Steering the Craft, Chapter 3 Exercises

We resume your regularly scheduled Steering the Craft exercises.

Today, I am on Ch. 3—Sentence Length and Complete Syntax.

Part One: Write a paragraph of narrative, 100–150 words, in sentences of seven or fewer words. No sentence fragments! Each must have a subject and a verb.

I was on a mission. It was vital not to get caught. Liz was sleeping. I wanted to play Pokémon Red. The Game Boy was in Liz’s bedroom. There was one option: a heist. I crept up to Liz’s door. Dropped to my knees. I grasped the doorknob. With utmost care, I turned it. I nudged the door open. Crawling, I entered the dark room. Liz shifted in her bed. I froze. She snored. Somewhat relaxed, I resumed crawling. There! The Game Boy was on her desk. I outstretched my fingers and grabbed it. I would have gotten away with it. Unfortunately, I grabbed the wrong thing. Books tumbled off the desk. Liz sat up and saw me. The jig was up!

(The above is based on a true story.)

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Part Two: Write a half page to a page of narrative, up to 350 words, that is all one sentence.

That Sunday was wild and windswept—the kind of wind that sounds like children howling in the distance—my once-perfectly coiffed chestnut-brown hair kept blowing into my face, sticking to my lipstick (Lustrous Velvet, a wickedly dark shade of red stolen from my sister’s vanity), and I violently wished to be indoors, while Pastor Gilliam continued speaking with as much gusto as the wind, on and on about the importance of tradition and old-fashioned values; naturally, I only half-listened, with the rest of my attention on the gaggle of girls to my left, for Katie McPherson was whispering fervently in the middle, and she always delivered the freshest gossip in town; it was from her that I had first learned about Matty Weathers and Patty McDonald kissing behind the schoolhouse (you would think their names alone would keep them apart, but that’s true love for you, I guess) about two weeks before the rest of our class knew…so you see, I was quite distracted by the time Pastor Gilliam stopped speaking and I didn’t even realize that the Ceremony had begun for a minute or two, and when I finally snapped to attention it was because Momma gripped my shoulder painfully as Father started forward to pick his piece of paper from the box.

(That's "The Lottery" fanfic, btw.)

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I actually really enjoyed those exercises, particularly the second one. It took me a couple of tries to find a subject about which I could write one long sentence, but then I re-read "The Lottery," and it all just came together.

One thing I noticed about the first exercise is that when you’re writing short sentences, you don’t have much room for adverbs and adjectives. If you’re writing short sentences, pick strong verbs!

If you complete the exercises, I encourage you to post and share your responses.

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