The Journey

Matt sighed. He rose, slowly, his heart still aching from the pain of parting with what he had called home his entire life. He took a deep breath, then set out to the forest. The calm immediately embraced him, as if the forest was another world. Sunlight drifted among the trees and the wind blew lazily, teasing the edges of Matt’s coat… Matt journeyed on, entranced by the mystic beauty of the forest, his soul full with the harmony of nature. The sounds coalesced perfectly with each other, forming a symphony of nature. Matt's grief turned to dust as his heart clasped onto the beauty of the forest untill he became intoxicated by its charm. It seemed to possess some hidden enchantment, slowly drawing his mind away from reality. Matt’s vision turned to a kaleidoscope of colours as he slowly fell. The ground rushed up to meet him and then, there was silence.

Everlasting glow

Once upon a time, she rose. Once upon a time she sank. But when is once upon a time? How many times has she risen and fallen again? How long is her everlasting breath?

Just now a new journey begins. The same as her whole life, but still so different. Today she will endow the people with light. So red and beautiful. Each little ray of the miraculous glow, thousand different colours mixed to form one.

She creeps over the land, with each step that seems so tiny, travelling a million miles. And as she gazes over the mountain her colour changes. It's getting brighter and more powerful. Another time life awakes.

Slowly, something is stretching along the warm sand. The animal moves majestically, displaying its long, black, split tongue, a challenge 'till death for anything opposing it. The snake does this with perfect preciseness.

And now she sets again, ready to show herself to another part of this planet the moment the snake sees her no more. The footless creature moves over the still fiery stones waiting for tomorrow when another time the all seeing eye will spread its arms on the country.

The stars, a sea of light in the darkness, now is the only companion of the snake. And so she waits for another morning.

Stars

It was a dark and starry night. She was looking out the window watching the beautiful night sky; the sky was so much clearer compared to the city, one could see everything. The stars were like a painting, a painting with sparkles. She stares at the sky each time she thinks of her father. Somehow she manages to find a solution when she looks at the dark glitter painting.
Tomorrow would be her first birthday without him. How she wished he’d be there to celebrate with her. She decides to close her eyes for a bit. As she opens them slowly she looks out the window and suddenly sees the stars move. The stars start to scatter and form a shape. She can’t make out the shape but all the stars that are moving get bigger and brighter. She looked next to her drawer desk and held the picture of her and her father closely in her hand. It was a picture of them playing on the swings together. She smiled heartedly as she remembers the memory. Once more, she looks out the window and sees the dazzling stars, she observes them closely trying to find a meaning or hint in the vivid atmosphere she perceives. Finally she sees it, the stars are formed creating the image of the picture with her father, the joyeous moment she can not help but miss. Inspite of being rather surprised and curious, she laughs as she looks out. The stars start changing form again but this time they write out words.
“Happy Birthday. Love Dad” is what the stars seem to read. She smiles gratefully to find herself opening her eyes waking up. She looks in her hands and sees the picture held securely. One last time she looks at the sky and sees one single star, brighter than the rest and smiles as she knows who that star belongs to.
Dreams are not always just pure imagination.

Better than Heaven...

I thought I was going crazy because the same day... the same scenes... and the same heartbreak was approaching me all over again... This was it... This was when I had to say goodbye to my dearest one in the whole world... The one I had taken care of... My shining light in the dark... My angel!... This was where it was going to take place... This was the end, but I wouldn't let it be him... I wasn't going to let the nightmare come to life...
Holding him tightly by my side, I got into the cab. I couldn't let go of him... I tried holding back the tears... but before I knew it, they flooded my face... The pain I felt because I had to say goodbye was killing me... Burning inside... Tearing me apart..."I love you, dear... Be careful..." I whispered in his ear. I wrapped my arms around him... Holding him tightly and protecting him...
I felt as if a thousand knives went through my body...The crash took place... The drunk driver smashed the car... I heard a scream and that's all...
The next thing I knew was that I was in an emergency room... Doctors and nurses rushing towards me... The knives still piercing me... My eyes struggling to stay open... trying to find him...
I closed my eyes thinking they would be shut forever... Shut without seeing his beautiful face for the last time...
I didn't know how long my eyes had been closed. When I opened them, they were surrounded by white... Was this heaven?... Where was I?... I found out what was going on when a small, blurry figure ran towards me and cried out:"Mommy....."
He wrapped his tiny arms around me... I felt the tears of joy flood my eyes... That was when I realised this was better than heaven.....

