Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Creative Writing Prompts Inspired by Bob Dylan

In honor of Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday, I thought creative writing prompts about CHANGE would be a appropriate.  Bob Dylan is a musician, song writer and poet and you can read about him on today's Writer's Almanac.  My favorite song of Bob Dylan's is "The Times They a Changin'."  The Youtube video is the song as performed by Marco Magani, and it features some intense moments in history.  (Teachers will want to preview the video before deciding whether or not to show it in class.) If you would like to see the lyrics to this song, you can read them at this link:  http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-times-they-are-achangin-lyrics-bob-dylan.html

Song Writing Prompt:  Look at the lyrics of this song and write another verse or two for the song.  I'd love to see you post what you come up with.  OR
Write your own song about change. 

Creative Nonfiction Prompt:  Write about something that has changed in your life or that is changing now.  OR Write about what you wish would change and why. 

Poetry Writing Prompt:  Write a poem about the way things used to be and the way they are now.  Some of this may turn out to be ironic.  You can follow a simple list form to get this poem started, but of course, you can mix it up and use any form you like when you revise.  For starters, use the form before and repeat six times.

I used to __________________________,
            but now I ____________________________

Fiction Writing Prompts:  Write about a short story about a character who makes a change that impacts something in his or her life.  The change can be physical or psychological. 

3 comments:

  1. Back in 2004 I wrote political song parody lyrics for a Democratics' Anthem using Blowin' In the Wind: Democrats' Anthem.

    And back in 2002 I parodied Bush in another Dylan-based song parody: Don't Think Twice, Let's Just Fight.

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  2. That's pretty cool, Madeleine. Thanks for sharing the links with our readers. I appreciate it!

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