A Time I Thought I Was Going to Die
My response to Amy Tan’s writing exercise
I was reading through the posts that Masterclass Notes provided and found a Summary of Amy Tan’s Masterclass.
Having loved the novel The Hundred Secret Senses, I was eager to hear Amy Tan’s advice.
She provided a writing prompt:
Remember a time when you thought you were going to die. That’s not what you’re going to write about. Remember another time when you thought you were going to die. Don’t write about that either. Think harder again, and ditch that idea too. Now go deeper into your memory one more time. Remember a time when you thought you were going to die. Now write about that time.
Following her directions, I made a disturbingly long list of the times I thought I was going to die. As I crossed out each of the phrases representing a story Amy Tan wouldn’t want me to write about here, I made a mental note to appreciate how amazing and statistically unlikely it is that I’m still here to write this story! Eventually, I came up with something far down that list that I actually feel comfortable sharing.
