Grammatical Challenge #1 OR Short Shorts
This was once a final exam of mine in a creative writing class. What can you come up with?
The Assignment: A short story in the format of a one hundred word sentence.
Here's my take from way back in December of 2000:
First Class
Before I interrupted her lingering conversation with the man that scooted away backwards toward the door who had been in front of me (I pieced together bits of their exchange and wondered if ours would end up the same: friendly but congenial--at a safe distance), the woman behind the counter snapped her head back and gave out a chuckle which activated her auburn curls to bouncing on either side of her chiseled face, reminding me of my sister's prized porcelain doll that she use to dust twice daily when she was a child; "Some stamps please," I said.
posted by Lydia Daffenberg @ 7:44 PM
5 Comments:
It isn't all that easy to come up with a 100-word sentence, especially when it requires you to cut from the original 200, but with judicious editing (basically every other word) it can be done -- as long as one is making a single point rather than twenty points, because, obviously, too many points in one sentence, even when they're separated by semi-correct semicolons, can overload the definition of the vehicle, pop its tires, strip its clutch and send it screaming backwards down a long hill toward a mommy blog at the bottom -- and you, counting 2-4-6-8-90, are blind to your near future, and she, poor thing, stopped paying attention two inches ago, and the result is catastrophically this: nobody, including you, remembers what this sentence was supposed to be about, but on the other hand, maybe they'll be so dazzled they won't care.
CW,
And your point is . . . :->
Nice try, but you're about 50 words over, and I don't know if your sentence could really be considered a short story--but that's arguable, I suppose.
It is more of an assignment on editing, you're right about that. And, it takes hours to do! Not something to be attempted frivolously, mind you! Isn't it fuuun?
Cheers,
Lydia
In order to avoid the inevitable pleasantries and useless exchange with the plump older woman in the seat beside her, she kept her head tilted against the cold window glass even though she could feel the January chill seeping in through her cranium like an ice cream headache except without the sticky tongued after effects and worse still the movement of the bus was giving her a bruised feeling at this same connection point (the cold glass kept her skin adhered in one spot while underneath her skull bone rolled and bumped with the punches); only six hours to go.
Mamagiggle,
Thank you for your participation! I really enjoyed your story-sentence, especially the ending: "only 6 hours to go."
I'm curious, did you enjoy the exercise?
100% !
check out the daily onehundred. I haven't checked his word counts, they aren't one liners, but still, it's fun.
Rock on!
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