The Snapshot Effect:
WRITING POETRY & SHORT PROSE ABOUT PLACE--Using the Photographer's Eye

Often we travel to special locations, and then are left wondering how this experience can be captured on the page, either in poetry or shorter selections of prose. This class is open to beginning and more advanced poetry and non-fiction writers who are interested in discovering personal connections to a particular place. As our writing on any subject deepens, we often find we are attracted to places threaded deeply into the person we are and will become.

When Edward Abbey wrote his acclaimed non-fiction Desert Solitaire, he used the following quotation from poet Pablo Neruda as the epigraph for his book: "Give me silence, water, and hope/ Give me struggle, iron, and volcanoes." At first glance, this may appear very abstract, but for Abbey these words directed the reader to look for the fluid tug of 'place' on the imagination, and the more shaded rugged nature of exact imagery.

We will consider both these focuses as we develop "snapshot" sequences, either in poetry (prose poetry included) or shorter prose pieces. In doing so, you will discover the personal connection which initially drew you to the magic of that place.

Give yourself the gift of five days to explore writing, imagery/photography, and to read exemplary selections on place. More than likely, you will discover part of yourself embedded in the place focused on in your writing!

Each student is invited to send me a one-page description of the place you want to explore in writing--also briefly what your personal connection might be, if any. Why have you selected this place, rather than another? These are just "thought questions" to get your creative ideas flowing.

One page (or 250-300 words) doubled-spaced to:

Katherine Soniat, 9 Waverly Road, Asheville, NC 28803 by September 1, 2011.

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