FIVE MINUTE FICTIONS: open arms, closed door

Set some kind of timer for five minutes. Use that five minutes to write a little sketch or story that includes, and connects, these two images.

If you're still game when you've finished, set the timer for another five minutes. This time, your assignment is to alter the mood of the piece. If your first sketch or story was tragic, rethink and rewrite it in comic or satirical terms. If your first piece was playful or lighthearted, write a new one that uses the same images but has a more somber or serious mood. You may have to change some of your characters or plot elements, but doing so isn't required.

Images are interesting writing-starters because good ones are so often both evocative, and so mysterious. It would be possible to write an entire novel inspired by these two photographs. But luckily, you don't have to.