the challenge
Today we are playing Total Recall. You challenge is to pick a visual Insight (or any other photo for that matter) you’ve captured in the past and write a short story or a poem inspired by it.
Note that you shouldn’t describe what really happened in the scene you’ve captured. Just use what you see in the Insight as a trigger for imagining an entirely new story.
my insight
The light drew her like as if she was a moth. It was bright white, and yet somehow it managed to color the night in blue. She was hypnotized. Every step she took she knew herself less. Deep inside she knew what would happen when she reached the invisible source of light, but it was inevitable. The penetrating bass made her heart beat, or was it the other way around? She closed her eyes and went in.
The doors closed behind her. When she opened her eyes, it was surprisingly dark. Only the beating bass suggested this was the same place she had walked toward. The infinite space was full of people, but she was never so alone. She cannot go back. There’s nowhere to go back to.
She closes her eyes again and stops walking. The music is surrounding her — protecting and attacking her at the same time. Her legs don’t move, but the rest of her body does. She becomes one with the crowd. She forgets where she came from and she doesn’t care where she will be tomorrow.
She just needs to dance.
reflection
The visual Insight I used as inspiration today was taken at a live music show a few years ago. In retrospect, remembering the music and its volume affected the short text I wrote. But it was this hypnotizing blue light that triggered the story.
The interesting part about the photo is that before I wrote the story, I played with it a little and decided to turn it upside down. You see, without this rotation, the photo looks like the photo of a well-lighted stage. Which it is really. But I wanted the picture to be a bit more mysterious — less trivial to understand at first sight. When the source of light is unnaturally placed a the top corner of the photo and the dark empty space at the bottom, the picture is much more powerful. And indeed, the minute I did that, the story started to take form in my mind. I could see this young woman walking toward that light, unable to stop.
mental notes
- Time passing can give new life to old insights
now it is your turn… be creative!