Assignment for April Story Circle

Memoir Writing Prompt:



1. If you have journals or letters, take one day from your past and read about it. It doesn’t need to be a turning point or major life shift. Read the details in that day’s journal entry or in the letter you choose to reread. Does the entry or letter bring back memories of what else was going on in your life? Has your memory of that day changed over the years? Compare the two. Write for 10 minutes about this rediscovery of one day in your life. Focus on as many micro details as possible.

2. If you don’t have a paper trail for your past, choose a day from a previous decade in your life. Go online and read about the events of that date. You can always find news stories from major newspapers and you may be able to find stories from your hometown newspaper. Let those details help spark your time of rediscovering that day in your life. Write for 10 minutes.

How much detail is enough? Too much?

At our Story Circle in February at the Safety Harbor Library your assignment for March was to write a 500 word piece about any topic showing detail from the eye of a camera. What does the camera see?

Focus on detail:
What are the people wearing?
Where are they - in a coffee shop, igloo, home or a hotel?
Colors, sounds, body language?

No need to use all of the above - use some to allow the reader to be in the story.

Want to know more? Follow this link.
Read On...An Excerpt from Authenticating Details by Dave Koch at Gotham Writers' Workshops and WritingClasses.com

See you Wednesday March 16, Safety Harbor Library, 6 p.m. Everyone welcome

Brandon Stanton is a photographer living in New York City his goal is to photograph every person in the city.

So far he's gathered over 1,600 portraits of strangers on the streets, and now is focusing more on their stories, not just the composition behind the photo. Some street photographers hide behind phone booths like paparazzi so their subject won't be aware of their presence, but for Stanton it's precisely that awkward interaction, tearing down of the wall between strangers, that he covets.

"A lot of times I ask these people very personal questions, and they'll answer. They'll tell me everything because a lot of times I'm the only one who's ever asked. I can just tell when I talk to them-- eight million people in this city, and nobody's ever asked about their life."   Recently Stanton spoke to HuffPost:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/04/humans-of-new-york-brandon-stanton_n_831310.html#s248931

Jan says: Everyone has a story. Not everyone has someone or anyone who is interested in listening. As writers--to listen then to record their stories is our gift.