Prewriting Exercise for Narrative
Go to Amazon Stranger and imitate the first
eight to ten paragraphs.
Here's what I mean. Below is paragrpah two:
It's not a good feeling especially when, already, you hate to fly, and
the only
reason you've lived to be twenty-nine is that there happens to be an
island in
the middle of the Mediterranean called Crete and our Cairo-to-Athens
flight a
few years back, engines barely functioning, just happened to reach the island
before crashing into the drink.
Here is an imitation of it:
It's not something you want to do, especially if you are naturally shy,
and the only reason you're stilling peddling Avon is that you can't find
any other job in a town the size of Littleville, a town of under 1,000.
I had taken the job out of desperation, and there was nothing else to do
but to ring the door bell and hope the "lady of the house" was in a good
mood.
Notice how the second paragraph adapts the general structure to a new
situation. Keep your story consistent all the way through.