The Home of a Boy

He felt small, sitting on the moist rock, watching the ocean lash the rocks below him. The sky was dark and the clouds were haunting, and he wanted to escape. His bare feet were bleeding from the harsh texture of the rocks that dug into his skin. His clear blue eyes were red and he choked back the tears that were caused by everyone and everything around him. Fat rain droplets started to crash on his honey colored hair and his clothes began to be heavy and weighed him down. He laid down on the rock and pain was sent through his body like an electric shock because of the sharp edges stabbing into his back. He closed his eyes and he felt a rush of familiarization as the wind blew through his damp hair and the noise buzzed in his brain of the water splashing around, as if they were struggling to escape from something that was holding them back. This was home for him. This was always home for him, the music of nature in his ears, this is what he knew but he didn’t like it. His smile was fake, his laughter was forced, his hopes were fairy tales and his strength was weak. His tears rolled down his cheeks like small crystals glistening and dropping onto the rock, mixing with the rain. He stood up sloppily and looked below him into the ocean. He took a deep breath and jumped with all of his might down, to the ocean, and he hoped that there was going to be sunshine where ever he was going.

Task 3 Exemplar

Stroke Victim

Still and unstirred, like a silent oak, the rings of time carved into the bark of her face, she watched nothing. A miniature seed of spittle swayed imperceptibly in the corner of her mouth, the ghost of a smile lingering from some joke not even she could remember; and, if you listened carefully, you could hear the sibilant scrape of her breath. Her eyes held a conviction of wonder, a cloudy cataract of joy at who knows what, when or where.

Her hands rested, statuesque, on her knees, the thumb of each hand tapping the seconds out with metronomic precision, a rhythm hypnotic in its persistency. I walked over, edging closer, terrified I would wake her from what seemed to be such a perfect state – alive and yet enraptured, totally detached from this ugly world. I touched her cheek, but she didn’t register. I held her hand, gently – and I was disturbed by the brief hiatus in her digital beats, as if I had stopped her music.

I stepped back; regarded her again. And then I saw it. A briny diamond creeping down her left cheek, like a distant cry from a child buried deep within this ageing casket. Sadness distilled, too potent to contemplate. I knelt down, dropped my head on her lap and my own tears dripped on to her fingers, which did not stop tapping.

Task 3: MORE Music to Words

Read this VERY carefully. This task is SIMILAR to Task 2 but it is NOT the SAME.

With Task 2, you had to use a piece of music to inspire a narrative - a self-contained extract from a story. Atmosphere, plot, tension etc. were all important, and all had to be extracted from the music itself.

Task 3 is purely DESCRIPTION. Whilst what you write could appear in a much longer piece of fiction, it will work on its own as a single description - of a place, a (fictional) person or an object.

As with the best writing recently, I am looking for description which:

• makes creative but careful use of sonic devices such as rhyme and alliteration
• embraces the potential of figurative language (similes and metaphors) and personification to bring an image to life
• avoids cliche and pursues originality - of lexis (vocabulary) and syntax (sentence structure)
• is structured carefully and consistently, with a clear opening and a deliberate finish

I will post an exemplar shortly.

As before, please listen carefully (and several times) to ALL 20 extracts - before you select the one which most powerfully makes you imagine the person/place/thing you will describe. Please tell me if you would like me to email them to you again. And make sure you choose a DIFFERENT one from last time.

The deadline for this task midnight on Tuesday 9th November.

Good luck!