Pictures to prose...
This is not a report of the weekend - suffice it to say I had a brilliant time, and we got home without incident last night. Oh, and that speakr2customrs and I would recommend ‘Mint’ (one of the three Indian eateries across the road from the hotel) if you enjoy Indian food!
Rather, it is a write-up of my Sunday morning presentation.
Those who were at the WriterConUK meet will remember that the subject of my, short, presentation was ‘Pictures as Inspiration, or why it would be good to have a photo-challenge as well as a banner grab…’
OK - not the snappiest of titles, I admit!
The gist of it was that the lovely banners do, most certainly, inspire the writers to write - but are, by their nature, fandom (and even character) specific.
However when doing the 365 project, involving taking a photo a day, I found that pictures of places or objects can inspire people to write stories.
This picture -
Is really the one that made me think about this seriously. It inspired just_ann_now to write this short story. (Go, read, only 1235 words, gently slashy, a LotR/Swordspoint story - I must read some of the Swordspoint books sometime - but, even without knowing the Swordspoint character, the characterisations of the LotR characters is so funny - and the last line just wonderful!)
I will continue this under the cut, although I have included only a few more pictures here, and a link to the rest of them…
I have taken quite a few pictures of gateways and entrances - they do lead you to think ‘what is through there?’ This one turns up in this chapter of my own Winter Tale -
And this one is going to turn up in TWO of the stories for Plot Without Porn -
brutti_ma_buoni and I were discussing the picture and the discussion sparked both of us off. It will be interesting to see what our stories (in different fandoms) have in common and where they differ!
booster17 did mention, in Coventry, that he thought it would be fun to try to use it for a third…
But, obviously, pictures don’t have to be of gateways! How about this one, that gillo kindly contributed -
It inspired her to write this story - the name of the shop was certainly a trigger - but what it sold contributed to the tale, too.
Or what could be happening, or about to happen, in this one?
As I put each picture onto the screen I asked everyone for suggestions as to what the story might be to go with the picture - and it certainly helped people to wake up properly and get their brains going!
I have grouped together the 20 pictures I used in a set here on my Flickr account. Guess which one led to thoughts on Fairy Spike, and which one means that wildecate can't face reading 'Wind in the Willows' to her son since the mention of Ratty/Mole fic...
I suggested we ask for pictures for a challenge for next year - and this was not only agreed to be a good thing, but there is the thought that it might be good to do something like that well before next year’s event. kazzy_cee suggested in her post that the photos could also be a challenge to the artists to use them for banners and fan-art - which I think is a brilliant idea.
So, photographers think about your pictures ready to inspire yourselves, and especially others, to write.
Please, please, feel free to use any of those 20 pictures to set you off on a story, be it a drabble or an epic. But I would ask that you post a link to it, or even the story itself, here at the WriterConUK journal.
Rather, it is a write-up of my Sunday morning presentation.
Those who were at the WriterConUK meet will remember that the subject of my, short, presentation was ‘Pictures as Inspiration, or why it would be good to have a photo-challenge as well as a banner grab…’
OK - not the snappiest of titles, I admit!
The gist of it was that the lovely banners do, most certainly, inspire the writers to write - but are, by their nature, fandom (and even character) specific.
However when doing the 365 project, involving taking a photo a day, I found that pictures of places or objects can inspire people to write stories.
This picture -
Is really the one that made me think about this seriously. It inspired just_ann_now to write this short story. (Go, read, only 1235 words, gently slashy, a LotR/Swordspoint story - I must read some of the Swordspoint books sometime - but, even without knowing the Swordspoint character, the characterisations of the LotR characters is so funny - and the last line just wonderful!)
I will continue this under the cut, although I have included only a few more pictures here, and a link to the rest of them…
I have taken quite a few pictures of gateways and entrances - they do lead you to think ‘what is through there?’ This one turns up in this chapter of my own Winter Tale -
And this one is going to turn up in TWO of the stories for Plot Without Porn -
brutti_ma_buoni and I were discussing the picture and the discussion sparked both of us off. It will be interesting to see what our stories (in different fandoms) have in common and where they differ!
booster17 did mention, in Coventry, that he thought it would be fun to try to use it for a third…
But, obviously, pictures don’t have to be of gateways! How about this one, that gillo kindly contributed -
It inspired her to write this story - the name of the shop was certainly a trigger - but what it sold contributed to the tale, too.
Or what could be happening, or about to happen, in this one?
As I put each picture onto the screen I asked everyone for suggestions as to what the story might be to go with the picture - and it certainly helped people to wake up properly and get their brains going!
I have grouped together the 20 pictures I used in a set here on my Flickr account. Guess which one led to thoughts on Fairy Spike, and which one means that wildecate can't face reading 'Wind in the Willows' to her son since the mention of Ratty/Mole fic...
I suggested we ask for pictures for a challenge for next year - and this was not only agreed to be a good thing, but there is the thought that it might be good to do something like that well before next year’s event. kazzy_cee suggested in her post that the photos could also be a challenge to the artists to use them for banners and fan-art - which I think is a brilliant idea.
So, photographers think about your pictures ready to inspire yourselves, and especially others, to write.
Please, please, feel free to use any of those 20 pictures to set you off on a story, be it a drabble or an epic. But I would ask that you post a link to it, or even the story itself, here at the WriterConUK journal.