Pick an extract. Study the craft. Write your own.
She was not pretty, but she had a way of holding herself that made people look at her. Her dress was of the simplest…
My father's family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing…
Mr. Bingley had not been of age two years, when he was tempted by an accidental recommendation to look at Netherfield…
Whatever his antecedents he was something wholly other than their sum, nor was there system by which to divide him back…
This blind man, an old friend of my wife's, he was on his way to spend the night. His wife had died. So he was visiting…
124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom. The women of 124 had lived a ruinous life. Suddenly one evening they were…
Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested. His…
The grandmother didn't want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was…
The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous…
The sun had not yet risen. The sea was indistinguishable from the sky, except that the sea was slightly creased as if a…
The palm branches had been distributed and it was past nine o'clock. The candles were burning dimly, the wicks wanted…
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when…
WOMAN: They look like white elephants. MAN: I've never seen one. NARRATOR: The man drank his beer. WOMAN: No, you…
EMMA: How are you? JERRY: All right. EMMA: You look well. JERRY: Well, I'm not. EMMA: I'm sorry. JERRY: It's all right.…
CAPTAIN BENWICK: You are a good soul, and I hope your cousin may be half as lucky. NARRATOR: His cousin was gone, and…
MASHA: Do you love me? VERSHININ: I love you. I love your eyes, the way you move... I dream about them. A splendid,…
CHIGURH: What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss? OWNER: Sir? CHIGURH: The most. You ever lost. On a coin toss.…
IVAN: Is there a God, or not? ALYOSHA: There is no God. IVAN: Alyosha, does God exist? ALYOSHA: God does exist. IVAN:…
'There was a time when I thought I loved my first wife more than life itself. But now I hate her guts. I do. How do you…
MARTHA: I swear, if you existed I'd divorce you. GEORGE: Well, just stay on your feet, that's all. These people are…
MISS KENTON: Do you think, Mr. Stevens, we could have been happy together? You and I? STEVENS: I'm sorry, Miss Kenton,…
What a lark! What a plunge! For so it had always seemed to her when, with a little squeak of the hinges, which she…
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two…
It was a relief to him to find, on glancing at his watch, that he had still a little time to himself. He had no…
On the 29th of July, in 1943, my father died. On the same day, a few hours later, his last child was born. Over a month…
And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings…
We tell ourselves stories in order to live. The princess is caged in the consulate. The man with the candy will lead…
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the…
When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.…
Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever…
The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as…
The peacock stood in the middle of the road and unfolded his tail. The car came slowly to a stop, and the priest got…
The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming…