Find an old archive: letter, postcard, photograph, memo, computer document, e-mail. Then, form a story surrounding the piece. Develop a general, basic narrative or back story and characters. It doesn’t have to be super long; it can be a haiku or a novella–your choice. Let the past inspire you!

My example is a postcard from World War I. It was discovered unsent and from an unknown author, and attached to the postcard was a small poppy, addressed to the soldier’s love. I wrote a poem in Spanish about the postcard, and you can read the poem and its translation at this link:

http://www.kaileyck.com/ds106/postcards-from-the-past/

Have fun!