Sometimes, the absence of something is as telling as its presence. Something missing, hidden, undeclared, veiled. A person, an object, an emotion. Write a short piece (max 200 wds) around something or someone who isn't there. Any style.
Empathy
Ascribing human characteristics to objects isn't always the best writing technique, but for the purposes of exercising the imagination, answer these questions as though you were the object:- what is the most secret thing you know?
- what is the worst thing about your job?
- what do you crave?
- where is home?
- what feels good against your skin?
- what are you jealous of?
- what makes you raging mad?
- what would you like to smash?
Show, don't tell
If you try to explain something, you are doing the work for the reader, and not very well. Write from your senses, without comment or abstraction, and readers will conjure up their own images.
Pick a detail in this picture. Write down what you would see, hear, feel, taste, smell, if you were close to the objects – and conjure up an emotion that infuses the description with meaning.
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