For a quick-write in my Advanced Fiction Workshop class through UC Davis Extension, I was asked to write a paragraph using one long sentence.
Yep, you got it. I was asked to write one big run-on sentence.
I just so happened to have met Arnold Schwarzenegger that day, so decided to use that event for inspiration.
Just for fun, I’ll share it with you now.
The Day I met Arnold Schwarzenegger
He leaned toward me, him standing, me sitting, held out his hand and said, “Hello, Margaret,” and I looked into his eyes, shook his hand, and answered, Hello Mr. Schwarzenegger,” and I noticed how his hair was thick and set back from a long forehead and how his face was tanned and his eyes looked curious and warm for those few seconds before he moved on to sit at the table next to mine and his life moved on, the moment already forgotten, while for me, I relived it over and over all day and will probably dwell on it often in the years to come, hardly having noticed if he was short like people say, instead noticing his accent, how it sounded like my immigrant parents and how he looked like my brother, my father, my uncle, my grandfather.
Wouldn’t my former English teachers have had a field day with this?
As always, thanks for stopping by!
I love it! Says a world of things in one sentence…very good Margaret…and I know how you felt…my sister and I ran into Henry Winkler (the Fonz) one day. It buoyed us up for days, during a time we really needed it!
~cath
Hi Cath. How fun it was to write a one sentence paragraph, almost as fun as meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yes, brushing up with a celebrity has its merits.
Margaret, I think you should have won a prize.
Hi Dorothy. In a way I did. The class loved it!
Great sentence, Margaret.
Run-on sentences used to be a big problem of mine, but now I couldn't write one if I had to, although I'll probably never have to, because the chances of me ever meeting Jeff Goldblum are slim to none even if my brother and sister-in-law's friend did meet him at a party once, because they were living in Los Angeles, and I'm sure he'll never come to southeastern Alberta.
— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
Aren't run-on sentences fun? I have one of my novel's characters speak in RO sentences, as some of my acquaintances do. Actually, many of us think in one continuous RO line of dialogue. Yikes!
How interesing. And the sentence works. Terry McMillian is well known for writing long sentences, but she published and makes it work.
Hi Lee. Yes. It works, and I love it, though I hesitate to do it too often. I'll have to look up Terry McMillian's work. Thanks for the tip.
Wonderful – writing a long sentence and meeting someone famous!
I interviewed Cyd Charisse and Dr. Patch Adams (both phone interviews). I had an assignment to interview Dr. Adams, and expected to set up the phone interview though an agent, as I had done with Ms. Charisse.
However, Dr. Patch Adams called me 'unexpectedly' at my place of employment and I didn't have my interview questions with me. Flustered, I pulled a couple of questons off the top of my head, he answered an the conversatain was finished in less than 4 minutes.
Needless to say, I didn' have enough information to write my assigned article.
Never to let a story 'get away' I knew I had three quotes I could use, so I went to the library, checked out a book on Patch Adams life, can't remember if it was a biography or autobiography, rented the movie "Dr. Patch Adams", familarized myself with the 'doctor' as portrayed on paper and film, inserted my 3 quotes and finished my assignment prior to editorial deadline.
Whew! that was a close call, but I never let a story get away!
And, I wrote a long sentence on how I completed my asignment. bernadine
Hi Bernadine. Loved your story AND your long sentence. It read so well, I didn't even realize you'd written the whole paragraph without periods until you told me so. Hope you save copies of all your writing assignments. They sound interesting.
Thanks Margaret. Yes, I save copies of all my writing, I've got volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and it is never enough writing for me. bernadine
P.S. and another – run on sentence! bernadine
Wow, Bernadine. I'm impressed. On both counts.
How very Faulkneresque! Nice work, Margaret.
Thanks Rosi.