In the autumn of 2020, it was tasked in one of my creative writing classes, led by esteemed professor and writer Matthew Rohrer, for us to come up with our own generative writing prompts. The class of 10-12 students would all present their prompts as a completed project and then we would all benefit and learn other writers’ prompts.
My life, before Slow Fiction was a possibility, or a dream for that matter, was still guided by music in a major way, so I knew the generative prompt I created would somehow be intertwined with music.
At the time in my life, I had just experienced the first semblance of adult heartache, which was such an important learning and growing experience.
One day, I was sat in Tompkins Sq Park and decided to try something. I opened my notebook, opened Spotify, pressed play on the Talking Heads self titled album, and began writing. Here’s the prompt I developed in that moment:
Pick an album
Pick up a pen
Write until the first song ends
For the next song, a new piece of writing begins
By the end of listening to the album, you should have the same amount of poems/writings as there are songs on the record
Now here’s the trick… you can’t add any additional words afterwards. This is your practice in the art of subtraction and minimalism. You may take away words or replace for a synonym you like better. But no additions.
Finally, be proud! It took you the course of an album to write a bunch of cool new poems, maybe you’ll end up with something you never could’ve dreamed.
Now, I’ve attached my project “For The Records” which includes four of my journeys with four different albums. In the pdf, I linked the albums so you can listen to the records while you read what I came up with. I guess this is my way of letting go of these pieces and sharing the prompt for others to use if they so desire.
Maybe you’ll find something incredible too.
Always,
Julia
What a fun conceit!