“Writing is a consequence of having been ‘haunted’ by material. Why this is, no one knows.”
— Joyce Carol Oates
Why do words haunt us? As writers, we can’t escape words, and tirelessly beat them into new forms. What happens when a short story or poem or song lyric simply will not submit, and becomes lost inside of the ‘for another time’ folder? Doesn’t one line, image or word inside that attempt still haunt you? Still bring you back, why didn’t I finish this piece?
Today, give new life to that one line. Take a story/poem/lyric out of the revision pile and extract from it the one line that really speaks to you. Your ‘little darling’ of the piece. Then make a new document, paste the chosen line at the top of the page, and go from there. Allow the language and tone take the line to an entirely new place. A very different landscape.
Let the haunting begin!
-Amanda
