Creative Writing

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Lived Spaces

Body and Space

Lived spaces are formed through human experiences and perceptions. Many of these experiences are informed by our physical bodies. The ways in which our bodies occupy spaces determine our perception of these spaces, and hence forms our definitions of them as well as the ways in which we feel within them. Lived spaces are defined socially, and, though we have progressively shifted towards a more virtual world, social interactions still often take place when people are in physical proximity to one another. How do our bodies define the spaces we occupy? How do we physically interact with the spaces we define? It is important to distinguish between the physicality of a space and how physicality interacts with a space. The former has to do with visuality and physical boundaries, while the latter is about our own bodily experiences giving meaning to what a space is, where it begins, and where it ends.

Writing Prompt 1

Describe an empty room; a contained space. It could be an office, a living room, a private hotel suite, a bathroom etc. A character enters the space. Describe the character’s physicality as well as what happens to the space. How tall is the character? How does their presence fill up the empty space?

Writing Prompt 2

Write a poem about your physical communication with a space that is special to you. Focus on how your body reacts to this space; how does the importance of this space make you feel physically? Without your attachment to it, is this space still the same?

Writing Prompt 3

Write a story about a space that changes in size or shape because of a character’s interaction with it. For example, a character is bedridden might see a space from a different angle; a child might feel the temperature in a space differently; a person in pain could perceive the inside of a crowded bus to be more unbearable.