Exercise Two: I AM GARCIA MARQUEZ

Write a paragraph to a page (150-350 words) of narrative with no punctuation (and no paragraphs or other breaking devices).

I did this exercise tonight but I’m not going to post it, because I littered it with names that I’d rather not place in this space and I don’t want to change them. I will, however, post these ruminations:

1) I am a complete slave to punctuation. I can barely travel an inch in any direction without feeling the need for a comma, a dash, a colon, a semi-colon, a question mark, a period — perhaps several periods… I felt like I was holding my breath, a fish flopping helplessly on concrete. I couldn’t slow anything down. I couldn’t really speed anything up. It also felt kind of artificial, because I kept thinking “Never mind, next week I’ll just come back and stick a comma in right here, and then it will be ok.

2) Why Garcia Marquez? Sarah, you’re reading him right now… I don’t remember what he does with punctuation. What’s the deal?

3) Everything I write squirms and wriggles about under my fingers until it turns into a portrait, even if it’s supposed to be a story. I like writing portraits, but I want to also be able to storytell. Next time I do an exercise I’ll be more vigilant about keeping it in the narrative mode.