Writing themes and exercises

Suggested Themes

Qisashome does not prescribe what a story must be about. These themes offer a sense of the stories the platform documents, and the list remains open.

• Home, the street, and the details of place. Does Abu Mohammad, the bread seller, still call out every morning? Does Rose, the hairdresser, still open her shop at the same time? Is the lemon tree still growing in the courtyard? Does the smell of coffee still linger in your grandmother’s house? What remains of the shop at the end of the street, the bench outside the house, or the road you used to take every day?
• Displacement, departure, and the impossibility of return. What did you take with you when you left? Do you still have the key to the house? What happened to the address you once knew by heart? Is there a road whose every turn you still remember, even though you no longer travel it? What does it mean to know the way back, but not know whether you can return?
• Identity and belonging. When did belonging become a question? Is there a word you only use when speaking about the place you left? What happens when someone asks you, “Where are you from?” Has your answer changed as your location changed? Is there a name for a place that you still pronounce the way you did there?
• War and its consequences. What continued in your life despite the war? Did a particular meal continue to be prepared in the same way? Did a shop keep opening its doors? Did a child keep going to school? What everyday ritual continued despite everything? And what is no longer possible in the way it once was?
• The body and how it remembers. Is there a sound that makes your body tense before you understand why? Is there a smell that takes you back to a place or a moment? Did your sleep change after something happened? Is there a movement or habit your body repeats without you thinking about it? Does your body carry a memory you do not know how to put into words?
• Relationships and what survives. What did the war rearrange inside your family? Who used to sit at the table and is no longer there? Was there a friend who could not get out, and another who did? Did a phone call that used to happen every evening suddenly stop? Who remained close despite the distance? Which relationship changed after you left?
• Memory, language, and faith. Is there a word you still say in the language or accent of the place you left? Is there a song that takes you back somewhere? What prayer did you grow up hearing at home? Is there a story that is told in your family but never written down? Is there a name, a word, or a voice you are afraid of forgetting? What can you say, and what are you still unable to say?

Writing exercises

Not sure where to begin? Start small. These exercises are not submissions. They are ways in.

1. 01

   01 — The room, the house, the street

   Describe a room, a house, or a street you no longer live in or return to. The light, the objects, the sounds.

2. 02

   02 — The day before

   Write about an ordinary day before everything changed.

3. 03

   03 — One object

   Choose something you carried, lost, or left behind. Tell its story.

4. 04

   04 — The sentence

   Remember something someone said to you when you left, arrived, or when you were lost in thought or in your body. Write what surrounded that sentence.

5. 05

   05 — The after

   Write about a habit you have now that you did not have before. Trace it back to where it began.

6. 06

   06 — Ten minutes

   Set a timer. Write without stopping or correcting yourself. Then underline the line that surprises you. Start there.

Practical notes

• Write in Arabic or English, whichever holds the memory.
• 800–2,250 words is typical, and the list stays open. Fragments are welcome.
• Nothing is published without your signed consent and your approval of the final text.
• A story facilitator can meet with you once to help you find the shape of your story, if you need it.