A "Triggering Town"

One of the powerful gifts of writing is that it allows us to explore things that resonate with us or intrigue us.  Some might call these our obsessions. A less ominous term for them is "triggers."  They are the things that make us go "hmmm..." 

Here is the essay I was referencing in class:  A Triggering Town. 
 It comes from the Poetry Foundation web site, which I visit a lot for poetry and information about poets and poetry theory. 

The prompt for this week was to write about your own "triggering town". 

Something to think about

Vulnerability — what does that mean to us as writers?  What do we share, and how much do we reveal of our deepest selves?  Here is a blog post that I thought did a good job of discussing these issues:  https://witanddelight.com/2019/07/do-writers-have-to-be-vulnerable-to-succeed/

I’d like to hear your thoughts on this, either as comments here or in class.

Here’s another item of interest from Writers’ magazine:

We’re on the hunt for the best short fiction.

Submit your best fictional work in 2,000 words or less to our annual fall short story contest and you could win $1,000 and publication in our magazine! Any genre is fair game as long as it’s a work of fiction – no essays, memoir chapters, or poetry, please. 

Need some inspiration before you submit? Take a look at our vast collection of writing prompts, or dive into our fiction-writing archives to read expert tips from the pros.

You can also read these past short story winners to see examples of fiction that’s wowed us in the past:

• “Gazelle” by Shannon Skaff

• “Doors” by Claire Mulligan

• “Hunger” by Leila Springer

• “The Dance” by Kate MacNamara

• “Pieces of Echo” by Brent van Staalduinen

• “The House They Built” by Signe Bergstrom

• “Leviathan” by Jim Lewis

Don’t wait too long to submit, however: The deadline for this contest is December 2nd. 

Submit now!