Picture Prompt:
Location, location, location
November is Picture Prompt Month here at Theatrefolk! That means we’ve got a month of picture prompts for your Saturday exercise. Each picture comes with a process that will take students from automatic writing to a monologue.
Ideas can come from anything and everything. But it’s always a good idea to give students a jumping off point. Pictures are a great jumping off point for creative writing.
Click here for a printable PDF of this exercise!
Today we’re looking at location, location, location. Unless a play is taking place on an empty stage you need a location to put your action. Pictures of locations give students a place to visualize their characters.
Using the picture above, take these steps:
- Automatic write on the picture. Set a timer for two minutes and tell students to write down everything and anything that comes to mind when they look at the it. Don’t self-censor or judge any thought, just get it down on the page. Explain to students they’re creating source material from which to draw on for future writing.
- Have students answer the following questions:
- Where is this location?
- What happened here five minutes ago?
- Who took the picture and why?
- Why is this person in the forest?
- What is this person thinking about?
- Is there anything odd about this forest?
- There is someone hiding in the forest. Who is it? Why are they hiding?
- Based on the automatic writing and the answers to the questions, students will write a monologue. Here are some suggestions:
- Write an inner monologue from the perspective of the photographer. What are they thinking about as they look at the forest? What do they want from life?
- Write a monologue where the photographer is saying goodbye to someone who isn’t there. Who are they saying goodbye to and why?
- Write a monologue from the perspective of the photographer. The first line of the monologue is “I know you’re there.”
- Write a monologue from the perspective of the forest. Personify one of the trees. What does the tree want?
- Write a monologue from the perspective of the hiding person. Why are they hiding? What does the hider want?