Prompt: In the Beginning…

In the beginning...

This is one of my favourite things to write about alongside the ‘After it all...’ version. To sit and wistfully dream this place into being and wonder what the land might have been like before any of us were here, denting the earth with our footsteps.

For this prompt, why not allow yourself to free write as your mind wanders across the land. Perhaps you visit a place you love in your imagination and wonder what it looked, smelt, sounded, felt like in ‘the big before.’ And do it more than once. I find every time I do this something new comes out of it. It’s such a dreamy, lovely practice.

I have found that it can drag into a state of Eco-grief, which can be hard but often gives rise to a new, inventive way to take action. Try it and see what happens.

Happy writing! Helen x

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Quote: ‘There was a time before this time. A time before human feet left a mark upon the land; when there was nothing but the sun, the rivers, the birds in the trees and the flowers awakening at dawn.’

Write this time into existence.

Some thoughts:

• Wildlife interactions/movements

• The elements: do they behave/interact differently?

• Choose one element and write from its perspective.

• Sounds, smells…

• A hum in the silence we can no longer hear

• Your local landscape: how might it have looked/felt?