Elements of the Writing Craft. Part One, Lesson Three: Opening in Crisis

For this assignment, I’m working from pages 6 and 7 of Elements of the Writing Craft by Robert Olmstead.

1. Open with a two-word sentence. Subject and verb. Come up with ten possibilities.

  1. We struggle.
  2. We wander.
  3. He raged.
  4. I lied.
  5. I complied.
  6. He hungers.
  7. I wept.
  8. They rebelled.
  9. We fought.
  10. We fled. 

2. Choose a two-word sentence to open your story and follow it with a paragraph in the conditional, using the word, “would.”

We struggle. He would take more than he needed, I would restrict his prey.  Predators are a natural part of life, but try telling that to the victims. He would play with his food and I would deny him prey but, it only made his frenzy worse.

3. Hide an adjective inside a sentence.

We struggle. He would take more than he needed, I would restrict his prey. Predators are a natural part of life, but try telling that to the victims. He would play with his food and I would deny him young prey but, it only made his frenzy worse.

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