In times of chaos, finding a sense of rootedness can provide a powerful anchor. This month’s prompt invites you to explore this theme with clear, step-by-step guidance to help you craft your piece.
FICTION
- Character Development: Create a character who is dealing with a chaotic situation. Write a brief background for them, detailing their personality, experiences, and what brings them stability.
- Inciting Incident: Describe a moment of chaos that disrupts your character’s life. Focus on how this upheaval affects them emotionally and physically.
- Second Act Insight: In the second act of your story, write a scene where your character actively seeks out a familiar place, object, or practice that symbolizes their sense of rootedness. Show how this connection provides them with a moment of clarity and insight, helping them find a solution or strength that will be crucial in unlocking their success in the third act. Use detailed descriptions to illustrate how this moment brings them back to a sense of calm and stability.
ESSAYISTS
- Fragmented Structure: Write a fragmented essay that alternates between sections of rootedness and sections of chaos.
- Alternating Sections: Create sections that focus on things that bring you a sense of stability (rootedness) and contrast them with sections that explore sources of uncertainty or chaos in your life (unrootedness). Aim for three rooted sections and three unrooted sections.
- Juxtaposition and Reflection: Allow the juxtaposition between rooted and unrooted sections to create subtext. Weave in reflective insights in each section, exploring how the interplay between stability and chaos shapes your understanding of rootedness. Let your essay speak to the theme of “identifying and embracing sources of stability in times of chaos” as a radical act of rebellion to the forces of chaos.
POETS
- Identify a Symbol: Choose a symbol that represents rootedness to you, such as a tree, rock, or any personal object.
- Contrasting Imagery: Write a poem that contrasts this symbol with the chaos around it. Use vivid imagery to paint a picture of both the turmoil and the stability.
- Final Reflection: End your poem with a line or stanza that encapsulates the sense of peace and rootedness found amid the chaos.