One Great Moment

"He was followed by 30 seconds of silence, during which every sigh toured the walls of the church."

“He was followed by 30 seconds of silence, during which every sigh toured the walls of the church.”

Now and again, in the wonderful world of reading, you stumble across a sentence that not only evokes a response or feeling because of what it says, but because of how…
May 3, 2019
Jacqui Banaszynski
"She stares at me, but it feels like she's looking at who I used to be, her little girl with ponytails and a snaggletooth who swore she was a Powerpuff Girl."

“She stares at me, but it feels like she’s looking at who I used to be, her little girl with ponytails and a snaggletooth who swore she was a Powerpuff Girl.”

This sentence contains everything that good narrative writing should. There’s the specific detail of the narrator, and there’s universality — the wonder we humans experience when faced with a child…
March 20, 2019
Jill U. Adams
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!'”

Why I like it: I imagine my high school grammar teacher, Ms. Weiner, trying to diagram this sentence. We all seek characters to drive our stories. Here, Kerouac lists requirements…
March 13, 2019
Curt Brown
"I’m thinking longer term, in geologic time, doing just what I can each day and not putting it off because it won’t be brilliant."

“I’m thinking longer term, in geologic time, doing just what I can each day and not putting it off because it won’t be brilliant.”

When I encountered this sentence, I took it personally. I like being brilliant. I like it so much that I don’t write as much as I should. It’s uncomfortable to…
February 20, 2019
Jill U. Adams
“I work like a watchmaker or an old-fashioned silversmith: one eye screwed up... ”

“I work like a watchmaker or an old-fashioned silversmith: one eye screwed up… ”

“I work like a watchmaker or an old-fashioned silversmith: one eye screwed up, the other fitted with a watchmaker’s magnifying glass, with a fine tweezers between my fingers, with bits…
February 13, 2019
Curt Brown
"There's a story he's waiting for, long before he comes across it."

“There’s a story he’s waiting for, long before he comes across it.”

In the original context of “The Overstory,” this sentence applies to a young man — a teenager, actually — who tumbles into the little-known language of coding and programming in…
January 16, 2019
Jacqui Banaszynski
“Everyone likes to reminisce, but no one wants to listen, and everyone feels annoyed when someone else tells a story.”

“Everyone likes to reminisce, but no one wants to listen, and everyone feels annoyed when someone else tells a story.”

There is much to consider in “The Three-Body Problem,” the first in a trilogy by Chinese science fiction novelist Cixin Liu (translated by Ken Liu). Much of it – physics,…
January 1, 2019
Jacqui Banaszynski
"We don't carry that brand, but I think Gimbel's does."

“We don’t carry that brand, but I think Gimbel’s does.”

If this choice for One Great Sentence seems odd, rest assured we’re not going to go all holiday sappy on you. That’s what the Hallmark holiday movie channels are for.…
November 29, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"...readers want to feel secure in the hands of the author."

“…readers want to feel secure in the hands of the author.”

This simple statement stands as a truism for all storytellers, regardless of platform or genre. Every writer, filmmaker, photographer, illustrator, podcaster, editor and teacher of same should keep some version…
November 21, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
“And a lean, silent figure slowly fades into the gathering darkness, aware at last that in this world, with great power there must also come – great responsibility!”

“And a lean, silent figure slowly fades into the gathering darkness, aware at last that in this world, with great power there must also come – great responsibility!”

 That’s how Stan Lee introduced Spider-Man to Marvel Comics readers in 1962. The narrator pronounces these words, which so many of us have heard so many times, in the last…
November 15, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski