Thinking prompt #1: BORDER LINES

Hi Everyone,

I’d like to inaugurate a series of “thinking prompts'“ to sift in along with our writing ones. The idea is to encourage deep diving into our characters, our terrains, and the psychological and historical undercurrents of our work.

The more we dig and think, the more our stories surrender their unexpected gifts. This usually takes an extraordinary amount of time and patience. (If we knew just how much, we might never start!)

Recently, I've been reading BORDER LINES, POEMS OF MIGRATION edited by Mihaela Moscaliuc and Michael Waters. It’s gotten me thinking about boundaries of all kinds—how they separate, delineate, grow interdependent, invite trespassing, even seismically shift beneath our feet.

YOUR PROMPT:

“He’s lost himself, the one he was at home.” —Sandy Solomon

Think about how this phrase applies to one or more of your characters. Where do they consider home to be? How do they lose themselves? Where are their safety zones (if anywhere)? Do they need to “perform” away from home? If so, why? To stand out? To blend in? What factors in to their performances?

Happy thinking!

Abrazos,

Cristina