Tuesday 17 March 2009

Two Sentence Tuesday: 17 March 2009

This week I have been reading “When Gods Die” by C. S. Harris, a Regency mystery of wonderful historical description and sleuthing. The last two sentences I read were: “Tom hopped down, his eyes flashing. “You mean something big enough to hide a body in?” "

My two sentences are from a work-in-progress dark fantasy, Keeper 2, and are in first draft stage: “Usually Maggie loved the wilderness, the free expanse of land and sky, but now she felt the hills and the forest thick with trees, deadfall and bushes were oppressive. The dim light filtering through the tree tops and constant curving of the narrow dirt path played havoc with her sense of direction."

For other Two Sentence Tuesday participants please visit Women of Mystery.

13 comments:

Kathleen A. Ryan said...

Barbara,
I enjoyed the intriguing sentences you chose to highlight today. I feel for Maggie and what awaits her! Best wishes on your WIP.

Merisi said...

I can feel Maggie's sense of unease.

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I read with great interest and sadness the story of the Toronto fire of 1904 in your previous post!

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Good luck with your writing!

Raph G. Neckmann said...

I like your sentences, Barbara. The contrast between 'free' and 'oppressive' really comes across.

Barbara Martin said...

Kathleen, wandering in strange woods can be quite trying.

Merisi, there are also those predator animals that frequent forests mentioned in my hiking posts.

Raph, good. Sometimes looking at a group of words is like looking at trees, and you miss the fact you're in a forest.

Lois Karlin said...

Your sentences are gorgeous. And you speak with authority. As you should, given your familiarity with the wilderness. (Ever notice how fantasy is so frequently set in the wilderness? Yay!)

Frank Baron said...

Wilderness settings are among my favourites, whatever the genre. It works well for suspense because it brings out our most atavistic fears.

Good luck with the tale.

Anonymous said...

My experience with forests around the world is that they can be both the most beautiful places, yet the most threatening and menacing. You'd like to be alone, but you dare not... - you've captured that well Barbara.The Torento fires were interesting in your previous post -I wonder how long it took for those families to get their lives back on track after they lost their employment.

Teresa said...

I enjoyed your two sentences, Barbara, and now I'm wishing I knew what lay up around the bend in front of Maggie.

Barbara Martin said...

Lois, whether the location is urban or the wilderness there lurks the fear of the unknown.

Frank, agreed. It must be from those childrens' fairy tales we were told as youngsters...all grim nightmares.

Barbara Martin said...

Pam, Maggie is quite aware of the dangers of the forest from a previous experience in the first manuscript. In this manuscript she has a couple more with each successive episode more terrifying than the previous.

With the people who lost their employment after the fire: probably just as long as it will take today's workers to find new employment after being laid off. Months.

Barbara Martin said...

Teresa, I may post the following two sentences as they do not deal with the plot per se. I don't want to be letting any cats out of their bags.

Charles Gramlich said...

Both are nice examples. I'd like to read another C.S Harris but man I'm swamped right now.

Barbara Martin said...

Charles, I have the two books that follow this one, but they will have to wait until I have completed the reviews for the obligatory books.