Vignettes

Today we did some practice creating vignettes, a type of writing where you are limited to 800 words maximum but no minimum. They can come in a range of forms, such as poems, monologues, narratives, reflections, etc.. What they are is a brief description of a setting or scene. Good vignettes usually evoke emotions and use all of the senses. From experience I can say that it is much easier to make one when you yourself have some sort of an attachment to the subject of the vignette. Being shown something and asked to make a vignette for it won’t result in the most emotional or interesting writing. You can see this in my practice vignette of a picture of a bear in a forest with mountains:

The great bear stood on the rocks in the river, the massive snowy mountains behind him and the tall trees here and there. Directly to the left of the bear is a bush, now empty of its berries and surrounding it are colorful yellow and orange flowers. He quickly turns to a sound from his right and begins to walk slowly over to it, avoiding the white waters below him crashing against the rocks he steps on. The sound he heard was a fish, splashing out and in the water. He stopped at the spot he heard the fish and waited, staring intensely at the water to see the fish. After a moment he lunges in, coming out with a fish in his mouth, successful at last.

After the practice we began working on our actual vignettes, which we would use a picture of a creature that we got from Cox Arboretum. I found it a lot easier to write this vignette since I had a more personal connection with it. I found that descriptions came to me easier and I even wound up making it into a sort of poem, rather than a narrative like I usually do. Below is the picture I based the vignette on and the vignette itself to follow it.

Peace Among Us

Sitting by the small tree, accompanied by ducks

Some geese swim up to us.

Silent and calm they near

I stay still and do not fear

They walk past without aggression

And sit by the tree to begin their grooming session

They’re so close I can see their textures

They seem so soft with their array of feathers

People walk by amazed by the sight

Of me sitting almost in arms reach of geese without a fight

As time passes by, a gosling opens its floodgate

Shortly after the smell starts to accumulate

When I get up to leave there is no reaction

And walk to get lunch and take a break from the action.