Friday 9 September 2011

The Hay Incident...

As mentioned in my last post here are a few photos of the hay bales that prevented me having a smooth running Friday last week.

hay bales,A road,pylons,pavements
The Hay Scene

I'm sure this can inspire a story, but I have too many others in my brain at the moment, so if this gives you an idea then go ahead...


Cone,Bale of Hay,Yellow tape,barriers,tape
The Hay Wizard

Personally I find images a great prompt for ideas. In July I did a mini workshop where we used postcards and yes, that story idea is still pending...

Some Victorian artists used their paintings to tell a story and you could take any aspect of such a painting to create a narrative.

Just because a scene is historical it doesn't mean you can't translate it to a modern day situation, and vice versa of course, you just make appropriate adjustments for the time period you're using.

How often do you actually stop and look at the minor details in the background of a painting or photograph?

There could be an interesting object, another painting or person caught in time by the artist or photographer. What you then do with that is up to you and your imagination.

Writers observe, even if we aren't consciously aware of it, we are gathering snippets that will eventually find their way into our writing.

So in the coming year I'm going to visit the art gallery at the Castle and see what inspiration is lurking on the walls...

3 comments:

Rosemary Gemmell said...

Like the hay photos, Carol! I love getting inspiration from art galleries and have written a few stories after being on visits there. It's one of the things I mention on my main website, as a creative prompt.

Helen Baggott said...

Great photos - I use images to stimulate ideas all the time. I have a cork board on my landing and stick photos etc there so I see them when I go downstairs.

The photos are usually of current projects that I'm mulling over - ruins of a building, headstone, memorial - cheerful stuff like that!

Carolb said...

Thanks Rosemary. I have never written a story inspired by a gallery visit yet, but may in the future.

I will have to try putting images on a cork board so I see the images more frequently, thanks Baggy.