Last Lines

On March 5, I wrote about First Lines. Scroll down to see that. Today we'll play around with the opposite: Last Lines.

This is a more challenging (and fun) writing exercise, because we need to think of a story that ends with a given line, instead of a story that starts with a given line. But we're all up for the challenge, right?

Here are some last lines from published books. Again, it's okay to copy a line from a writer's published work as long as we're using it as writing practice, not to publish it ourselves.

Take one of these last lines, and see if you can write about something that happens before this last line. Then finish your story with this line.

• The lighthouse was working. (Mooninpappa at Sea by Tove Jansson)

• His voice was soft, soft but strong, like a hummingbird wing, like spider-silk. (Green Boy by Susan Cooper)

• We lived happily ever after. (A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck)

• "The feast waits." (Runt by Marion Dane Bauer)

• Below him, the stars burst upward, back into the sky. (Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt)

• Richie took a deep breath and entered, walking with them into the darkness. (Demon Keeper by Royce Buckingham)

Okay, have these last lines set your imaginations stirring? Ready for the challenge? Try writing a story that ends with one of the lines above.

Go!

Rain, Rain Rainforest

It's raining today here on Bainbridge Island, and that reminds me of a great writing activity to do on a wet, blustery day. It's called, Rain Rain Rainforest. It's fun to do with other people, but you can play it by yourself, too.

Find several small pieces of paper in different colors. (Try going to your paper recycle bin.) On each piece of paper, write a word. You can choose words at random: bicycle, fudge, run, violin, taste, lamp, rock, spin, and so on.

When you have a nice batch of pieces of paper, wad them up in your hands to make "raindrops." Now create a rainstorm by throwing your raindrops up in the air. (Ask an adult first.) When you're done, pick up about 5 or 6 raindrops and unfold them.

In your notebook, write a story using those 5 or 6 words. Those words must appear in your story. For example, what kind of story plot would have a bicycle, a piece of fudge, someone running, a violin, someone tasting, and a lamp? See what your imagination can come up with.

And don't forget to pick up your extra raindrops from the floor!

First Lines

When we write stories for practice, sometimes it's fun to start a story with a first line from a published book.

Of course, in a story we plan to publish, we can't steal lines from another writer. (That's called plagiarism.) But when we write stories in our notebooks, and don't plan to publish them, it's okay to use a line from another writer as a starting point.

Here are some great first lines to get a story started.

• It was raining bullfrogs. (The Midnight Horse by Sid Fleischman)

• A small vagrant breeze came from nowhere and barely flicked the feather tips as the arrow sped on its way. (The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley)

• Move over, Dr. Dolittle. (Seaglass Summer by Anjali Banerjee)

• It was quite untrue that the Minnipins, or Small Ones, were a lost people, for they knew exactly where they were. (The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall)

• One of my best dreams ever. (Listening for Crickets by David Gifaldi)

• Most boys his age had never touched paper. (First Light by Rebecca Stead)

Take one of these first lines, or another one you found in a published book, and write a story using it as your story opener. When you're done, you may want to read the published book to see what it was about. How was your story different? How was it the same?