JPG

For your viewing and reading pleasure, I submit “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Image-Driven Story Prompts and Exercises for Writers” by Phillip Sexton to the JPG community.

For photographers and writers, it’s all about the story we’re trying to convey.

The only difference is the vehicle we choose to transport our story. I choose a hybrid. While I have always been drawn more toward writing, I realize that some of my best works come from when I write about what is right before my eyes. I’m an observer, and I record what I see with both my pen and camera.

So, it’s no surprise I found this book. Actually, my husband found it and said it just looked like something I would like. He was right.

Sexton’s book includes some funky images – ones I wish I had captured – and uses them for the greater creative good.

The more than 100 photos have their own "chapters," complete with exercises related to storytelling elements, such as character, dialogue and endings.

I have to be honest and say that I wish the book also contained just photos. The prompts are fun and get your pen moving (or your fingers dancing on the keyboard), but there is such a thing as too many elements. More often, I have taken to just writing about the photos, without reading the prompts. But it’s nice to have something to fall back on. Additionally, the author does encourage writing about the photos from different perspectives.

Well, as they say on “Reading Rainbow,” “But you don’t have to take my word for it.” How about a picture?