List

a generative, nonprescriptive writing prompt

From the Bible to the classic Vietnam War story “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, lists have the power to entrance us and to build vivid worlds.  There are many types of list: a simple laundry or packing list, the parallelism of Whitman's anthem to humanity “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” the exploded list of Moby-Dick's Cetology chapter, the roster of rides that opens Denis Johnson's “Car Crash While Hitchhiking,” the two pages devoted to winds that blow through different parts of the world in the early pages of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. What all these lists share is vibrance and dynamism. They are not mere strings of adjectives.

PROMPT: Choose a character (or characters) and create a list that defines some aspect of their world. It could be any kind of list. Try starting with just an object inventory. What’s in their pocket? What’s in their kitchen drawer? Maybe it’s more experiential — whom did they talk to today? If the list alone doesn't say enough, try exploding each item by adding more -- associations, descriptions, memories -- to each item.