A Late Thursday Evening/Almost Friday Morning Prompt

Posted: August 5th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized |

Hello, cherubs.  I, the Intern at WWLA, find myself in a state somewhere between ecstasy (Vicodin), profound loss (teeth) and profound gain (cheek… I’m experiencing so much cheek right now)– for I had my wisdom teeth removed only yesterday.  And, with four stitched, puss-packed caverns canoodling with my nerve endings, I cannot tell whether the tickling, urging sensation I’m getting to give a prompt to any loyal WWLA followers is a result of the ecstasy, the loss, or the gain.  But I certainly can tell this:

Write about a part of your body– start by exploring the basics– its weight, appearance, functions.  Then get a bit sociological– how do people perceive this part of your body, and, depending on the body part, how might this corporeal nub (crevice, cranny, nook, nubbin, nodule or what have you) react to this perception?  Think of images with which this part can be personified– for example, I recently remarked, upon looking at a dental X-ray, that teeth look like headless synchronized swimmers.  Once you’ve brainstormed with these basics, write a story or a whatever with a character whose main drive originates in this (sure-to-be-ranging-in-obscurity) body part.  Think Baudelaire’s Spleen. Think Dolly Parton’s Boob. How can this character’s mentality and physicality be affected by such an authoritative little giblet?  Likewise with their speech pattern– what is the rhythm of that body part?  How can a body part be synecdochic of an entire person, and what would be this person’s role in a story?  Perhaps it is unnecessary to divulge the exact organ or part that was the seed for this character, but rather to try this as a new (perhaps roundabout) way of creating detailed, useful and vital characters with a core function.

–A Toothless, Nameless Intern

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