absentation

This is a prompt called "Absentation."It's meant to lead you into some strange and unexplored territory in your imagination. (Adapted from Delicious Strangeness: A Pocket Guide to Magical Realism, by Stephanie Barbe Hammer)

• First, make a list of 10 things in your life that seem very permanent – part of the fabric of your everyday life.

  • E.g., "the sunrise, my brother, Austin traffic"

• Then, spend 10 minutes writing a story in which that permanent thing disappears from your life.

  • E.g., "It was Thursday when my brother vanished from his bed, leaving his pajamas behind in the perfect shape of his body."

(As with all prompt-related writing, it's best to write quickly, without self-editing, just letting the ideas flow. If things are getting weird in your story – great! Just relax and see where your ideas take you.)

I recommend writing with pen and paper when you're doing this kind of creative writing, since we tend to be less critical of our words when we're writing by hand rather than typing.