Creative Writing Prompt #18 In the Box with Joseph Cornell Joseph Cornell made boxes. Poetry in boxes, if you ask me. Cornell is known as a pioneer of an artistic genre that some call assemblage. To avoid an art history lesson here, the short version is that Cornell created three-dimensional, boxed compositions using objects from... Continue Reading →

Creative Writing Prompt #17 Collage One of the most important elements of my poetry writing comes from the collages I create. I cut out images from magazines and newspapers, collect postcards of particularly interesting works of art from museum gift shops, gather brochures and unusual photos. If it looks cool and strikes a chord with... Continue Reading →

Creative Writing Prompt #16 Bad, Banned, and Beyond Sometimes it feels soooo good to do something bad... or, at least, something that's perceived to be bad. Earlier this week, Sara posted about the American Library Association's top 10 challenged books of 2009. Twilight made the list, as did To Kill a Mockingbird. These things are... Continue Reading →

Creative Writing Prompt #15 Titanic Events In the wee hours of April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic sunk in the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Ironically, April 15 is also tax day. Who decided that one? This shared date leads me to reference that oft-uttered phrase from Daniel Defoe and Benjamin Franklin (I am... Continue Reading →

To continue our week of posts dedicated to Sylvia Plath, we have a creative writing prompt associated with her specifically. Since what Plath wrote was often considered confessional poetry, write a poem that reveals a deep feeling or belief that you have inside. It need not be completely literal - allusion is very effective in... Continue Reading →

Creative Writing Prompt #14 Social Media Musings I'm gonna go out on a limb and bet that you're a Facebook and/or Twitter user. Maybe you even have your own blog. Chances are, there is some sort of social media in which you're involved... even if it's only commenting on a site like Novel Novice. Today,... Continue Reading →

Creative Writing Prompt #13 Did You or Didn't You? Every poet has a poem that just isn't going anywhere (in fact, most poets would say that there are plen-ty of poems in their notebook that are in need of direction). So take one of the poems you've abandoned, or one that you've just ignored for... Continue Reading →

Creative Writing Prompt #12 Cancel It Out Curiosity created the poet. And you begin to satisfy curiosity by asking questions. So write a poem composed entirely of questions. Choose a person you're asking them of and write to them, without actually saying you're writing to them. Or ask questions of various people, perhaps changing the... Continue Reading →

Creative Writing Prompt #11 Music Muse Sometimes I'll run across a poetry collection that makes interesting use of a fictional character or takes liberties with "truths" about a real individual. Some poets have written several pieces, or even an entire book, about a mythological deity, a celebrity, or another poet (stay tuned for more on... Continue Reading →

Creative Writing Prompt #10 Hitting the Right Notes Write a poem while listening to music. (Perhaps one of the songs featured in today's earlier post. Maybe a new album you bought or the latest soundtrack. For Twilight fans, you already know how inspired Stephenie Meyer was by specific bands and songs as she penned her... Continue Reading →