Friday, May 27th, 2011

Writing Prompt – Going Somewhere?

Map of Inner Harbor BaltimoreI never drive anywhere new without a map.

I think I’ve mentioned before that sometimes I have a map and a GPS, and I still manage to get lost. That’s just me.

Lately, I’ve been looking at maps, deciding where I might like to take some day trips this summer. I’m looking at museums, hiking trails, adventure stuff.

(Some decisions will be made by the apparent ease of getting there. Too many turns, and I’m not going…or I’ll take a navigator. Who’s up for a road trip this summer?)

The Yahoo map to the right has a star marking St. Michael’s Church in Baltimore. I might take trip there to investigate more family genealogy.

Here’s Your Prompt:

In honor of spring and planning summer and fall trips, here are some prompts about maps. You can write a poem, a story, a scene, anything that comes to mind inspired by these:

  • Lost again!
     
  • You’re in uncharted territory…
     
  • “Far, far across the crimsoned map the impassioned armies sweep.” – (from ‘The Superman’ by Robert Grant)
     
  • A secret location…
     
  • “A barnyard and fifteen Holstein cows, dabs of white on a black wall map, never blink an eye.” – (from Still Life’ by Carl Sandburg)
     
  • He had never passed this way before…
     
  • “Because he had no map, he followed…” – (from Sandy Star and Willie Gee by William Stanley Braithwaite)
     
  • Here’s a map to my heart.
     
  • He was mapping a sentence when…
     
  • …is only to be considered as a general map of Man, marking out no more than the greater parts, their extent, their limits, and their connection, but leaving… (from An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope)
     
  • Following the map of your desires…
     
  • A mile and a half beyond the yellow barn…
     
  • She opened the tattered envelope and pulled out a map to…
     

Have fun!

4 comments to Writing Prompt – Going Somewhere?

  • As always, awesome prompt! I’m cleaning up our membership database at work; most of our members are Latino and as I go through the names I realize how limited I’ve been with naming my characters. So many unique and fascinating names! Or even how names can sound different to a different culture – the rather pedestrian Joel (one syllable) becomes Jo-el to the Spanish speaker. Or the musicality of Isais: I-say-ice. Of course, I did feel bad for the child whose parents named her Antipathy – I’m hoping they just liked the sound of it and didn’t know what it meant. Of course, my husband says he thinks larceny, villainy, and misery sound like perfect girls’ names (and has threatened to name our daughters such if we ever have any), so what do I know? 🙂

    • Thanks, Terri!

      Names are so hard for me when I write. They have to “sound” right to my ear before I’ll name a character. Hunting down the perfect one can be daunting!

      I like your husband’s take on girls’ names! (But you’re right, poor Antipathy. It does *sound* good though.)

  • Gayle G.

    I loved the first one. That has all sorts of possibilities, particularly if you are building a fantasy world and your right to study and practice magic is tied to the new registered name. Maybe I should stop reading blogs and go write about that:)

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