Writing Prompt: Jeopardy
Visual inspiration + mental exercise to start your writing week
The scene belonged in a murder mystery, Christmas lights trembling above the sidewalk, hanging back from the slick, empty street, the distant menace of invisible cars behind oncoming headlights.
Metaphortography Prompts are free visual and verbal writing prompts for inspiration and reflection. This is the Monday section of Aimee Liu’s MFA Lore. Our Wednesday section is Writer In The World, a curated collection of essays on the writing life by acclaimed MFA faculty and alumni. Writers in Conversation and other MFA Core essays on the craft and business of creative writing will drop each Saturday.
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As I headed for home after a reading last night, the world was bathed in an ominous fog that transformed red lights in all directions into flares of warning. The scene belonged in a murder mystery, Christmas lights trembling above the sidewalk, hanging back from the slick, empty street, the distant menace of invisible cars behind oncoming headlights. Then out darted a black-clad jaywalker silently making for the opposite corner, carrying — or hauling — an unidentified object, as if taking his life in his hands.
I woke up this morning with the curious word jeopardy in mind:
Jeopardy: Middle English jeopardie, from Anglo-French juparti, jeuparti alternative, literally, divided game
Risk of loss or injury; peril or danger.
A defendant’s risk or danger of conviction when put on trial.
Exposure to death, loss, or injury; hazard; danger.
Here is your writing prompt:
As you contemplate the image above, think about a moment that you’re willing to write about when you’ve experienced a sense of jeopardy. When, rightly or wrongly, you felt your physical security or future was threatened. Or, maybe you believed you were in danger of losing something or someone central to your life.
Now write a story (it can be fictionalized) about that experience, making sure to include:
What triggered the sense of jeopardy
What specifically you feared losing
What the physical surroundings were like in that moment
Why you thought this was happening
What actions you took in response to the threat
The precise emotions you remember
How those emotions expressed themselves in your body’s physical responses
What happened after you reacted
What brought the situation to a close
How your understanding of the actual threat changed afterwards
How the incident affected your sense of confidence and trust in your instincts going forward
Remember this exercise and your answers whenever you write a story about a character in jeopardy.
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