Build life into a scene with background action: written in 10 minutes
To build life into a scene, look beyond the story you’re telling. Humans aren’t the only living creatures in the world, even if they’re the main characters in your story! Look for what other life and activity might be going on, not just the primary narrative taking place. (W. H. Auden’s poem “Musée des Beaux-Arts” describes Bruegel’s use of this technique: to hear the poem, click here.)
Inspired by Peter Rodulfo’s marvelous painting of a lonely seaside, Arlene Cydna Shapiro captured the energy of a seagull, weaving words from our Prompt of the Week community list into material dense with atmospheric detail. Just imagine how these phrases and images could build life into whatever scene might take place in this location.
If you’d like to explore using random prompts to build life and atmosphere into a scene, join us any Saturday for our Prompt of the Week gathering. The Zoom link is on our homepage: click here.
All the fat ones got their fill, off to their nests, later, to scavenge the post-gastronomical leftovers tossed and missed into the trashcans in waiting.
I'm early. No smells of cooking. No smells of trash and urine after dawn in the lull of the sun. Just me and the frozen custard swirl, human-watching, not a car in the parking lot between Pacific Coast Higway 101 and Balboa's peaceful Pacific.
What a random oddness, the high tide drain tilt of it all, the Hopperish serene scene. Solitary. Bored. Waiting.
Waiting for an end of a hot dog bun soggy with yellow mustard, the crumble of chips at the end of the bag, a French fry here, a pickle there, a bite of an egg, a strip of bacon just for me. If only I have timed this right, got the edge to fill my hungry.
Let the Imaginative Storm inspire you! You can find an archive of great writing prompts on the Imaginative Storm Circle and on our YouTube channel, as well as daily prompts on Instagram @imaginativestorm).
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