In the Ziz Valley, Morocco

I took the photo above while on a tour of Morocco in December 2011. You can read more about my travels on Trevor’s Travels.

My wife and I found that our experiences over just two weeks in Morocco were not only fascinating – they were almost overwhelming. The colours, the sounds, the aromas, the food, the masses of people in the medinas, the amazing mosaics everywhere and the silence of the Sahara. Everywhere we looked we saw new things, different things, amazing and downright perplexing things.

I found it easy to write a daily journal during our trip. I also wrote many poems along the way. (You can read some of my poetry here.) Unusual experiences, or undertaking activities which are out of our usual realm of experience are often excellent stepping off points for writing.

Today I want you to focus on the photo of the farmer shown above. I am assuming he is a farmer on his way to, or just coming back from, the market place. Here are some ideas to help you with your writing.

Writing prompts:

1. Imagine you are the farmer in the photo. Reminisce on your day so far.
2. Write a poem (or poems) inspired by the photo.
3. Imagine the man in the photo has had a tragedy in his life recently. Describe how he is feeling, what happened and how he is going to respond to his changed circumstances.
4. Use the photo as a jumping off point for a short story. It does not have to be set in Morocco.
5. Where is the man going? Where has he been? What is his purpose in travelling along this road? Let your imagination soar.
6. Imagine that the man has just heard some bad news. Describe his feelings, trying to get inside his head, his thoughts, his emotions.
7. Write a story about the man in the photo assuming that he is not a farmer. What is he doing? Where is he going? What is his background? What happens next?

Good writing.

Trevor.