping in. Night after night crews scrape and bump equipment on and off my back without even trying to take care. There are scars and scrapes everywhere showing the long years of service. Every night I endure an endless barrage of mediocre music while supporting multiple areas of my body so that I won’t ache so much in the morning. The worst is when the band is energetic and likes to move. I cringe as their heels dig in every time they jump, twirl, or stomp their way through another song. Each type of shoe brings its own particular brand of torture. Stilettos seem to be made especially to bring pain. Thank goodness I only have to work during the festival season. I am not sure I could survive this workload if I had to do it all year.
Not a lot of writing here but an interesting exercise. I would like to revisit this sometime when I have more time to spend refining it. I can see how an activity like this would work well in the classroom as a prompt.
I love your process for this piece. The brainstorming, the short poem at the beginning and the way you captured the way a stage must "feel".