Writing Prompt: SYMPHONIC
Visual inspiration + mental exercise to start your writing week
Why do we humans cluster? Why do we sway and dance? Why do we close our eyes and let go of everything that seemed to matter only moments ago, when the swell of music soars, and the motion of emotion moves us, and the feel of connection thrills us with the shock of unbidden comfort.
Metaphortography Prompts are free visual and verbal writing prompts for inspiration and reflection. This is an occasional Monday section of Aimee Liu’s MFA Lore. Our Wednesday section includes Well Published! live videos and Writer In The World, a curated collection of essays on the writing life by acclaimed MFA faculty and alumni. MFA Core essays on the craft and business of creative writing drop each Saturday. Receive this MFA-level intel directly by subscribing now:
SYMPHONIC
Listen! Come on in and join the spell. We’re falling, falling, in love, in pain, in longing and fear. Swooning together into the frenzy of shared passion, here in the vortex of sound and silence, cymbals and sweetness. Why do we humans cluster? Why do we sway and dance? Why do we close our eyes and let go of everything that seemed to matter only moments ago, when the swell of music soars, and the motion of emotion moves us, and the feel of connection thrills us with the shock of unbidden comfort: No, I am not alone.
SYMPHONIC: Middle English symphonie, from Middle French, from Latin symphonia, from Greek symphōnia, from symphōnos concordant in sound:
relating to or having the form or character of a symphony
suggestive of a symphony especially in form, interweaving of themes, or harmonious arrangement
Here is your writing prompt:
As you contemplate the image above, think back to a moment when you were enthralled as part of a group. It could have happened at a symphony or museum. It could have been at church. Maybe you felt this communal rush at a party, or at the beach. The symphonic experience could have been musical, or spiritual, emotional, or aesthetic — or all of these at once. The sense of harmony might have been cathartic, or sobering, but in some way that you remember, you felt it to be profound.
Now write that scene with the goal of circling down through the layers of sensory information—the immediate impressions of sight, sound, smell, touch—to the deeper emotional responses and epiphanies that such experiences unleash. Keep writing until you discover why this memory has stayed with you and what it means, what it says about who you were when the memory was formed and how you fit —or didn’t fit— into the symphony of souls with you in that group, that day.
Loreates’ Corner
I’m delighted to introduce you to a few of the wonderful stacks by writers in our community. Please read, subscribe, and share! And if you’re an MFA Lore subscriber with a great writing stack that I haven’t mentioned, please drop the link in a comment, so I can add you to our Corner.
Today, two duos— couples helming Substacks!
C Max Webb, CJ Saft write:
Zach & Kelly Murphy write:
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