Purse Prompts: Silver Blue-Grey Crochet
- Gina Greenlee, Author
- Mar 15
- 5 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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I’m thinking, very large disco bag.
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Opening line (from 5-minute free write):
Historically, people came to Sarasota with money, looking to spend some of it, bequeath more of it. I was still looking to earn it.
I am…
Gaping from the neck down.
Wide open.
Spangles hang; knit supports.
Unique, a halter that looks like a bag or a bag that’s also a halter.
An accessory Gina wishes she could wear;
she wants me as fabric for designing.
She had a dress like me once.
It looked amazing on her.
She gave it away, like she does everything else.
I notice…
… silvery charcoal blue discs that look like they belong on the hem of a go-go dress. The way the sunlight from the window hits the purse, some of the dangling discs look silver, almost white. Others look almost navy to black.
Feels (Emotions), Sounds, Smells, Tastes, Looks Like…
Feels like I could own a room if I could walk into one. I feel deep, resonant, certain; grounded.
Sounds like flapping feathers of small birds.
Smells like fresh pine on a crisp winter morning.
Tastes like tangy, sour hard candy.
Looks like an alien’s knapsack.
This reminds me of…
Twiggy.
Flappers in the ’20s of which Twiggy was a throwback.
Sequined humpty dumpty.
A dress I wore as a young girl of 8: a white bubbled mini dress with long sleeves. The white knit had sparkly silver fibers woven into it. I loved that dress.
I wish…
I could wear this as a miniskirt but even at age 10 I didn’t have the legs for it. I was and am “thick.”
Fictional story prompt (from 5-minute free write)
I’m happier now when not ruminating.
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Description For A Novel Scene
The flapping feathers of small birds owned the room; deep, resonant, certain; grounded.
Muscular Description
Fresh, tangy pine on a crisp winter morning.
Intriguing Opening Line
Sour hard candy from an alien’s knapsack.
Poetry that Writes Itself
Gaping from the neck down.
Spangles hang; knit supports.
Quarter-Sized Sequins.
She had a dress like this once.
It looked amazing on her.
She gave it away, like she does everything else.
Create a Word Hoard
Add the results of your prompts to a large singular body of text. Play with them as found poems, opening lines, descriptive passages, inspiration for a novel or short story.
Below, I simply collected the results from my writing into a single paragraph. No thought or plan:
Quarter-Sized Sequins large disco bag. Historically, people came to Sarasota with money, looking to spend some of it, bequeath more of it. I was still looking to earn it. I am gaping from the neck down. Wide open. Spangles hang; knit supports. Unique, a halter that looks like a bag or a bag that’s also a halter. An accessory Gina wishes she could wear; she wants me as fabric for designing. She had a dress like me once. It looked amazing on her. She gave it away, like she does everything else. I notice silvery charcoal blue discs that look like they belong on the hem of a go-go dress. The way the sunlight from the window hits the purse, some of the dangling discs look silver, almost white. Others look almost navy to black. Feels (Emotions), Sounds, Smells, Tastes, Looks Like Feels like I could own a room if I could walk into one. I feel deep, resonant, certain; grounded. Sounds like flapping feathers of small birds. Smells like fresh pine on a crisp winter morning. Tastes like tangy, sour hard candy. Looks like an alien’s knapsack. This reminds me of Twiggy. Flappers in the ’20s of which Twiggy was a throwback. Sequined humpty dumpty. A dress I wore as a young girl of 8: a white bubbled mini dress with long sleeves. The white knit had sparkly silver fibers woven into it. I loved that dress. I wish I could wear this as a miniskirt but even at age 10 I didn’t have the legs for it. I was and am “thick.” I’m happier now when not ruminating.
So, I will keep this hoard and add to it over time and then dip into it for inspiration, a place to find a word or phrase to dress a blank page. So, it becomes a repository, a tool chest to return to whenever I wish. Also, for fun, I decided to play with this hoard and create by following my intuition:
1
Large disco bag.
Quarter-Sized Sequins.
Spending some of it.
Still looking to earn it.
2
Gaping from the neck down.
A dress like me looked amazing on her.
Spangles hang; knit supports.
Silvery charcoal blue.
Navy to black.
Deep, resonant, certain.
A go-go dress hem.
Small birds feather flap.
Even at age 10 I didn’t have the legs for a miniskirt.
I’m happier now when not ruminating.
3
Sunlight from the window
mounts dangling discs,
looks silver, almost white.
Fresh pine in crisp winter.
Cut it Up
Enter prompted writing such as the word hoard into the Cut-Up Machine. I think of it as collaging with words. The Cut-Up Machine flips words out of order providing a fresh storytelling perspective. The words make grammatical sense but express surreal meaning, which is fun to play with as I have below:
That flapping room of sunlight looks gaping. Quarter loved the smells, the wide sounds. Resonant tastes like hanging neck pine. A throwback, a knapsack, a design on the go. Dangling, I want some. A small dose of bubbled sequins, a dress of hard crisp woven eight.
A girl reminds me of a dumpy flapper grounded in a sparkly white halter. Morning age, silver window supported everything she feels charcoal deep. Thick walk of happy fabric and hem money. Tangy purse and fresh doses of legs. Twenty dresses sized in feels.
These fibers wish miniskirt necessity, historically. Black feathers taste like sleeves worn unique. Spangles hit the wishes still young.
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