Prompt 10: The Beginning!

Yikes! In the throes of the last weeks of the last semester of my life, I totally forgot to put the three day warning up on this prompt. As compensation, have three more days! (New due date: November 6th.)

From film to traditional art to photography, it seems we're sailing through categories like the ocean were a single eyeblink, even with all these delays. Before too long we'll be organising our third contest, and we only just saw the back of the last one! Sometimes I wonder how you all keep up. Then I remember you're all awesome. The end.

On that note: Prompt Exercise No. 10!

First off, I'd like everyone to give a warm hand to Halatia, who suggested the use of macro photography for this prompt. That said, when you give a warm hand to a raptor, you're not going to get it back; don't give her the one you write with and you should be fine.

Below are three macro photographs of three different subjects. What they are (if it's not obvious to you) is listed in their Artist's Comments, but you'll have more fun with this if you put that knowledge aside. Let me explain why.




Your task is to choose one small section of one of these photos and zoom in on it through your writing. Just as an extreme close-up of an object can utterly change our perception of it, so should your description of the section you choose change our perceptions of it. Look for shapes or colours that interest you, or intersections, or contrasts; anything which you feel you can bring to life through a sharp, detailed description. Your goal here is to reveal something new through the use of a tight focus--to macro the macro, as it were.

And even though we're asking you to evoke something quite minute in great detail, don't be afraid to use what you find as a jumping off point for a deeper exploration of your chosen themes, or as a metaphor for something wider. A pure macro translation is the exercise, but the exercise needn't be your finished piece--please bear that in mind if you feel unnerved at the thought of writing a literal capture!

Submit your finished work to the Transliterations Prompt 10 Folder. All pieces submitted by the deadline will receive a news feature and a journal feature from myself.

The deadline for this prompt is November 1st. Lastly, my thanks go to anun, Dave-Heyborne and Lissuin for allowing us to use their wonderful photographs in this prompt. Finding suitable deviations for this task was a real challenge, but looking at these three on the page is a reward in itself. If you write for this prompt, please don't forget to stop by their pages and show your appreciation!