Friday, July 13, 2012

Razor's Edge for 7/13/12

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On Monday, in Radical Writing Advice, I talked about the impermanence of punctuation. I'm not saying there is not a place in writing for punctuation, but I am saying that there are options. There are creative ways to use punctuation and it can be another too we as writers use. For pacing. For tension. For emphasis. And more.

Today I'm continuing on that theme.

Today's Razor's Edge is a challenge. To play with punctuation. Don't worry, you can go back to your usual patterns, be it a graduate degree strict adherence to the rules or line editor preciseness, or rebel to the rules. But let's venture into prose without periods and commas and other textbook markers for a freewrite.

Oay, let's play with punctuation. I've put in a couple of samples below, taken from a short story I'm in the early stages of developing. If you're up for it, try writing without any punctuation, without capitalization. This is what I've done in the first sample below. Or try like I've done in the second sample below, using space to represent the stops and pauses which would usually be filled with punctuation.

After reading the samples, use the picture and the prompt to write. For 10 minutes.

*sample one*
the key card slid smoothly into and out of the slot on top oftthe faux gold security box on the door it was followed by a whir and then silence and the illumination of the central pinhole yellow light in the traffic light pattern on the box yellow damn i said though there was no one around i wouldnt have said it if there was someone nearby it would ruin my image i repositioned my bag on my shoulder as it was slipping toward my elbow and this had the markings of a longer than a quick dash to get into my room i might even have to make a trip to the front desk sigh all i wanted to do was slip into the room change out of this chimp on a rope uniform and crash the bottle of makers mark was calling me from the mini fridge and i could taste the reeds extra ginger brew which was the reason my bag kept sliding towards the floor shit another expletive without an audience ice
*sample two*
the key card slid smoothly into and out of the slot on top of the faux gold security box on the door    it was followed by a whir and then
silence
and the illumination of the central pinhole light in the traffic light pattern on the box      yellow

damn  i said though there was no one around     i would not have said it if there was someone nearby

it would ruin my image.

i repositioned my bag on my shoulder as it was slipping toward my elbow
and this had the markings of a longer than a quick dash to get into my room i might even have to make a trip to the front desk

sigh

all i wanted to do was slip into the room change out of this chimp on a rope uniform
and crash
the bottle of maker s mark was calling me from the mini fridge and      I could taste the reed s extra ginger brew which was the reason my bag kept sliding towards the floor

shit    another expletive without an audience

ice
 
PROMPTS:

As he approached the street corner I noticed . . .
 
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