Assignment
9
Author’s Note: The lesson covered by assignment 9 was all
about pacing time in your writing. The assignment was relatively simple: use a clock in a scene to drive the action in
your story. While the lesson placed an emphasis on using timing to speed up the
action in your story, I decided to do the exact opposite: use a clock to slow down the action in the
story.
Grade Received: A, with positive comments from my professors
about how I really influenced the mood of the scene through the use of slowed
time
The
Office
Tick,
tick, tick.
Maxwell
shifted uncomfortably in the stiff plastic chair outside of Mr. Higginsworth’s
office as he listened to the generic black and white office clock positioned
high on the wall on the other side of the room. He’d been summoned suddenly
twenty minutes ago to the director of human resource’s office for an unknown
reason.
Tick,
tick, tick.
Maxwell
racked his brain trying to think of something—anything—that he’d done wrong,
and some sort of valid argument as to why he’d done it and a potential apology
for it.
Tick,
tick, tick.
The
receptionist at the desk in front of Mr. Higginsworth’s closed office door
typed quietly on her computer and ignored Maxwell’s obvious discomfort and
nervousness.
Tick,
tick, tick.
Tick,
tick, tick.
Tick,
tick, tick.
Dear God, it’s
been thirty minutes now, he thought anxiously as he watched the mischievous
red second hand on the clock deliberately plod forward ceaselessly from one
number to the next. What do they want
with me?
Tick,
tick, tick.
Suddenly,
the phone on the receptionist’s desk beeped loudly. She answered.
“Yes,
sir,” she said coolly to the unknown voice on the other end of the line. She
turned to Maxwell.
“Mr.
Higginsworth will see you now.”
Maxwell
fainted upon standing.
No comments:
Post a Comment