Let's pretend for a moment that my imaginary teacher just told me to write a few sentences about my favorite memory. After a minute or two of contemplation, I decide to write about the time I got my first dog.
So here's my first draft:
When I was in second grade, I got my first dog. My mom took me to the airport to pick her up. Then we brought her home. We named her Sophie.
Not bad, but not good, right? It's a little dry, and a little boring. If this was my final draft, I'd probably put my readers to sleep. Let's try again. This time, we're going to add a little more detail.
When I was in second grade, I got a brand new puppy. My mother picked me up early from school so we could pick her up from the airport. After wandering around the terminals for what felt like forever, we found the domestic cargo building. From there, my puppy was only a quick signature away. Her crate was a little stinky from the long flight, but I was too excited to care. We brought her home, washed her up, and decided that out of all the names we'd considered for her, 'Sophie' was the best fit.
That's quite a bit better. Notice that I also varied the sentence structure and used compound sentences. I also added a bit of emotion and flair. By combining all of these strategies, my writing seems a bit less generic and has a better shot of keeping my reader's attention.
If you want to be really fancy, you might want to try switching it up even more. My imaginary teacher's imaginary prompt was vague enough to allow me to get a bit creative. Let's try changing the point of view by writing this memory up as a journal entry.
Dear Journal,
Guess what? My puppy arrived all the way from Washington today! Mommy took me out of school at lunch-time so we could go pick up our new puppy. I was too excited to eat much, but Grandma made me chicken cutlets so it was hard not to eat. After lunch, we headed straight for the airport. Mom got a little lost so it took us forever to find the domestic cargo building, but we ended up in the right place eventually.
I could barely stand still as we waited in line for our puppy, but the wait was worth it once I saw her. She was stinky, wet, and dirty from the long flight, but she was so, so, so cute! I took one look at her and fell in love. We had decided to call her Chloe, but the moment I opened my mouth, "I love you, Sophie!" popped out instead. Oops.
After two long baths, Sophie was finally clean and free to explore her new home. I think she likes it here. I spent most of the afternoon playing with her, but she's taking a nap right now and Mommy says I should let her rest. Oh well. Anyway, I should go check on her. Bye, Journal!
This one is even more detailed and interesting, and it's a lot better than my boring first draft. You might notice that I changed some minor details from draft to draft. When you're writing creatively, it's perfectly alright to embellish your work like that. Just don't try that when you're writing a history paper. While it might be fun to re-imagine the American Revolution as a giant food fight, that is definitely not what happened and you'll probably get a big fat F for your efforts.
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