This Gothic tale of supernatural paranoia places the protagonist in a dare with some mysterious, and sometimes disfigured people. His repetition demonstrates his resolve; that nothing can scare him and that there is no such thing as ghosts. Wells uses long sentences to exhaust the reader (by making your unconscious breathless), personification and alliteration to create a sinister tone. Although many students do not feel the exhilaration of fear that this text may once have held, few miss the author's ability to create tension, mystery and intrigue.
Task; read The Red Room linked above. Look out for his use of personification, similes ("darkness closed upon me like the shutting of an eye") and sentence length.
Inspiration;
Stephen’s hand touched the cold metal the of basement handle. The bumps on his skin were erupting into pinpricks trying to burst through; goosebumps so terrible they hurt. The hairs on his arm stood, reaching back as if trying to pull him from the door but again, the heavy breathing, muted behind the plasterwall, slithered from the door crack, compelling him forward. The cold of the metal felt burning hot against his sweaty palm. He twisted it. It felt awkward, turning his wrist around further than it wanted too, turning turning turning until the catch burst off the door frame and his skin jump off his muscles. He tried to relax knowing that his fear was destroying his reason, but the heavy breathing had stopped. His presence wasn’t a secret anymore but still, he had to investigate. He opened the door a crack and a slither of light penetrated down the stairs to a few feet beyond the bottom step. He slid one arm through to the light catch and pulled it back through the slither, keeping an eye at all times on the 10feet of a six inch wide line he could see and tugged the wire. The light didn’t click. The more he tugged, the greater the angle the wire was lifter to, back into the hall. He pulled again and the switch resisted until it popped and fell limply from the ceiling. It was designed to be tugged down. With the pop however, came a grunt from below and he pulled back the door. His breath was like a tornado, or his ears were like radars honed-in to even the silent movement of air particles. Everything seem to be amplified to blood bubbling volumes.
Task; Continue the introduction above for between 200 and 300 words and attempt to emulate Wells' mystery.
Deadline: There is no deadline for submissions to this artifact.
No comments:
Post a Comment