Adventure Series Photo Writing Prompts

France

By Kristi Kovalishyn

The ancient land of the Gauls, the playground of Marie Antoinette, the famous city beloved of so many, this is the France of today. Monuments still stand preserving the past and whispering the future. Enter into the scenes depicted in these pictures and create your own stories. Leave your own footprints across a nation famous for lavender, cheese & wine ... among other things.

Writing Prompt 1:

Describe what you see. Describe what is not seen.

What has the lamp seen throughout its existence? Imagine that the lamp can come alive. What are its characteristics?

Who are the statues? Are these statues fixed to the bridge? If the statues come alive at night, what do they do?

Writing Prompt 2:

Finish this beginning:

Light cascades through the green leaves of a deciduous tree. A willow weeps into the pond, filling it to overflowing. Waterlilies float on the tears. …

OR

Peacefully hidden behind the green, the two lovers gaze out. …

Writing Prompt 3:

Turn off the internal editor and quickly list all the emotions and thoughts that come to your mind. Once you have freely written down everything and you have drained your thoughts, read over your list. What sticks out? Go with your gut instinct. Do not allow yourself to double guess yourself — simply write.

Writing Prompt 4:

Old house, new bike. Young grass, old hedge. Old creamy blocks at the bottom of the house, bright new paint between the windows and dripped onto the blocks below.

Who is inside the house? Does the person/people live here or is it a visit? Why are the upstairs left and right windows open but not the middle one? Is this a lunch time rendezvous, the house of a poet or something else?

Writing Prompt 5:

Complete the description of this setting: Secluded in the garden, half hid by beauty, the busts of the beloved adorn the rockery. Sunshine streams down, breathing life into the leaves, the flowers, the trees.

After you have described what you see in the photograph, describe what can’t be seen: the feelings, emotions and what has not been captured on film.

Writing Prompt 6:

Complete these thoughts:

The face of the house watches the passing of the seasons. The garden glows blue and white in late summer. The green leaves, connected and rooted to the garden by the branches and trunk, stand on guard; sentries at the garden’s edge.

I have come here seeking refuge, my own Eden in a rushed and stressful life.

Writing Prompt 7:

This photograph is the setting of your story. What plot line is inspired by this scene? Who are the characters?

Writing Prompt 8:

These old hidden passage ways, called traboules in French, abound in old Lyons. They were used by the Resistance during WW2. They are covered passageways between buildings, originally constructed to help the silk weavers keep the material dry as they transported it from the river to various shops in town hundreds of years previous. This particular traboule has been converted into the lobby of hotel.

Imagine that you are one of the French Resistance Fighters from days gone by. What do you feel as you re-enter this town and see the passage ways that were a refuge from danger and which provided a means to outsmart the enemy, now harboring tourists? Are you visiting as an older version of your self or are you a ghost?

Go even further back and imagine that you are a silk weaver. Finish this story starter: It is a cold and rainy day. You are safe and dry within the traboules, carrying your precious silk to …. •

Photos and Prompts © 2007 Kristi Kovalishyn. All rights reserved.

About the Author | More by Kristi Tencarre
Kristi Tencarre (formerly Kovalishyn) (B.A., B.Ed.) has had her essays and articles published online and internationally. She is currently working on publishing more articles as well as manuscripts for children's picture books and juvenile fiction. You can browse her blog of writing at skyelarke.blogspot.com.

03/27/07