heading exactly the same way.
Generation F
PROMPTS AND WRITING EXERCISES FOR INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS
At Girls Write Now, our mentees are part of a generation yet to be defined, a generation facing unprecedented challenges, freedoms, technologies, and choices. They are fighters and feminists, freethinkers and forces to be reckoned with. They are fitting in (or not), fed up, fighting back, and figuring it out in classrooms, cafés, and all across New York City. This year, our mentees and mentors explored what it meant to be members of Generation F through genres such as intergenerational memoir, poetic forms, column writing, and magical realism. As a community, we sought to redefine our feminist identities, find our voices, fight for essential freedoms, and face our world with fresh eyes.
Join us in the activities and prompts below, as we continue to define Generation F together!
—SIERRA RITZ, Senior Program Coordinator, and NAOMI SOLOMON, Assistant Director of Programs
MEMOIR: Intergenerational Memoir
In these exercises, you will focus on how family members and members from other generations have shaped your life to create a memoir piece. This memoir should highlight a moment when your beliefs, life choices, or lifestyle led to a turning point in your relationship with someone from another generation.
PART ONE: Intergenerational Prompts
Think about someone who is from a generation older or younger than yours who has had an impact on your life, and answer these questions with that person in mind:
•What is a value you and this person share?
•What is a value you and this person disagree on?
•What is an experience you have had that this person will never have, or that this person has had that you will never have?
PART TWO: Creating Conflict
Think about a time when you found yourself on the opposite side of an intergenerational argument from the person from the prompt above. Craft a story around this conflict: How did it come about? How was the conflict resolved? Did anyone change their mind?
PART THREE: Changing Perspective
Now try writing a paragraph from the point of view of the other person in your story. Use this time to embrace their perspective and get a sense for their voice.
RECOMMENDED READING
Miriam’s Kitchen
by Elizabeth Ehrlich
Reading Lolita in Tehran
by Azar Nafisi
Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump’s America by Kate Harding and Samhita Mukhopadhyay
Tomorrow
by Saradine Nazaire
POETRY: Poetic Forms
These activities center on utilizing poetic forms—sometimes considered outdated or old-fashioned—as a vehicle for addressing contemporary issues and sharing timely, relevant experiences. Explore and embrace the challenges and opportunities provided by these strictly defined poetry formats!
PART ONE: Getting the Rhythm
Start by picking one of the following to write about:
•A complicated idea or opinion that you’re struggling with or have debated a lot
•A current event that is on your mind
Now try writing a couplet (two lines that rhyme and have the same number of syllables) that can be a part of your final poem.
PART TWO: Following the Rules
Next try building off of your couplet and create a sonnet. For reference, a sonnet is a poem that . . .
•is fourteen lines long, and is traditionally three stanzas that are four lines each, and ends with a couplet—so four lines, four lines, four lines, two lines; however, some poets split up the stanzas as four-four-six or other variations
PART THREE: Exchanging Formats
Take your original theme and write it into another form of poetry—you can try a super-short version, like writing a single cinquain (a five-line verse) or a few couplets, or try out one of the longer forms you haven’t used yet. Many poets write standalone cinquains as minimalist poetry, like haiku!
RECOMMENDED READING
A Formal Feeling Comes:
Poems in Form by Contemporary Women
edited by Annie Finch
“Harlem Hopscotch” by Maya Angelou
the fierce bums of doo-wop by Amber Atiya
“Soar” by Janein Brookes
JOURNALISM: Column Writing
Use the exercises below to inspire the early stages of your very own column. Column writing centers on the concept of developing a voice or theme that maintains consistency for readers over multiple installments while bringing fresh ideas, information, and insight with every installment.
PART ONE: The Big Idea
Start by picking one of the following as a focus for your column:
•A specific area of arts and culture—you can pick a category, a genre that exists across categories, or art created by a specific group of artists
•Current events on a local, state, national, or international scale
•Slice of life—a column that, week by week, introduces your reader to your neighborhood, school or workplace, personal life, or other social context you’re a part of
PART TWO: Define Your Column
Now, thinking about your topic of choice and the voice you plan to use, write a brief (no more than three sentences) description of what your column will be about. Consider how you’ll introduce your topic and voice/point of view to readers—what is most likely to get a new reader hooked on your column?
PART THREE: Future Thinking
With all of the above in mind, write teasers for three installments of your column. Your teasers should be three to five sentences long, and should describe what each column will be about.
RECOMMENDED READING
“The Land of the Large Adult Son” by Jia Tolentino
“On Being Way Too Hot” from Romaissaa Benzizoune’s column Hijabi in Plain Sight
“Eliza Hamilton Was Not Helpless” from Amy Watkin’s column Women Who Should Be Pretty Pissed Off
“Equality Begins with Changing Education” by Waeza Jagirdar
FICTION: Magical Realism
In these writing exercises, you will begin to build a believable world with magical elements that represent larger themes of a story. This is the basis for any magical realism piece.
