Contest Photo #13

Haircut or Coastline?

My Dearest, I’ve trimmed my hairline to resemble the western coastline of Europe. Can you love me now?

Note how a question written on the back of a photo can generate curiosity and tension.

All of this exercise has been about getting “inside” a character or story and writing from there. It’s about that intimacy. This will help you avoid expository setup. When you write from the very close perspective within a character’s life you give the reader a greater participation. You can imply things, but the reader is given the privilege of filling in some blanks and recognizing the story without the story being told too blatantly. That porousness avoids excluding too many readers.

For instance, I avoided writing “Dear Gwen” above. By choosing “Dearest” I imply love, but leave the reader to impose his/her own details.

It seems a very “Oscar Wilde” photo, does it not?