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IWW Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Thief

These exercises were written by IWW members and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its members. You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that you found them at the Internet Writers Workshop(http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/).

Prepared by: Alice Folkart
Posted on: Sun, March 3, 2013
Revised and reposted on: Sun, December 17, 2017
Reposted on: Sun, June 30, 2019
Reposted on: Sun, August 7, 2022

____________

Sometimes, a good novel will open with a brief, captivating scene
that acts as a hook to pull the reader into the story.

In that spirit, your assignment is to write a scene of no more than
400 words where a character is seen stealing something. And you
are to intentionally leave the reader eager to learn more. In other
words, create a cliff-hanger.

____________

Thefts are committed for a multitude of reasons. Examples
include hunger, impulse, drug addiction, and greed, to name
a few. The thief might be anyone from a seasoned criminal,
a terrified teen, an elderly grandmother, or someone in fear
for their life.

Show us the theft, its observation, and the effect on the
observer. Keep in mind that your task is to accomplish this
in such a way that the reader will be left salivating for more.

____________

Sometimes, a good novel will open with a brief, captivating scene
that acts as a hook to pull the reader into the story.

In that spirit, your assignment is to write a scene of no more than
400 words where a character is seen stealing something. And you
are to intentionally leave the reader eager to learn more. In other
words, create a cliff-hanger.

____________

In your critique tell us whether you could identify with the thief.
Could you identify with the observer? Did any stray details pull
you out of the scene? Did you want to read more?


Web site created by Rhéal Nadeau and the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.