A famous (and very short) example is this seven-word story “The Dinosaur” by Augusto Monterroso.
“Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba.”
or
“When he awoke, the dinosaur was still there.”
PART ONE: We’ve Got Issues
Start by writing about a social, cultural, or political issue that is important to you. Your story doesn’t have to be about this issue explicitly, but this issue should be part of the general world/context of your story, and the magical element(s) of your story can act as a metaphor for this issue. For example, if your issue is government surveillance of people’s cell phone and Internet usage, your magical element might be that after you turn eighteen, your thoughts start to show up visibly on your forehead, and only wealthy or well-connected people are allowed to wear hats or hairstyles that cover their foreheads.
PART TWO: Make It Magical
Next, think about what the magical element(s) of your world will be. There are lots of options! Remember to consider how this element may connect back to your issue, or act as a metaphor for it, and/or ultimately reveal a truth about the issue.
How do these magical elements relate to the issue you chose? How in the course of your story will these magical elements reveal a truth about the issue?
PART THREE: Tying It Together
Now think over the elements of your story so far. Write a one-sentence version of your story, in the style of “The Dinosaur.” This version obviously won’t include all the details of your final story, but it will provide a taste of your theme/issue and magical elements, and will introduce a character and/or a setting.
RECOMMENDED READING
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“The Dinosaur” by Augusto Monterroso
Short Stories by Latin American Women: The Magic and Real by Dora Alonso, edited by Celia Correas Zapata
“The Burgundy & Gold Stitched Chair” by Emily Rinaldi
About Girls Write Now
For twenty years, Girls Write Now has been a leader in arts education as New York’s first and only writing and mentoring organization for girls. We match underserved teen girls and gender-nonconforming youth from throughout the five boroughs of New York City with women professional writers and digital media makers as their personal mentors. Our mentees—more than 95 percent girls of color and 90 percent high-need—are published in outlets including The New York Times, Newsweek, and BuzzFeed; perform at Lincoln Center and the United Nations; and earn hundreds of Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. One hundred percent of Girls Write Now seniors are accepted to college.
Girls Write Now has been distinguished three times by the White House as one of the nation’s top youth programs and twice by the Nonprofit Excellence Awards as one of New York’s top ten nonprofits. Reaching thousands of girls, Girls Write Now is a founding partner of the New York City Council’s STARS Citywide Girls Initiative. Girls Write Now has received the Youth INC Innovators Award, NBCUniversal’s 21st Century Solutions prize for social innovation through media arts, and the Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) People’s Choice nomination.
Our annual anthology has received the Outstanding Book of the Year award by the Independent Publisher Book Awards, and has earned honors from the International Book Awards, The New York Book Festival, the National Indie Excellence Awards, and the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The anthology has also received Honorable Mention from the San Francisco Book Festival and the Paris Book Festival.
Literary Partners
Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
Belletrist
Bustle
Chime for Change
Coach
Columbia University Artists/Teachers Program
Comedy Central
Dutton
Diane von Furstenberg
Feminist Press
Fletcher & Co
Foundry
GIPHY
GirlBoss
HarperCollins
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Lenny Letter
Macmillan
MAKERS
McNally Jackson Books
Movado
National Book Foundation Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
News Corp
New-York Historical Society
New York Women’s Foundation
One Teen Story
Parsons The New School of Design
Pen + Brush
Penguin Random House
PIMCO Foundation
Riverhead Books
SparkPoint Studio
StoryBundle
The Wing
ThoughtMatter
Tin House
Urban Outfitters
VIDA: Women in Literary Arts
The Wall Street Journal
Young to Publishing Group
Youth INC
Girls Write Now 2018
STAFF
Maya Nussbaum, Founder and Executive Director
Tracy Steele, Director of Operations
Molly MacDermot, Director of Special Initiatives
Maria Campo, Director of Programs and Outreach
Naomi Solomon, Assistant Director of Programs
Isabel Abrams, Program Manager
Sierra Ritz, Senior Program Coordinator
Georgia Wei, Development Coordinator
INTERNS
Julia Gagliardi
Spencer George
Alexandra Harris
Jasmine Jin
Ellie Maddock
Molly Mellott
Nilofer Nobi
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gloria Jacobs, Board Chair
Ellen Sweet, Vice Chair
Erica Mui, Treasurer
Laura Scileppi, Secretary
Elaine Stuart-Shah, Board Development Chair
Marci Alboher
Ellen Archer
Karen Bishop Morris
Maya Nussbaum
Nicole Summer
YOUTH BOARD
Nazerke Akilova
Ayo Akintayo
Assata Andrews
Romaissaa Benzizoune
Jordan Che
Nyasiah Colon
Berna Da’Costa
Paldon Dolma
Mariah Galindo
Mekkiayah Jacobs
Zariah Jenkins
Amy Lu
Tasha McCalla
Mikey Mercedes
Kaya Middleton
Gabi Palermo
Leslie Pantaleon
Yvonne Prieto
Daleelah Saleh
Maeve Slon
Jacqueline Thom
Nneka Ulu
Sabrina Wen
Sharon Young
Luljeta Zenka
En Yu Zhang
CRAFT TALK SPEAKERS
Amber Atiya
Romaissaa Benzizoune
Kyla Marshell
Aarti Monteiro
Samhita Mukhopadhyay
Brooke Obie
Camille Perri
Jia Tolentino
CHAPTERS READING SERIES KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Naima Coster
Molly Crabapple
Kayleen Schaefer
Meg Wolitzer
Jenny Zhang
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Marsha Bernstein
Muneesh Jain
Maggie Muldoon
Jessie Roth
Richelle Szypulski
Paolo Villanueva
Anthology Supporters
We are grateful to the countless institutions and individuals who have supported our work through their generous contributions. Visit our website at girlswritenow.org to view the extended list.
