A powerful image can be an effective prompt for a powerful story. Choose a photo, imagine it’s the cover art for a story you want to tell, and write accordingly.

Photos have always been delightful and precious but they weren’t always as abundant as they are now. Pulling a photo album off the shelf and flipping through it used to be a bona fide family event, or a way to introduce a new person in your life to your history and your greater human context. Now, it’s not uncommon to have tens of thousands of photos on your phone and barely look at them at all. As with almost everything, the more you have of it the less valuable it becomes. 

There’s no denying the power of a striking photo. A photo can capture a momentous moment or a perfectly ordinary moment, an unplanned moment, or an intentional moment. It can capture love, strife, a sense of ease or tension, and every other condition of life⏤all without a single word. Photos are magical precisely because they contain both no words and a thousand words at the exact same time. If you are hunting around for a great story idea, consider using a photo as the starting point. Simply find an image that resonates with you, and write at least 1,000 words about it. Think of yourself as the ghostwriter for the image⏤the person speaking for the people, the place, and the moment of the photo.

While you can certainly use images of yourself or your immediate family, it may be easier to tell stories using images that are completely unfamiliar to you. If you do use images from your own family, consider using ones that are several generations removed. This might allow you to approach the photo with a more open and creative mind. Below are some questions you can ask yourself to explore the photo and the possible stories that lay within it:

  • Why was this moment captured? Will these people ever see each other again? Would they want to?
  • Who are the people in the photo, and what is their relationship to each other? Is there an obvious hierarchy or power dynamic? Is everyone a willing participant in this moment?
  • Are there people missing from the photo, and if yes, where might they be?
  • What is the emotional state of each person in the photo and how might they describe this moment if they were asked?
  • Who took this photo and why? What is their relationship to this moment or to the people in it?
  • Where was the photo taken, and what is the significance of the location?

Copyright 2023 Kesel Wilson (entirely, 100% human-created)

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