From: "mo'listing can be fun!" To: "ze list, ze list, boss!" Subject: EXERCISE: The Action of a Sentence -------- [Loosely baised by an exercise in Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (p. 87)--blame the mistakes and poor guidance on me, the good results on her...] 1. Pick one of the following ten nouns: lilacs horse moustache cat fiddle muscles dinosaur seed plug video 2. Pick one of the following fifteen verbs (from cooking): saute chop mince slice cut beat broil taste boil bake fry marinate whip stir scoop 3. Fill in the basic sentence structure Noun-Verb. Horse boil. Expand. The horse boiled with anger. And again... The stallion pawed the ground and trumpeted his anger to the heavens as he boiled... 4. Keep going! If you get bored with one, take another noun or another verb, or even toss both of them back in the pot and draw again. "I got a lousy pair of deuces, but they were wild in the game I was playing. The twin horses reared and boiled on their cards, ready to stampede to victory..." And away, verbal diarrhea, to another horse and another time... Beware the tiny horsemen of the plague that boils and bubbles in the acne-infested depths of a virgin rubber trojan. twice used. three times needed. no parachute, but he jumped anyway. and that's why the good die young. 5. Pick one of the bits you've grown a pair of words into, and expand, trim, revise, and hack it into the form of your desire. Story, poem, essay, or something new and wonderful? Finish your art... I shall cease and resist further public playing with my words. Get your own pair and play the game! May your words carry you well! tink [P.S. To make up your own version of the word lists, start by making a list of ten nouns. Any ten. Flip that dictionary, scratch your forehead, but make a list of ten nouns. Now pick an occupation, such as a carpenter, doctor, or whatever you like. List fifteen verbs that go with that work. Then try joining the nouns with the verbs, and see what you get when a potato saws, or gorillas amputate...]