Writing assignment....The Autobiography of a Place...

I have a writing assignment for you...or for your children...or for anyone you think might be interested.  This idea came to me while I was in the car, listening to the radio, but I have no idea what sparked the idea...

Write an autobiography of a place

Autobiography of a place?  Yep...choose a location - it could be as simple as your home, or a bar stool, or as expansive as your country.  Choose your bed, the space immediately in front of the bathroom sink, or the highway.  Choose a place.

• If you were to embody that place, what would your autobiography say?  Would your story be about how you came into existence?  Or the people that have traveled through or on you?  If you choose your house, who has lived in you (both now and in the past)?

Be creative, be wild, but be believable...  

• If your place could speak, what kind of voice would it have?  What kind of tone, or language, or vocabulary would your place use?

What would be the highs and lows of your place's existence?  What would your place cite as its reason for existence? 

• What are the core truths of your place?  What would your place's beliefs be?  (I am curious to know if your place's beliefs are also your beliefs, or would your place have different ideas?)

Let your imagination run wild, but keep it believable...watch your tone and language for continuity.  Use the voice you imagine for your place, and try to keep your own voice in the background.  Create images with your words.  

• Choose a specific incident in your place's history, or write broadly about your place's entire existence.  But, write in the voice, or from the point of view, of your place.

Keep in mind that an autobiography should be written in the first person (I was born... I went...  She walked over me...).  Write as if you are the place.

• Share your response here in a comment, or on your blog and leave the link in the comments here.  I'd love to read what you come up with!  And, use any genre or style that you think best suites the story you wish to tell...

Imagine mosaic in Central Park, New York City