EXERCISE: just one little line...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting 23 Dec. 2013

Are you ready? All right, here's the line:

The children screamed as they raced down the stairs.

What's behind them? Where are they going? Why? Who are these children, and where are the stairs? Are there adults around? Who is it that is listening and heard the children, and what was he or she doing? What do they do as the children scream?

Go ahead. Imagine that scene, add in details to make it live and breathe. Oh, wooden stairs that drummed and creaked as the children stampeded down them? And there was a smell of... What in the air? Was it day or night, dry, rainy, snowing, frost...

Then write it up! Just think, all over the world, little scenes of children on stairways, playing out their motivations, the events, the actions and reactions...

And it all started with just one line.