One Great Sentence

“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!'”

By Curt Brown• One Great Sentence• March 13, 2019

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 for the characters that attract him — … Read more

“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.”

By Jill U. Adams• One Great Sentence• February 20, 2019

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 start writing, to try to flesh out a thought, … Read more

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

By Curt Brown• One Great Sentence• February 13, 2019

“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 of paper … in front of me on my desk … Read more

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

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• January 16, 2019

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 the nascent days of computing. The … Read more

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

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• January 1, 2019

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, astronomy, technology – is beyond my … Read more

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

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• November 28, 2018

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. Instead, when this line zipped by in my annual … Read more

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

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• November 21, 2018

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 of it close at hand. Have it cross-stitched and framed … Read more

“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!”

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• November 14, 2018

 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 panel of Amazing Fantasy #15. They … Read more

“Developing a writer’s voice is almost a process of unlearning, one analogous to children’s painting.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• November 7, 2018

A clear grasp of “voice” in writing has always eluded me. Not that I don’t have one. Everyone does. But I’ve never been able to define mine, and certainly can’t control it. I still remember, with embarrassment, having my … Read more

“How could you have a new country without excellent dreamers?”

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• October 24, 2018

The last time I posted One Great Sentence, it was with thoughts about how context informs and layers the meaning of a single line. Only when I opened that post two weeks later, did I remember that it came from … Read more