Yesterday I went to my creative writing workshop. We worked on an exercise where we had to describe a room and vary our sentence length. I was originally going to write this as one long sentence (one of the options), but given the time constraint I couldn’t really plan it properly so that it didn’t just sound like a boring run-on.
I like when I start writing something and things come out that I totally wasn’t expecting. A couple of years ago I was writing a story and I had it all planned out that the main character, having decided to walk to work after being gone for a while, would get to the end of the road, turn right, and continue to work. I even knew what the conversations with her colleagues would be. Fancy my surprise when I typed that she turned left and went to the park instead. I so hadn’t seen that coming.
Same goes with this beginning. I have no idea what’s going to happen now, because this wasn’t at all my plan when I started writing. I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
She arrived home, finally, and after barely stopping long enough to set down her case and remove her coat she trudged up the stairs, where the silence of her bedroom waited to wrap around her like a snug cocoon. She considered ly
ing down on the bed straight away, but opted to first turn on the small bedside lamp, allowing a soft and comforting glow to illuminate only the immediate space by the bed. She sat down, sinking into the mattress, closing her eyes in a subconscious expression of relief and contentment. After removing her shoes, she rested her head upon the down pillow. Her back was to the cupboard and the light of the lamp almost, but not quite, reached far enough to reveal the quiet figure lurking behind the partially closed door. Amber breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to have reached home and her own private sanctuary.
Cat Wild 