JAMESTOWN, OH – Give writer Gery Deer a person, a place, a memory, or even a few random words, and then listen. There is no printer warming up, no laptop clicking and no artificial intelligence generating paragraphs in the cloud. Instead, there is the unmistakable mechanical rhythm of an antique manual typewriter as Deer turns a stranger’s prompt into an original story

He calls them Original Literary Portraits, short works of flash fiction written on demand and typed while the person who provided the prompt waits. Part performance and part keepsake, the idea grew from Deer’s nearly 40 years as a professional writer and his longtime fascination with manual typewriters.

“There are a lot of typewriter street poets out there, and they do an amazing job. I’m not a poet. But I still wanted to give people the experience and offer something that feels different from anything people normally encounter at an event,” Deer said. “You give me a prompt, and I write something just for you. No templates, no AI. You hear the keys, watch the page fill up, and when I’m finished, that one-of-a-kind story is yours.”

Deer, of Jamestown, Ohio, began freelance writing in 1987 and has since worked as a journalist, columnist, copywriter, editor and communications professional. Over nearly four decades, he has written hundreds of feature stories, news articles, books, essays and columns. His weekly opinion column, “Deer In Headlines,” is published in the Xenia Daily Gazette and Fairborn Daily Herald and online at The Jamestown Comet.

Typewriters have made a significant resurgence over the last couple of decades, attracting everyone from writers to collectors. For Deer, however, typewriters aren’t museum pieces. He maintains a modest collection of vintage manual machines, including Royal, Smith-Corona and European-made models dating to the 1930s and uses at least one of his typewriters every day.

“There’s a physical connection to writing on a typewriter that you just don’t get from a screen,” Deer said. “You get the time to think about every word, every phrase. As the type slugs make contact with the paper, you can hear the thought becoming something tangible. At some point, you have to trust yourself, trust your skill, and keep writing.”

That becomes particularly important when someone is sitting nearby waiting to see what emerges at one of the events where he does the literary portraits. A prompt might be sentimental, funny or completely absurd. Someone might offer a childhood memory, favorite place, person they love, imaginary character or simply an object sitting nearby. Deer takes the idea and creates an original narrative around it.

The result is not intended to be a biography or formal portrait. Deer describes it as a literary interpretation of whatever the participant brings to the table. The participant supplies the spark, while the writer decides where it leads. Each story is created individually, so no two Literary Portraits are alike.

The concept developed from writing conferences and typewriter events where Deer began composing stories for attendees. At one event, he wrote more than 20 stories from participants’ prompts in less than two hours. The response convinced him there was an opportunity to take the experience beyond traditional writing programs and typewriter gatherings.

Deer now offers his Original Literary Portraits for corporate events, museums, galleries, trade shows, private parties and other events. Bookings are available hourly or by the event, with options for a fee plus voluntary tips or a higher fee where no tipping is requested. Travel expenses are included in individual event quotes.

In an age when written material can be generated and duplicated almost instantly, Literary Portraits intentionally move in the opposite direction. The experience comes down to one person, one prompt, one writer, one typewriter and a blank sheet of paper.

“We spend so much time on things that are mass-produced or digitally generated,” Deer said. “I like the idea that somebody can walk away holding something that exists because they were there. They gave me the spark, I wrote the story, and that particular moment can’t really be reproduced.” For information or an event quote, contact Gery Deer at 937-902-4857 or gery@gerydeer.com.