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writing exercises: description

silverwhisper posted on Feb 13, 2007 | views: 733 | Tags: writing exercises, writing, link, fonts, writing exercise, wriitng, Here is mine
well, since so many people seemed to like the idea, i'm bringing back the writing exercises series.

this week's challenge: describe a mythological/fictional creature that fascinates you. entries should be 100 words minimum. the creature can be doing anything at all that you like.

please comment your description and comments on other's descriptions separately, and please bear in mind the following (previously posted here

1. post constructive, specific criticisms. a response of “i don’t like it” doesn’t say anything helpful. a response of “when you wrote [x], i felt this didn’t work b/c [reason: e.g., doesn’t sound like the character, contradicts something you wrote earlier].” criticisms not conforming to this will be deleted.

2. understand that criticisms you may receive are posted in good faith. we all have weak points in our writing. i’m not good sometimes at setting the scene, i tend to gloss over the locations b/c i’m more concerned w/ dialogue and characters. comments that help me shore up that weakness are things i really would appreciate.

ed

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Comments

  • Muckraker said on Feb 13, 2007....
    silverwhisper:  If you are still interested in the hospital dumping case, go to MSNBC's website today click on US News, scroll down to US Life and you will see it, there is a more recent update on the original story.
  • polarheart said on Feb 13, 2007....
    Here is my attempt, Ed - LINK
     
    I hope I understood correctly that this is how it is supposed to be done.
     
    Thanks, Polar
     
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 13, 2007....
    muckraker: dude, all you had to do was bump the other blog by commenting to it. :> but thanks!

    you know, that wasn't what i had in mind, polarheart but honestly, i think i like this idea best!

    ed
  • SaltwaterPearl said on Feb 13, 2007....
    Just bookmarking while I write it. 
  • MissMimi said on Feb 13, 2007....

    He drummed his fingers impatiently on the Italian marble top of his desk. It was a left-over habit from the old days, one he had tried unsuccessfully to break.  It was a human weakness and he detested it.  He could barely remember those days.  It had been so long since he had been brought over.

    Soon.  Very soon it would be time.  The last few minutes were always like this.  He felt the gnawing in the pit of his stomach and the nearly overwhelming urge to hunt.  In his human days, he would have sighed heavily.  He stood and put on his suit jacket.  It was tailor-made and fit his trim body very well.  He straightened his shirt cuffs, and  smoothed his hair.  Both actions were totally unnecessary.  He knew he was perfectly groomed, despite the absence of a mirror.  He smirked as he realized a mirror wouldn't have been of any use anyway.

    The sky had at last darkened into full night.  His fangs lengthened and sharpened in his mouth, a signal that it was time.  He opened the door and walked through it silently.  It was time for fresh blood.

     

  • Alyss said on Feb 13, 2007....
    Ooh mimi I like that!

    Will post something myself tomorrow if I get a chance.
  • polarheart said on Feb 13, 2007....
    Ed, you gotta say quick what needs to be done.  Are we going to post on our own blogs and LINK it here or must we just enter and crit here?  Would the second way not be a bit higgledy piggledy?  Your call.  I await your instruction.
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 13, 2007....
    i think the most elegant way is the way polarheart did it: post your exercises on your own blogs, then comment here w/ a link. that way, comments can be made on everyone's respective exercises and it's all easy to keep straight.

    sound fair?

    ed
  • VICARIOUS said on Feb 13, 2007....
    A few years ago Writer's Digest magazine's website posted a calendar over-view to carry the avid writer 365 days. Each day was assigned something like you have put together here. A great idea. They referred to these gems as writing fonts. There seems to many people interested in the complexities of learning to write well. I say go full throttle. 
     
    Personally, I try to avoid getting involved because I have strong opinions. Just my opinions. I've been lucky is all. I learned how to get some readers attention. The goal isn't getting, it is keeping.
     
    To me writing is the quintasential dichotomy that I fear for two opposite reasons. I suck; I don't suck. Either one causes much angst I have learned to quell.
     
    Writing can cause great fear in people. You are bearing your literature soul, and people may laugh or tease. I've been writing for years, and luck has given me monthly columns as a staff writer in a magazine and even a book. However; I still question if I have a clue as to what I'm doing. If I'm lucky, I'll never find out.
     
    It may truly freak me out.
     
    To me if you want to write, even if you suck, just write. Practice won't make you perfect, that is an illusion, but it will make you better.
  • MissMimi said on Feb 13, 2007....

    Ed, go ahead and delete my entry from this blog. I just re-posted it here.

    Sorry for the confusion.

  • Zayda said on Feb 13, 2007....
    I'll be posting mine here when I'm done simply because I find posting them all over the place too confusing and think it's much easier to read them all and comment on them all in one thread.

    Sorry PH and Ed, but I hate the idea of them all being separate blogs.  I think it's a horrible idea. I think putting them in separate blogs makes it all higgiditly pigidigtly.  I also think it runs the risk of many not getting commented on if they are all in separate blogs.  The way you did it when you first started works better for me personally.  If you don't want me to participate because of that, then let me know.
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 13, 2007....
    that's b/c you're thinking of this as a thread, not a blog entry, super z.

    think about the process of everyone posting their exercise here, then commenting on everyone's. it's going to be extremely difficult to keep things straight that way, i think.

    ed
  • Zayda said on Feb 13, 2007....
    See, I disagree, Ed. IMHO, it's much easier to keep track of things if they are all posted in the same blog entry as comments. 

