I have to write a paper about a place/time that I have an emotional attachment to or a place that has shaped my sense of self. I haven’t really felt much of an attachment to anything for most of my life. Even if I did, I wouldn’t even know how to begin describing the nature or cause of that attachment. I chose to write about the woods by my childhood home because I spent a lot of time there as a kid but I couldn’t tell you how I felt about it in the moment or even how I feel about it now. I literally don’t have the words
Short stories are often intensely emotional as well. They might be more approachable.