Writing Prompt Three

This week we’re using an image prompt to help us think about language and description. When we’re setting a scene, often as writers we use the first words that come to mind rather than taking the time to actually experience or imagine a richer, more textured description.

In the photograph for the prompt, you see a snowy landscape with footprints. It would be obvious to use the word cold, but when you touch snow, it doesn’t at first feel cold because it takes a moment for your skin to notice just how cold it really is. Also the word white probably springs to mind. But is the snow here truly white or various shades of grey, blue and yellow? Small details like this shift your writing from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Using less that 400 words describe the setting in this photograph. If you’ve never felt snow, or if it has been years since you’ve seen it, you’ll have to research what it might be like in a snowy landscape. If you live somewhere where snow is a regular occurrence, then take the time to really capture the essence of what a cold, sunny day is like, not just what you think it would be like at first glance. If you want to move toward a poem, please do, if you want to include a narrative, think about who or what might have left those footprints in the snow.