Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Two Sentence Tuesday

From one of my favorite novels, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES:

To all the world he was the man of violence, half animal and half demon; but to her he always remained the little wilful boy of her own girlhood, the child who had clung to her hand. Evil indeed is the man who has not one woman to mourn him.

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My two are from "Joe's Girl" which I plan to post on EOPW soon.

I looked around at the cramped, unkempt cemetery—the tall grass, the tipped over headstones—and it struck me as appropriate. It was cluttered, like the departed lives and the messes they left behind.

For more Two Sentence Tuesday, here's the Women Of Mystery.

17 comments:

Crystal Phares said...

Your lines are wonderful and leave me wanting to read more. Thanks for sharing!

Kathleen A. Ryan said...

Some powerful sentences, David -- the ones you read and the ones you wrote!
I'll be on the lookout for "Joe's Girl."

Leah J. Utas said...

Oohh, I love your cemetery. Well done.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is on my to read list. You've made me want to get to it right now.

David Cranmer said...

Crystal, Thanks. Its been awhile. Welcome back.

Kathleen, I should have "Joe's Girl" posted next week.

Leah, There are many great Doyle stories but this tops the list for most fans.

Clare2e said...

Very Nice, David. I'll lookout for more of Joe's Girl, too!

When I was commenting in our thread on the new Sherlock Holmes, I didn't know you'd have Conan Doyle quotes. Delicious serendipity!

Anonymous said...

Holmes is timeless.

David Cranmer said...

Clare, I've been a Holmes aficionado for years and have been having a resurgence of late. And I recommend Jeremy Brett to anyone who hasn’t seen his performance as Sherlock. Hands down, the greatest actor to ever play the part.

Anonymous, Indeed.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Sorry for being out of it, but was is EOPR. East of Puerto Rico?

David Cranmer said...

Patti, Scott Parker just asked me the same question. EOPW is Education of a Pulp Writer. Guess I should have thrown in the "A."

Reb said...

I like your take on the graveyard.

Alyssa Goodnight said...

Both excellent. Hounds of the Baskervilles is the only Sherlock Holmes I've read--I enjoyed it.

The romantic query letter and the happy-ever-after said...

I love Cereteries and find the idea of an unkempt one something of a delight for usually they are immaculate almost sterile.
Two very good sentences.
Warm regards,
Simone

David Cranmer said...

Reb, It just seems fitting to life.

Alyssa, Thanks to Scott D. Parker, I read the list Doyle made in 1927of his favorite Holmes stories and HOUND was not in the top ten. Though, “The Speckled Band” and “The Red-Headed League” made the crème de la crème (tops in my opinion too), HOUND didn’t make the list and that’s somewhat surprising.

Cloudia, Dobar dan!

Simone, My thoughts exactly. I have a few old graveyard/cemetery pics in the way back machine and will bring them forward again at some point.

Sarah Laurence said...

I’d expect 2 strong sentences from Doyle, and I’m not disappointed.

Although the sentence structure is a bit awkward, your two lines make me want to hear more of the story. I dislike the hyphen before "and." Also you use "it" twice. Perhaps play around with the wording and simplify the structure? The symbolic scenery is very good.

David Cranmer said...

Sarah, I'm seeing the hyphens staying but dropping the and. Thanks for the suggestions.

It's still a rough draft and will probably go through numerous more polishes.

Sarah Laurence said...

That works. Sorry, you might have guessed I've been in hyper revising mode. Good luck with your revisions.

David Cranmer said...

Sarah, I can use and always appreciate helpful and honest critiques.