Writing prompt #4: THE ART OF PLACE IN TONI MORRISON'S JAZZ

Hi again, everyone!

This newsletter is already starting to feel familiar to me as I hope it may soon be for you.

Today, I’d like to address the question Marisel Vera posted on the craft thread last week: “I'm working on developing a particular neighborhood during a particular year and time as a main character/protagonist in my novel. Other than to write description and specific details, what might be done?”

Let’s begin by revisiting Toni Morrison’s genius with regards to place—and everything else, for that matter. Please read the opening (below) to her 1992 novel Jazz:

Morrison’s unnamed narrator—who seems to know absolutely everything—goes on to tell us the rest of this story, richly describing the sights, sounds, and residents of 1920s Harlem. The voice is persuasive, intimate, well-acquainted with neighborhood business and manages, impossibly, to be everywhere at once. (How did they know about that parrot?!) Our raconteur—interested, poetic, a busybody perhaps?—has the distinctive voice known as essayist-ominiscient.

YOUR PROMPT: Choose an essayist-omniscient narrator for your story but don’t identify them. Write a page or so from this insider’s point-of-view emphasizing place. How might their anonymous energies and expertise serve to bring your locale to life? Or otherwise enrich your tale?

Have fun with this!

Abrazos,

Cristina

PS: If you haven’t done so yet, please sign-up for a monthly or annual subscription to my newsletter. There’s much more to come for subscribers, including podcasts and online meetings with guest writers. Gracias!!

---