Beautiful Wisdom | Corinn Session

Reading takes you just as close to reality as it does far.

Lukeman Exercise 3 | Corinn B. Sessions

At the end of the book in section three, Lukeman cautions us as writers not to use certain punctuation marks, and if we ever did for stylistic purposes, to use them rarely. I just want to see if I can actually write something using all of the "hands off" marks: the question mark? And the exclamation point! As well as italics....ellipsis...and the hyphen-mark. (I've already violated so many rules. It's fun!) Underline, [brackets], and bold were completely off limits! I'm not sure I can use them.

Well, I guess I already did that exercise. I bet I failed.

Lukeman Exercise Part Two | Corinn B. Sessions

I never really employed the colon in my writing, but after seeing examples of how it can be used in stylized context makes me want to use it more. It is very effective how it grabs the readers attention and gives a direct impression of a description as a whole. There are not any usages of colons in any of my work, but I will experiment with it.


I had and uneasy feeling as I slowly peered through the window of the classroom door. There were many students in the class, ranging from the timid freshman to the opinionated and almost outspoken senior. Breathing deeply and trying to clear my head of doubts, I grasped the door handle, turned it quickly, then briskly walked inside and took a seat in the center of the classroom. I didn't recognize anyone in the room, so I kept to myself, wondering what class I was taking in the first place. Then the conversations around me began to take overrun my own thoughts.
"I strongly believe that the presidential..." and "Abortion is being attacked just as same-sex marriage is...", along with "President Clinton was a much better suited President than Bush because..." were flying around everywhere. Then I realized that I was sitting in a class, waiting to be lectured about politics. I knew exactly where I was: Hell.

Lukeman Exercise Part One | Corinn B. Sessions

I can't believe the kid just did that. I'm already late. I have a million things to do. I think I left my coffee sitting on top of the car. Yep, there it went. When is that meeting with the committee? That stupid and expensive yoga class does squat. I hate Mondays. I hate stupid drivers. I hate my job. I want to quit. I hate my boss. I'm two seconds away from throwing my pager out the window.

What I found to be beneficial about an exercise like this is that sentence length and structure can truly give personality to a person. With short, pointed sentences one gets the feeling that this character is rushed and frustrated; her thoughts are jammed and choppy, showing that she doesn't give much care to what is happening, but is absorbed in herself. If a character has long and descriptive thoughts, it gives the impression that this person takes time and is observant.