You have forgotten how to tie your shoes. They are size eleven waxed leather torpedoes that smell of alley smoke and talc. The laces are frayed at the ends like an unfinished life. You are genuflecting at the ball return, the hand blower pushing cardboard-pizza air. Amber beer sweats in plastic cups like foamed urine. Sweet cacophonies echo. The next lane: a figure bathed in baroque light. Your hands freeze. Your fingers lose sensation. Your left shoe: laced and bowed. Your right: untieable. Your goddess bends at the knees, balanced, bearing her blue globe swirled with clouds, then lets it go.
The Power of Imagery with Nina Schuyler
September 12 & 13 on Zoom
Enrollment closes Thursday, September 3 at 7:00 PM Pacific
If your descriptions are vivid but your stories still feel thin, this workshop is for you.
Join award-winning author Nina Schuyler to learn the difference between description, which tells a reader what things look like, and imagery, which carries plot, character, and meaning at the same time.
In just two days, you'll learn to choose images that hold emotion without naming it, pair them so each one deepens the other, and build patterns that gather meaning as the story moves.
“The laces are frayed at the ends like an unfinished life” – gorgeous. Well done, Mike!
Thanks, Michelle!
Nicely constructed. Evocative.
Thank you.
This is a truly superb piece of writing. Kudos.
Thank you.
“Amber beer sweats in plastic cups like foamed urine.” Nicely phrased. Excellent story! I’m generally not a fan of second-person POV, but it works well here.
Thank you.
Brilliant!
Thank you.
As my husband says, “You need a Kindergarten teacher to help.” I’ll be there for you when needed.
Loved the poetic nature of the piece.
Thank you, Denice.
Incredible how much emotion and connection came from within these 101 words. Well done!
Thanks, Becky. And thanks for the prompt and so much more.