AUTHOR KRIS WALDHERR POSTED A LINK to a wonderfully fresh Ploughshares article titled “Writing with Abstract Art.” In the article, writer Anca Szilagyi discusses approaches
to ekphrastic writing, or, writing about art. In this post, we’ll explore writing prompts: responding to abstract art. Read on for some get-your-motor-running writing prompts that are a sure bet to spark some surprising work!
Writing Prompts: Responding to Abstract Art!
If you’ve never tried ekphrastic writing, you’re in for a treat. The idea is simple: choose a work of art, spend some time looking at it, and let your imagination take over. You might find yourself describing what you see, but the real fun begins when you move beyond description and discover what the artwork suggests to you.
Abstract art is particularly interesting as a starting point for creative writing because it doesn’t necessarily offer a recognizable scene, character, or story. Instead, you’re working with colors, shapes, textures, and the feelings they evoke. There’s no obvious narrative to follow, which means you’re free to invent one of your own.
Try Writing to Abstract Art
Try choosing an abstract painting. (Find a likely candidate online, in a book or magazine, or at a local art gallery or museum.) Look at it for a few minutes without writing anything. Notice where your eye goes first. Does a particular color suggest a mood? Does a shape remind you of something familiar? What might be happening just outside the edges of the canvas?
Now start writing. Don’t worry about making sense or getting it right. Follow whatever associations come to mind, even if they seem peculiar or completely unrelated to the artwork. You might discover the beginnings of a poem, a scene for a story, or an entirely unexpected character.
And isn’t that one of the best things about writing? You never quite know where it will take you.
A Home for Your Art-Inspired Poems
EKPHRASIS: a Poetry Journal, is “looking for well-crafted poems, the main content of which addresses individual works from any artistic genre.” Further, they explain, “Ekphrastic verse transcends mere description: it stands as a transformative critical statement, an original gloss on the individual art piece it addresses.”
Check it out! Give it a go! Might be a market for your mini-masterpiece!
Writing and the visual arts are best friends. And simple writing prompts based on a piece of art can launch a memoir, a novel, a collection of essays! If you’d like to learn more about ways to inspire a book project, visit my contact page, and let’s connect. You might also be interested in my books: Plotting Your Novel with the Plot Clock and Jamie Helps Mel Write a Novel.