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Wrong Turn: Writing Prompt

Although it is a common trope in many types of literature and movies, taking a wrong turn is something everyone of us has done, and without the horror movie or fantasy novel results.


This week, write about a wrong turn--your own, someone else's, an entirely fictional one, or a combination of these.


Feel free to use the well-known trope or subvert it or try something completely different.


If a literal wrong turn is not your style, that's fine. We often use that phrase to connote a bad decision ("he took a wrong turn when he turned 30") or a series of bad decisions. Focus on this meaning instead.


If you want to get even deeper into metaphor, consider Robert Frost, who wrote many poems about trying to choose between two options. His most famous example is The Road Not Taken.


You may, of course, stack wrong turns and correct turns, going literal, surreal, metaphoric, symbolic, and anything else all at once. And if you would like to get even more challenging, pay the kind of attention to rhyme, slant rhyme, assonance, consonance, and alliteration that Marilyn Hacker does in her poem on the blog today. It is tough to top her for that attention to language and sound.




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