Pop Culture Mud, Week #5
You can take the girl out of pop culture, but you can’t take the pop culture out of the girl. Our 10-month training program for nonfiction writers began here in January. Our first month’s theme? Pop culture! Feels good to go back to square one today! Your job is to research celebrity stories and write about five pop culture moments that relate to you in some way.
Creative Idea Gal’s Thoughts
At the end of the week, you’ll see how a timely pop culture moment landed on my lap – – perfect for this week’s writing prompts. For now, let me start you off with another pop culture moment that proved to be a delightful surprise for me.
In 2005, actress Goldie Hawn published a memoir, A Lotus Grows in the Mud. I read the description of the book on Wikipedia and was instantly touched by it. This book contains 35 individual stories of Goldie Hawn’s life, accompanied by life lessons. According to Hawn, “the main purpose of the book is to speak from her heart about past events along life’s journey and how she has been affected and changed from those experiences and encounters which she calls her ‘Gifts.’”
The fact that this was a pop culture moment that had to do with mud was wonderful to me. More importantly, though, was the significance of the book itself. For me personally, A Lotus Grows in the Mud was a great discovery of how a book about tough personal stories written in first person in an introspective manner can do well in the market. It is similar to A Slice of Faith, which is a book I’m blogging right now. In my book, I write about equally difficult personal stories and accompany them with faith lessons. If Goldie Hawn can do well with her book, I know I will rock with mine!
Creative Brainstorming Tips
The best tip I can give this week is to open your mind to the world of celebrities and pop culture.
People tend to shy away from celebrities perhaps because many of the things they go through are unrealistic or gimmicky. But as we see with Goldie Hawn’s example of a memoir whose life lessons relate to others, pop culture may not be entirely bad.
Helpful Resources
I went to the most reputable source on celebrities and pop culture and learned a cool new expression “fashion suicide by sequins.” Pop culture is way more interesting than people give it credit.
“In our weekly round-up of what we’re seeing sizzle (and fizzle) on the red carpet, we spotted some serious décolletage, bright colored shoes — and fashion suicide by sequins.” – People Magazine Style Watch
One of the key components of mass media is the amount of resources dedicated to celebrity news.
“Popular culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society.” – Wikipedia entry
Writing Prompt 061
Prompt: Write About Five Pop Culture Moments that Relate to You
- Step 1: A Lotus in the Mud is a creative combination of the word mud and the concept of pop culture. Explore the vast world of pop culture online and in print.
- Step 2: I said it in January and I’ll say it again: “I guarantee you, there’s a celebrity out there that matches your taste!” Look at the headlines and read news stories. Find celebrity stories that attract you.
- Step 3: Write about five moments in pop culture that relate to you. Celebrities often do silly, entertaining, or eccentric things. Many of those things are interesting and worth writing about. How do those celebrity stories impact you personally?
Please be sure to leave comments about this writing prompt. We want to hear from you!
About the Author
Amanda M. Socci, J.D., is a freelance writer with 14 years of experience writing professionally. Socci currently cuts her blogging chops on her personal portfolio blog, the Creative Idea Gal blog, and on an online news site, Mount Vernon Patch. Inspired by Nina Amir’s Write Nonfiction in November writing challenge, she created a unique 10-month training program for Writenonfictionnow.com and Writenonfictioninnovember.com blog visitors.
Grab the badge of honor and upload it to your blog. Follow the prompts three times a week (M-W-F) right here.
Leave a Reply