    So, I'll just refrain from participating.
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 13, 2007....
    [sigh]

    is it absolutely necessary that this be didactic? the objective here is to help sharpen our writing skills, no?

    [trout-smacks super z]

    ed
  • Lucytorial said on Feb 13, 2007....
    Just some one tell me how I LINK?? I'm a dope but i want to do it right!
  • MissMimi said on Feb 13, 2007....

    Okay Lucy,  I hope you use "compose" mode because that's the only way I know how to link. 

    1.Once you've written your post, highlight and right-click to copy the url (it's the little box at the top of the browser where it says www.whatever...) 

    2. Open a new window and get to SC and then, to this post.  Write your comment and highlight the part you want to link. (for example, I highlighted the word "here" in my comment.)

    3. See the line of little icons at the top of the comment box?  click on the little blue planet.  (hang on--you're almost there!)  A little box should appear in the upper left corner of your browser.  Remember the url you highlighted in the other window you have open?  You can now paste the url into the little box in the corner of your browser.  theoretically this will create a link in your comment.

    Clear as mud, isn't it?  Hope I helped.  LOL-- I just noticed I made an inadvertent link when I typed www....  Good grief.

  • Lucytorial said on Feb 13, 2007....

    Sure thanks for that - okay here goes everyone.

     

    zepher

     

    Ooooh thanks so much missmimi - first time for everything isn't there  :>

     

     

  • waterstar said on Feb 13, 2007....
    ok, here it is...hope the link works
  • CreativeWoman said on Feb 13, 2007....
    My entry is here.

    CW
  • nytquill17 said on Feb 13, 2007....
    I'll go along with the new format (in the morning - me sleep now!) since that's how we're doing it now and I do enjoy/want to participate, but for the record I agree with Zayda :)
  • gingersoul said on Feb 14, 2007....

    Blog marking....too late now...time to sleep....

  • Lioness said on Feb 14, 2007....
    Here's my entry
  • mom said on Feb 14, 2007....
    Ok here it is.
  • Dicconzane said on Feb 14, 2007....
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 14, 2007....
    mine is here.

    ed
  • husbandhater said on Feb 14, 2007....
    Thanks MissM but I still don't get it. ed I will write mines and let you know I did it. Remember I'm not so computer lit, still learning! And that seems like a lot of steps.
    Luc yours was nice. Going to write mines and read others now
  • husbandhater said on Feb 14, 2007....
    O.k. ed your going faster than I can toll em out. Did my discription going to try your hunter now. Mines is called " A bargin on death's doorstep.
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 14, 2007....
    HH: no no, "meet the hunter" is my own attempt to do the exercise!

    ed
  • gingersoul said on Feb 14, 2007....
    Mine is here
  • mousenphonic said on Feb 14, 2007....
    I'm new to this, bare with me :)
     
     
    Hope I get points for effort ;)
     
    Mouse
  • polarheart said on Feb 14, 2007....
     
     
    I just took the liberty to link it for her, as she was having some problems with how to link.
  • VICARIOUS said on Feb 14, 2007....
    I posted one too, Not sure if it is descriptive though. You will have to mouse over I don't do links.
  • tbs230 said on Feb 14, 2007....
    Here's mine Link
  • Col_Mustard said on Feb 16, 2007....
    My own contriubtion to the cause.
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 16, 2007....
    have i missed anybody's response to the challenge? i thought i got everybody, but let me know if i somehow missed someone

    ed
  • Frlncwrtr said on Feb 17, 2007....
    SW: I will respond to this, just don't have time right now, maybe this afternoon. Also, didn't have time to even log on when you originally posted it. But, beware because my response, I think will be a little different from the usual, or what you might expect. Anyway it may still some conversation. freelance
  • Frlncwrtr said on Feb 17, 2007....
    sw: My response is here.
     
    freelance
  • suejeff said on Feb 17, 2007....
    Hi Silverwhisper,
     
    I just called mine writing exercise - not very original I'm afraid will do better next week.
     
    Sue
  • Zayda said on Feb 18, 2007....
    Okay, I'm following the pattern and linking it, but I still think posting them here would be much better.

    Here's mine.
  • Zayda said on Feb 18, 2007....
    Hmmm...trying the link again. It doesn't seem to be working right.
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 18, 2007....
    freelance, sue, super z: got 'em!

    ed
  • Zayda said on Feb 18, 2007....
    Thanks, Silver, and thanks for the comments. That was actually fun to do.
  • nytquill17 said on Feb 18, 2007....
    after a nice weekend to relax from the construction guys (who should really thank their lucky stars I'm not PMSing or they'd all be dead Carrie-style by now) I feel up to this.  But this evening is dedicated to gaming and a movie with DH, so can I promise to write and link mine Monday morning?  Pretty please with sugar on top? :)
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 18, 2007....
    take your time, nyt. :>

    super z, you could have just posted yours here, if you wanted.

    ed
  • Zayda said on Feb 18, 2007....
    Nah.  Since everyone else was linking, I did too.


  • NotANormie said on Feb 18, 2007....
    I wrote it
  • NotANormie said on Feb 18, 2007....
    i am too stupid
    cant follow direction
  • silverwhisper said on Feb 19, 2007....
    hey, it's confusing, so stop being down on yourself, please.

    ed
  • nytquill17 said on Feb 19, 2007....
    Hey, I actually did something I said I would do!  Now to get around and make comments...I'm in a major "deep cleansing breaths...must not kill..." phase lately so it may take me some time, but I will do it! :)

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