Purse Prompts: New York Skyline
- Gina Greenlee, Author
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Use this purse-inspired step-by-step template as a writing prompt.
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What’s the Point, of Purse Prompts, You Ask?
Fun way to fill a blank page. Blank pages keep folks from starting projects.
You are getting your “reps” in, working and strengthening a muscle of getting started and getting on with it. With more reps, each time you work the muscle the lift gets easier. For writers, the art of noticing is like singers and musicians practicing scales to remain grounded in the basics of craft.
It’s fun. We’re more inclined to engage joy, not drudgery. One of my mentors/teachers, Lynda Barry says, “the best way to write is to let the image pull you. You should be water-skiing behind it, not dragging it like a barge. Writing should take you for a ride.”
You engage and strengthen your sensory awareness muscles with the “Feels, Sounds, Smells, Tastes, Looks” lists. Often, one of our senses we rely on more heavily than others. And that shows in our writing. For me, it’s visual. I neglect to describe the full human sensory experience. This list prompts me to be more present with all of my senses in my daily life moments and by extension my writing. It’s great muscle building for objective observation.
You are playing. Imagination is a playground. So many adults, particularly in the United States, neglect play. Purse Prompts will help you remember to engage play regularly.
Fodder, fodder and more fodder. From this one page I see ready-made, no-need-to-edit poems. Great opening lines for anything – novel, blog post, narrative non-fiction. I’ll prove it. See what I created below from this simple play prompt: my purse.
Below is how my prompt play turned out based on the purse that is the headline image:
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It has been extremely useful Einsteining my closet.
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Opening line (from 5-minute free write):
She didn’t need a purse and eight pounds of jewelry and other accoutrement to be beautiful.
I am…
Ol’ skool New York
Chrysler, Empire State Buildings
And Brooklyn Bridge.
I notice…
The clouds and shadows in the background.
Feels (Emotions), Sounds, Smells, Tastes, Looks Like…
Feels like a time gone by, a piece of history
Sounds loud, clanging, screechy.
Smells humid, putrid from the mountains of garbage piled on neighborhood street corners and in back alleys.
Tastes like the best street food around.
Looks like a place I’m glad I don’t live in anymore; its too muchness is too much.
This reminds me of…
Time spent in Times Square shopping in the tourist haunts for skyline imagery.
I wish…
I could have this purse repaired without it costing me a month’s rent.
Fictional story prompt (from 5-minute free write)
I think if I had kept the dolls, they only would have reminded me of the betrayal I felt.
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Muscular Description
Shopping in tourist haunts for skyline imagery.
She didn’t need a purse and eight pounds of jewelry to be beautiful. She was like a piece of history, a time gone by.
Intriguing Opening Lines
The dolls only reminded me of the betrayal I felt.
Time spent in Times Square.
Poetry that Writes Itself
Humid, putrid
garbage mountains piled
on neighborhood
street corners, and in alleys.
I’m glad I don’t live in it anymore;
its too muchness is too much.
Loud, clanging, screechy.
The clouds and shadows in the background.
Chrysler, Empire State Building.
The Brooklyn Bridge. Ol’ skool New York.
The best street food around.
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