Casey_Seline - Experiment 3 lyrics

Exercise 1 My favorite beginning to a short story from our textbook is that of Tandolfo the Great by Richard Bausch because it starts off en media res. In my opinion, en media res will do one of two things to a reader: it could make him/her feel lost, turning him or her off of the piece, or it could make him/her curious and draw the reader in immediately. It really depends on the person, and I am in the curious camp. In Tandolfo the Great, we can tell that something drastic has happened before the reader enters the story, and that is what I will try to recreate below. Libby didn't feel anything. She didn't smell anything; she didn't taste anything. But that was fine, better than fine even, because it only meant that her sight and hearing were sharper than they otherwise would be. She ran not knowing where she was headed exactly, but my, did she run fast. A swimmer by training, Libby was no track star. Yet that extra limb length that came in handy during swim team was an a**et to her now. She heard a bark in the distance. It was lucky, really, that she'd been outside in the first place. She'd taken to reading on the deck in back lately. It was the ideal evening for it, too. Warm, but not warm enough to make a comfy sweatshirt and shorts questionable. It wasn't humid, and there were the perfect amount of clouds in the sky to keep the sun from reflecting off the pages and hurting her eyes. The dog was content to be outside as well. The dog was no longer content with just this yard, however. Why Mom hadn't put the electric collar on was beside Libby. It was one of the thoughts that entered her mind at intervals as she ran. Libby heard another bark. Libby ran. Exercise 2 1. There was nothing ornate about it. 2. The excitement was tangible, or was it anxiety? 3. “Well,” she wrote, “this is the sentence that begins the end of my life.” 4. Only gone for an hour, the room she had grown up in was now mocking her. 5. “Congratulations, and remember to remember.” 6. She dipped her pen into the ink then watched as a drop land on her life. 7. Rereading wasn't necessary, but it was calming sometimes. 8. “Maxine Keegan,” her mother scolded, “you know it's rude to ask someone if they remember.” 9. Finally. 10. Tearing pages out was absolutely forbidden. My favorite of these sentences is probably #1. It's the sentence I've had in mind since the beginning, so I am biased. I really like the first paragraph that I have right now and that sentence really plays into it. I can take it in a lot of different directions. I do like #10 as well, but I think it might be a little too much like Fahrenheit 451. #7 isn't bad, but it starts a lot farther in the story than I had originally intended. If the direction I'm going now doesn't work out, I will definitely come back to this exercise to start afresh.