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Friday, May 11, 2012

How to write a story - Description, cont.

"From two-thousand feet, where Claudette Saunders was taking a flying lesson, the town of Chester's Mill gleamed in the morning light like something freshly made and just set down. Cars trundled along Main Street, flashing up winks of sun. The steeple of the Congo Church looked sharp enough to pierce the unblemished sky. The sun raced along the surface of the Prestile Stream as the Seneca V overflew it, both plane and water cutting the  town on the same diagonal course."

I love the comparison of the town to something gleaming and "freshly made" and how the first sentence immediately suggests to me that our narrator may be hinting at something... interesting. Either the town is indeed like something "freshly made and just set down," or, it is not. And really, where do cars trundle? Probably ONLY in Chester Mills. Some mythical small town in some northwest corner of  Maine - my fair state.

It also happens to be the home state of the author, Stephen King, and this first paragraph is from his novel, THE DOME. If you like Stephen King I'll wager you'll like this. Both as a writer and and a reader.

13 comments:

  1. I figured it was someone famous.

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  2. ;D

    You know how much I heart Stephen!!

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  3. I never knew that was him but the description was beautiful.

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  4. I love Stephen but haven't read any of his current work. He left me sleeping with insomnia....sorry. I just had to go there. LOL.

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    1. See, I loved Insomnia, it's actually among my favorites. My brother, on the other hand, loves the Gunslinger series which I have not been the least bit interested in. That's what cool about Stephen King. Not that I'm a big fan or anything ;)

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  5. LOL! I still stand by my critique. I should've known, though. I thought that Congo Church sounded familiar, but I couldn't place why, and I even read Under the Dome and loved it.

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  6. I used to read King's books as soon as they were released, but haven't read any for quite some time. No sure why, but I kinda lost interest. Same for Koontz. Maybe I'm ready to give them both another go.

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    1. I actually hadn't read anything of his recent works either but I really liked The Dome.

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  7. You've got a great blog series here. So glad I found your blog:)
    Happy weekend!
    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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  8. I don't read Stephen King because I'm not a fan of horror, but his book ON WRITING is one of the best I've ever read. I think I miss out on a lot by being a coward.

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    1. I have ON WRITING as well, along with quite a few others :)

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  9. I was hoping that discovering this was written by Stephen King would change my original analysis. Nah. It doesn't change it all. Still think it could use a bit of rewording with that first bit with Claudette and her lessons but the rest is absolutely wonderful.

    Thanks for sharing this. I got more from this than just an understanding of some great use of descriptions.

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    1. why thank you Angela :) And you shouldn't change your opinion just because he's famous and published. I happen to like it though that may be due to the fact I read the book.

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