Place

 First Impressions of a Place Try writing about your very first impressions of a place. It doesn't have to be a far away place, or an exotic place. It could be your neighbor's house, or a new schoolroom, or a part of Alaska that was new to you once. Try to pay close attention, when you write, to details that are sensory--smell, taste, touch, hearing, and of course sight. Try to include something from each of the five senses in your piece of writing. Also include a feeling, something that comes from the inside (fear, confusion, joy)--but don't use any of those "feeling" words. Include other people (or the lack of other people)--you may want to write about what they are doing or saying. Finally, somewhere in your piece, relate this place or your feelings about it to another place you have been, want to go to, or have fantasized about. Write no more than 250 words. What is the primary feeling that you have conveyed?  Artifacts Focus on an "artifact" in a place you have been or know well. It doesn't have to be a house. It can be anything--an old car, a bucket, an old piece of ivory. It could be a big ruin--such as an abandoned mining town. Try to include details about the object itself (details of the five senses--what do you see, smell, hear, touch, taste) and some of the history of the object and the place. Write about 250 words.
 * Place Prompts(From LitSite Alaska by Gretchen Legler) **

Physical Sensations Write about 250 words describing, in as much detail as possible, a physical sensation. It can be anything--the sensation of stretching in the morning, of looking at the sun, of sneezing, of an itch, of laughing, of being hugged, of being wet from swimming, or wet from the rain, of falling down, of flying, of putting your hands in the dirt in your garden. Pay very close attention to how the sensation starts in your body and trace its progress.

Person in a Place Focus on a person who is somehow related to a place that is important to you. Paint a picture of them with words, for starters, using as many details as you can to describe their physical self, their personality. Include something that they say that indicates what kind of a person they might be. Then try to think about what makes them special to THAT particular place. You don't need to write a lot, just try to make a sketch of the person.

Sound Memories Either recall or go to a special place of yours and first make a list of all the sounds that you can remember that are most characteristic of that place. They try to come up with the exact words for the sounds-what the sound sounds like (whooop, whooop, whoop), then try to relate it to something (like styrofoam being stepped on). Write about 250 words.

A Process in a Place Think of some kind of process that is related to a place that you are familiar with or love. Think, for instance, of the process of setting a net, of hunting, of picking berries--any kind of activity that is unique to the place you want to write about. Just describe the process. Don't worry if you think the process is boring. The trick is to learn how to write about this kind of detail.

Work in a Place In about 250 words, write in detail about a kind of work that you do that is directly related to place. This can be something you do now, or something you have done. You could write about anything-mowing the lawn, cutting hay, sharpening knives, harvesting your garden. Be sure to write about the process of the work itself, and include some details about the place that you are in. In other words, the focus of this exercise is the work itself, but be sure to relate it to place. Be sure to include sensory details-smells, sounds, textures, colors, even tastes.

New Eyes in a Place Try writing about a place you know or have been in from a different perspective. You may, for instance, want to get down on the ground and look at it from eye level. Or, if you can, take part of the place and put it under a microscope, or look at it through a magnifying glass, or binoculars, or a telescope. Or, you can climb a tree and look down on it, or climb a mountain and look down on it. Or, you can imagine yourself as a small person in amongst the environment, just as you could imagine yourself flying over it. The goal is to try to get a fresh look at the place. Include all the details you can that show how you are looking at the place from a different perspective, with new eyes.

Shapes in a Place In this list I tried to write about some of the different kinds of shapes in this landscape. I tried to write about the sharp, square, right-angled shapes, and also the smooth shapes that contrasted with them. My list is more narrative. Your list can be a list of single words, or just a few words. The important thing is to include as much as you can in your list.

Names in a Place Listing unique names that have to do with a place is a good generating technique. You may not use the names themselves in any piece of writing, or the exercise might not yield anything that you’ll want to put in an essay, but it may help you see patterns in the place you are writing about, or it may help you think of incidents or ideas associated with the words themselves.

 