Ellen Mulholland––writer, dreamer
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playing with sentence structure

1/26/2015

1 Comment

 
This month, we've been looking at the importance of sentence structure. If you missed our refresher, check it out here.  Hopefully, you had time last week to read some great first lines in YA literature. Perhaps you've even practiced some of your own writing. If you want to improve your skills, it's important to take time daily to study and exercise your writing muscles.

Today, I have a visual exercise for you. I will present three images, and you will tell the story. You can write as much or as little as you want. However, for this exercise to have meaning, you should try to focus on a beginning, middle and end. It can be flash fiction or an opening to a longer story; but it must tell the three parts.

To help you get started, consider what just happened before the picture was taken. Think about where the characters in the photos might go in a moment or what they might do next.

This is a great chance to explore sentence variation.

Choose one or more and write. You might want to combine two photos or even all three. How are they connected? Perhaps the pictures inspire a theme that you want to explore. There are no rules. (Except that you must write!)
Remember what we learned about simple and complex sentences. What emotions do the pictures convey? Would shorter simple sentences work, or is the story more complicated and requires longer and more detailed complex sentences?

Don't forget to include promises of more story to come.

Please share your efforts below. 
Write on!
1 Comment
Ellen Mulholland link
1/25/2015 12:04:46 pm

I'll start.

If Tabitha hadn't told her parents we were spending the night at Kim's, we wouldn't be retracing our steps through a cold mountain stream right now. The necklace has to be here. Somewhere.

"My mom will kill me if I've lost it," Rachel says. Her tears have finally stopped, but she has the same panicked look on her face.

"It's okay, Rache, we'll find it." God, how can Tabitha always be so positive? How in the world will we ever find a thin gold chain with a floating heart in this frigid water? I don't see a happy ending here. Not at all.

"What was that?" I turn. "Did you hear that?" Rachel and Tabitha look toward the woods - the same direction as me. I squint. "Is that a man?"

We hook arms, but we don't move...

(If you want, add on to this story. What will happen next? Will this story share the theme of friendship or betrayal?)

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  • Home
  • Blog and More
  • Words by Ellen
  • Words about Ellen
  • 10 simple writing tips
  • Writers to read
  • BIRDS ON A WIRE
  • THIS GIRL CLIMBS TREES
  • Book Reviews
  • Author visits, book signings, more
  • Shop
  • Young Minds