Girls Write Now would like to thank Dutton for their help producing this year’s anthology.
Girls Write Now would like to thank Amazon Literary Partnership, which provided the charitable contribution that made possible this year’s anthology.
The anthology is supported, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, and STARS Citywide Girls Initiative.
ALSO BY FEMINIST PRESS
AGAINST MEMOIR:
Complaints, Confessions & Criticicms
Michelle Tea
The razor-sharp but damaged Valerie Solanas, a doomed lesbian biker gang, recovering alcoholics, and teenagers barely surviving at an ice creamery: these are some of the larger-than-life, yet all-too-human figures, populating America’s fringes. Rife with never-ending fights and failures, theirs are the stories we too often try to forget. But in the process of excavating and documenting these lives, Michelle Tea also reveals herself in unexpected and heartbreaking ways.
Delivered with her signature honesty and dark humor, Tea blurs the line between telling other people’s stories and her own. She turns an investigative eye to the genre that’s nurtured her entire career—memoir—and considers the extent to which art preys on life.
MICHELLE TEA is the author of numerous books, including Rent Girl, Valencia, and How to Grow Up. She is the creator of the Sister Spit all-girl open mic and 1997-1999 national tour. In 2003, Michelle founded RADAR Productions, a literary non-profit that oversees queer-centric projects.
YOUR ART WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE
Beth Pickens
As a teenager visiting the Andy Warhol Museum, Beth Pickens realized the importance of making art. As an adult, she has dedicated her life to empowering working artists. Intimate yet practical, Your Art Will Save Your Life helps artists build a sustainable practice while navigating the world of MFAs, residencies, and inst
itutional funding.
BETH PICKENS is a Los Angeles-based consultant for artists and arts organizations. She provides career consultation, grant writing, fundraising, and financial, project, and strategic planning services for clients across the US. Before relocating to Los Angeles in 2014, Pickens was based in San Francisco and served as Senior Program Manager at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Managing Director of both RADAR Productions and the Queer Cultural Center.
THE CRUNK FEMINIST COLLECTION
Essays on Hip-Hop Feminism
Edited by Brittney C. Cooper, Susana M. Morris & Robin M. Boylorn
For the Crunk Feminist Collective, their academic day jobs were lacking in conversations they actually wanted to have—relevant, real conversations about how race and gender politics intersect with pop culture and current events. To address this void, they started a blog. Now with an annual readership of nearly one million, their posts foster dialogue about activist methods, intersectionality, and sisterhood. And the writers’ personal identities—as black women; as sisters, daughters, and lovers; and as television watchers, sports fans, and music lovers—are never far from the discussion at hand.
These essays explore “Sex and Power in the Black Church,” discuss how “Clair Huxtable Is Dead,” list “Five Ways Talib Kweli Can Become a Better Ally to Women in Hip Hop,” and dwell on “Dating with a Doctorate (She Got a Big Ego?).” Self-described as “critical homegirls,” the authors tackle life stuck between loving hip hop and ratchet culture while hating patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism.
SUSANA M. MORRIS is co-founder of the Crunk Feminist Collective and a contributing writer on the blog. She received her Ph.D. from Emory University and is currently an associate professor of English at Auburn University, where she teaches African American literature. Her book, Close Kin and Distant Relatives: The Paradox of Respectability in Black Women’s Literature, was published by the University of Virginia Press in February 2014.
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