Make a song and flash out of it
Fun Flashy Prompt: Using song lyrics
In the UK, winter can feel pretty bleak. There’s a lot of grey skies and mud. Not so much of the snow. But it also holds so much atmosphere; the mist and rest, a sense of waiting.
Now we’re getting close to Christmas, songs are pretty much belting out all over the place, making it the perfect opportunity to use one to inspire a story.
Your Prompt
You’re going to write a flash, using the lyrics below. Let it set the scene or use it metaphorically, and pick yourself a theme from the idioms below.
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am? —
[…]
Yet what I can I give Him, —
Give my heart.
Themes
Pick one of these idioms to inspire your theme:
a song in your heart
belt out
burst into song
fight song
make a song and dance about something
sing a different tune
sing from the same hymn sheet
siren song
song and dance
song and dance, (to give someone) a
swan song
The Story Behind the Song
From Wikipedia
"In the Bleak Midwinter" is a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti. It was published under the title "A Christmas Carol" in the January 1872 issue of Scribner's Monthly, and first collected in book form in Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress and Other Poems (Macmillan, 1875).
It has been set to music several times. Two settings, those by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke, are popular and often sung as Christmas carols. Holst's is a hymn tune called Cranham, published in 1906 in The English Hymnal and simple enough to be sung by a congregation.
If this prompt inspires you, feel free to share it. I’d love to hear what stories it brings to life!
But most of all, have fun!