creative writing idea by nicole krauss: syncopated rhythm

The rhythm of 'The History of Love' is unusual / irregular / syncopated.
Look at this: 'When they write my obituary. Tomorrow. Or the next day'.
Now and again we meet short sentences like: 'And yet'. Or: 'But'. Just one single word 'but'. What for? It helps to control the readers' rhythm.

creative writing idea by nicole krauss: the death topic

A friend of mine, a great public speaker, told me once: "Each audience has its favorite topic. But there are three topics common to ALL the audiences. Those are: love, death and prestige."
The very first sentence of 'The History of Love' refers to death: "When they write my obituary".
And that's not all. What about the second paragraph? "I often wonder who will be the last person to see me alive".
And the third one: "I try to make a point of being seen... All I want is not to die on a day when I went unseen".
Now see the final page: 'Leopold Gursky started dying on August 18, 1920. He died learning to walk. He died standing at the blackboard...'
No, you should not think now the novel is about death. Next time I will show more optimistic sides of it.

creative writing idea by nicole krauss: unconventional start

The second point while reading "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss: the very first sentence on the very first page should be eccentric / unconventional / unusual / uncommon.
What is the first sentence? 'When they write my obituary.' Period.
How do you like such an opening?

creative writing idea by nicole krauss: no antagonist

Reading "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss.
Though she does not formulate any explicit creative writing ideas, tips or prompts. That's me doing it after reading her novel.
First. No antagonist / evil character / bad guy.
You may disagree now: there is Rosa (Litvinoff's wife) performing some bad action (destroying the book). But you should agree: this is not the important point. This action is too side-issue.
However, this is similar to the real life. Can you tell me now that you are conducting any war against some kind of villains? I think, the answer is NO.
But does it mean there are no dramas in your life?
Because of the absence of bad guys, the main character's situation makes the reader feel involvement / empathy / rapport with the protagonist.

HOW TO INVENT A CATCHY SLOGAN? CREATIVE WRITING IDEA

SITUATION

I saw a question about slogans. The reader was asking creative writing ideas for:
1. Creating awareness for road safety through wearing of helmets.
2. Conserving fuel energy
3. Preventing noise/air pollution.

Inventing slogans is a challenge, is it not? So we need some way to invent creative writing ideas for slogans.

DIRECTIONS & EXAMPLES

First, I started looking for good slogan examples. 'Nothing runs like a Deere' is a slogan of John Deere (a great tractor manufacturer). Deere – deer. It is a play of words, isn't it? A pun.

Second, it is short. Just four words.

Third, just for the sake of the wordplay: let us use alliteration. No, I don't say it is the only way to build a pun. There are several ways, as in the above example: Deere – deer. But I wish to use alliteration just for the sake of training.

Remember good examples for alliteration? 'Donald Duck', 'busy as a bee', 'good as gold'. And plenty of others.
One more example I found thanks to Seth Godin. "Wanna See my Socks?" - this is a slogan of 'Little Miss Matched', a sock company. Do you hear the alliteration?
By the way, do you see another wordplay here: 'Miss Matched'? And why is it 'mismatched'? Because their funky socks never match.

SOLUTION

OK, let us start with the first slogan. Helmet is in the center. Let us find words with 'h' and 'l'. A helmet is holding. What is a helmet holding? A head? 'A helmet is holding a head.' Maybe. There is another word: a hull. It is not a head exactly, but it sounds good.
'Helmet's holding your hull'

Now the second slogan. It is about energy. I've found three words alliterating with 'energy'. These are the words: enable / encourage / enhance.
I like it like this:
'Enhance Energy Economy'.

Finally, the third slogan: it is about pollution. Let's find the alliterating word to the word pollution. 'Pull', for example. Let's say it like this:
'Pull polluters down'

Those are creative writing ideas for our three slogans.