What Is a Sentence?

Today I would like to build on my investigation into what a word is by trying to answer another deceptively simple question: What is a sentence?

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How T-Rex Became King of the Dinosaurs

The following is a story sketch I wrote for my daughter who loves dinosaurs. In the end, I felt that the story was too long and perhaps a little too dark for a four-year-old, but it was good story practice and good fun to write. I hope you get a kick out of it.

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The Talker

Starting a new story can be difficult, especially if I have no idea who or what I want to write about. Sometimes, to generate ideas for a story, I start an impromptu conversation with myself. The goal of this exercise is to discover a character or an attitude that intrigues me. I like to do this if I have no ideas for a story, or if I want to find out more about a character or attitude I’ve already started developing.

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What Is a Word?

Today I want to investigate a deceptively simple question: What is a word?

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Behind the Story: Evening at the Bus Stop

Yesterday I posted a story sketch “Evening at the Bus Stop” about an old man and a distressed woman having a conversation in which both are unable to really listen to each other. Today I want to go over some of steps that I took to complete that sketch.

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Story Sketch: Evening at the Bus Stop

It’s six o’clock in the little town of Layton, Utah. The sun has already set and the sky is covered with a seeming endless coat of dark clouds. On Main Street, at a small bus stop, sits a woman in a purple windbreaker. Her short, curly hair is newly dyed the blackish-red color of old blood. She is nearly elt

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Why Do We Tell Stories? – Part 2

Yesterday I spent some time on the question of why we tell stories. I started by going over the functions of story outlined by professor Harvey. Today I wanted to break from her list and start listing some functions of story that I observe, note any overlaps, and examine these functions more closely. I would also like to try and identify which functions of story are most important for socially impactful creative writing, since this is what I am most interested in.

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Why Do We Tell Stories?

“Let’s start at the very beginning / A very good place to start” 
—Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music

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Fred the Zombie: Part IV

You are reading part IV of this periodical. Click here to read part III.

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Fred the Zombie: Part III

You are reading part III of this periodical. Click here to read part II.

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