Comments on: sixty potential first sentences

By: Wednesday Writing Exercise: First Sentences « Mots Justes

Wednesday Writing Exercise: First Sentences « Mots Justes — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:02:53 +0000

[…] ago has stuck with me. On her blog Catching Days, Cynthia Newberry Martin alluded to the concept of first sentences: In The Story Behind the Story, Stephen Dobyns writes that he asked Raymond Carver how he wrote a […]

By: Wednesday Writing Exercise: Random Name Generators « Mots Justes

Wednesday Writing Exercise: Random Name Generators « Mots Justes — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:29:08 +0000

[…] I’ve been suffering from writers block and trying to ease my way out of it by writing first sentences. Rather than intimidate myself with the specter of writing an entire story or chapter, I write one […]

By: cynthia

cynthia — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:27:07 +0000

In reply to jenniferneri. Jennifer, I'm not familiar with that book. I'll check it out. And yes, unless I've forgotten, I am satisfied with my other published stories and articles. Maybe it's just that with 6 sentences, it's all right there staring at you without having to turn a page or anything. BTW, last night, as I was trying to go to sleep, I thought, wonder if I should have used disappear into instead of go to in the last sentence...

By: jenniferneri

jenniferneri — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:32:32 +0000

i loev the process you describe, Cynthia! You bring to mind the anthology, Double Lives
Writing and Motherhood.
Many of the woman describe a similar process.

Is there anything of yours that has made it to print that you are 100% satisfied with?
I do not think that would ever be the case with me.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:33:05 +0000

In reply to Linda. Linda, I'm amazed at what a great writing exercise this turned out to be. And I, ahem, did not keep count as I went. I just kept my rejects in a pile. After I was "done," I went back to study my process, which I was unaware of as I was working.

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:13:10 +0000

Thank you for giving us a glimpse into your revision process. Did you actually (ahem) keep count?

So far, I don’t feel I’m successful writing in the short form, but I think I’ll work with this six-sentence concept.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:31:19 +0000

In reply to Tricia. Thanks for reading, Tricia, and for liking actually. I had never heard that story about Garrison Keillor. I would love to have one of those books he edited after it was published. At least here I restrained myself from emailing the editor to ask him to make changes. : )

By: Tricia

Tricia — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:01:11 +0000

Actually, I liked actually in your story and glad you didn’t edit it out.

Your fuss over it reminds me of Garrison Keillor, who has an edit addiction. He edits even after the book hits the shelves. Going to his local bookstore with a pen in hand and lining through words and sentences.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:07:31 +0000

In reply to calliopespen. Nice to hear from you, Calliopespen! I do think Six Sentences is a great site. I've enjoyed seeing what writers can do with only 6 sentences--some using a lot of words and some very few. I was also encouraged by the process of writing this little story. Most of the moves I made as a writer were for a particular reason. So often when I'm revising, it feels completely random.

By: calliopespen

calliopespen — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:51:32 +0000

Thanks for directing us to this site and to your story. I read Watching and am amazed at your ability to tell a story in only six sentences. I love how the reader is given just enough information to be able to extrapolate and fill in the blanks. This is an exercise all writers should have on their to-do-list.

Wonderful post!