Sunday, January 14, 2007

Here's a thing.

Well, yes, a thing. A sort of an exercise really, only without the sweat, or the expensive running shoes.

Try this.....
Set a stopwatch/egg timer for three minutes. In that time write as many sentences as you can. Each sentence must be written in a different style and not linked to the sentence before, or the one after. Just let your head go and you may be surprised with what you come up with.

Here's mine....... go!

- Oh, how I wish I could shoot a gun, it would bring enormous relief to my headache. The foghorn rang out over the still waters letting them know that the land was often more treacherous than the sea itself. Hang 'em high Billy Joe so papa ain't alone in his wooden casket. Sloe worms are not so slow and neither are they related to the sloes that my grandmother used to stuff into jars and suffocate with gin. The purple jacket in the shop window caught her eye but a swift mental calculation and a vision of the letter from the bank manager thought the better of it. If Jack Nids had not left the house that night then Mickey Doughnut would not have got a bullet in the butt and Meggy Sampson would have no reason to give up that bottle of whiskey that she had been hiding under her bed for the last six years. He thought killing would be easy but the flesh was stubborn and fought the knife to the last. -


If you want share then have a go in the comments box, or you can email me at - innerminx at google mail dot com and I will post them up, if you wish. I would appreciate your thoughts on how it went and whether you would use any of them elsewhere.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

I'll do it tomorrow when I'm fresh/woozy, first thing!

The Moon Topples said...

This is a great idea, and I'm thinking I'll give it a whirl a little later. From your results, it looks like it gives you a bunch of great first lines for later development.

I'm linking your blog, and will be back.

Unknown said...

You're right MT, not only does it excerise the mind, it also gives you some great material to develop. If you can manage to let go completely you can come up with some really surprising things!

Unknown said...

Ooh, I must give this a whirl. A kind of stream of consciousness, sort of, thing.

Debi said...

Yeah - but 3 minutes might be hard to find ...

But yours are brill - and truthfully each could become a book in its own right.

Anonymous said...

Loved your sentences!

I might do this later, if I can grab 3 mins from somewhere. Gotta go get the dinner going now.

Gorilla Bananas said...

The lion will still eat you if you're covered in shit. Never trust a hyena with a marmot on its back. Long grass tickles your willy. The Masai are the only real men in Africa. Clowns are highly strung and neurotic. If a human tells you he's seen a ghost, always reply: "did it bite you". Whiskey tastes much worse than camel piss. Zebras are arrogant bastards who run away after they've farted. Out of time.

Unknown said...

There you are GB, there are many things that could come out of this. I was particularly taken with the sentence "Long grass tickles your willy". I feel a poem coming on.......

Saaleha said...

Well, I feel too lazy to try to find the energy, so I'll pass. But your sentences are great! Well done, oh Minxy One.

Marie said...

Great idea. I might have a go if I get the time.

Unknown said...

Well, when the computer comes back better and all fixed up tomorrow I might give this a go. And then again Thursday might be a more realistic bet, or you know what tonight with no computer. Jeez who would have thought three minutes would be so hard to organise

Unknown said...

Well, when the computer comes back better and all fixed up tomorrow I might give this a go. And then again Thursday might be a more realistic bet, or you know what tonight with no computer. Jeez who would have thought three minutes would be so hard to organise...

or that that word verification would be so hard to spell.