the challenge
The Prism we are playing with today is called Super Glue, and it will take us both on a creative writing assignment and on a creative exploration.
The first part of the challenge is writing an ultra-short story with exactly 50 words which includes the titles of both Seeds: Time Standing Still and Opportunity.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept of 50-Word Stories, you can look it up, but basically what you need to know is that the story should be made of exactly 50 words — no more and no less. How can you squeeze a meaningful idea into exactly 50 words? Well, that’s part of the challenge!
The second part of today’s assignment is to capture an Insight inspired by the story.
Let’s start.
my insight
It took him some time to realize what was happening, but time had no meaning. Time stood still. He didn’t know why or when time will start ticking again. This could be the biggest opportunity he had ever had. He will use the infinite present to fix his future.
This huge train-station clock is covered in a semi-transparent cloth and a sign stuck to it says it is not working due to a station renovation.
reflection
We already know constraints can do wonders to creativity. Today I played with a special constraint. It was super concrete. From the 50 words budget I had for a short story, I had to include the titles of two Seeds, with a total of 4 words.
But as often happens this random, unintentional combination was exactly what made the solution clear. The idea for the short story became obvious as soon as I saw these two Seeds side by side.
The visual Insight that followed was a pure gift. It was a perfect match to the story: a clock which was not working with a hint of improving the future. Together with the dramatic cloth, it became the perfect cover art for the story.
mental notes
- You can help your brain create surprising connections by forcing it to accept surprising connections as constraints.
now it is your turn… be creative!