An IMPROMPTU announcement for anyone who might be wondering - you may have noticed that I haven’t updated IMPROMPTU on this platform for some time. I was finding it a bit of a task to keep both the website and Instagram updated at the same time, and so I have been continuing to post prompts only on Instagram @impromptuprompts. Please follow along there, or make use of the IMPROMPTU archives here. Happy writing!
For today's prompt, the first of 2018, I'm going to borrow another of Rachel McKibbens' ideas: the "ghost line".
Here is Rachel's description of a ghost line: "A ghost line is an inspiring line or image that becomes the unseen first line of a poem. ... Now remember, this is the invisible "first line" of your poem. Do NOT include it in your poem (unless you give credit to the original author.) YOU come up with the rest. So the second line is actually your first VISIBLE line. Fun, right? Also, the poem doesn't have to have anything to do with the ghost line, but the point of the ghost line is to inspire."
For our purposes, the ghost line does not have to be used specifically to write a poem. Use it to inspire you to write whatever it is you're writing.
Read this poem by Roo Borson. Treat this as your ghost line/ghost lines:
"What's next, you ask yourself. / You ask it ten thousand times."
untethered interviewed me for their Author Interview Series, about my story "Retreat", which was published in their current Spring 2017 issue. I love looking back on the pieces I've written, thinking about how they first came to me and how they came to life. Big thanks to Matthew Walsh for the thoughtful questions. Read the interview here. And to read the story, buy a copy of the issue here.
