Creative Writing Assignment #4 (I think). June 15 2004
I apologize for the tardiness. I was on the phone all day yesterday trying to get everything good to go with my camera. So...
Almost every writer I know looks for that perfect opening sentence or the perfect ending. In fact, we want that perfect open and close to our story so badly that some times we get writers block trying to think of how to start the thing. Well, this week, we'll have none of that. Go to your bookshelf and grab any two books (of decent length). Turn to page fifty-six of the first one and take the second complete sentence. Congratulations. That's the first sentence of your story. Now turn to page twenty-three of the second and take the third complete sentence from the bottom. That's your ending sentence. Write the story any way you want. However, the first and last sentences must be word for word with what you found. Feel free to change the grammar, and perhaps add to the end of the opening sentence or beginning of the closing sentence.
For example, if your opening sentence was "The house was still." you could go with "'The house was still,' Pete recalled to the police." or "The house was still burning when I arrived home." If it was your last sentence, you could say, "As my eyelids closed, it occurred to me that the house was still." So long as the words you take are the first and/or last words of the story, it's ok. Have fun.
Almost every writer I know looks for that perfect opening sentence or the perfect ending. In fact, we want that perfect open and close to our story so badly that some times we get writers block trying to think of how to start the thing. Well, this week, we'll have none of that. Go to your bookshelf and grab any two books (of decent length). Turn to page fifty-six of the first one and take the second complete sentence. Congratulations. That's the first sentence of your story. Now turn to page twenty-three of the second and take the third complete sentence from the bottom. That's your ending sentence. Write the story any way you want. However, the first and last sentences must be word for word with what you found. Feel free to change the grammar, and perhaps add to the end of the opening sentence or beginning of the closing sentence.
For example, if your opening sentence was "The house was still." you could go with "'The house was still,' Pete recalled to the police." or "The house was still burning when I arrived home." If it was your last sentence, you could say, "As my eyelids closed, it occurred to me that the house was still." So long as the words you take are the first and/or last words of the story, it's ok. Have fun.