There’s oil on your computer screen (writing prompt)

There’s oil on your computer screen (writing prompt)

No, not that kind of oil. Not cooking oil, although the man in this photo is using plenty of it. I refer to the Rembrandt-like quality of this photograph. I’ve been looking at this image for ten years. It is one of the most stunning naturally lit, completely undoctored, photographs I have seen in those ten years.

This photograph carries with it profound and poignant meaning beyond the simple act of making poori, beyond its composition, light, and saturated colors, beyond its timelessness. It carries the stories of a quarter million people who perished ten years ago in a violent natural cataclysm that devastated the shores of eleven countries. No doubt you know which event I’m referring to. Its tenth anniversary is coming up this December 26.

Today I’m sharing this image with you because I’d like you to write a story about it.

Cyberbullying (writing prompt)

Cyberbullying (writing prompt)

I recently read an article in the Guardian that was so wild, so novelesque, that I thought it would make the perfect writing prompt. Here’s the gist: When a first-time author is “cyberbullied” on Goodreads by a book reviewer with a reputation for hurting authors’ reputations, she becomes obsessed with finding out the reviewers true identity.

This Image Writing Prompt Will Inspire You

This Image Writing Prompt Will Inspire You

Images inspire me. They get me from Point A to Point B. They allow me to see the story before the story every touches paper. And image can be the perfect impetus for a deadlocked storyline.

Today I want you to be inspired. Let’s use imagery to push our writing further. Let’s dig deep and find the meaning behind the image.