"The fog of sleep evaporated quickly as the sunlight hit his eyes."
Such a strong opening. What's more, I wrote it when I was in junior high.
There was a post somewhere about a kid who started a writing assignment with a similarly creative punch.* When asked why he had begun his story with action instead of the typical "Once upon a time" opening, he replied, "That's how my Sonlight books start."
It's true.
"Trad found the white-haired stranger by nearly putting an arrow into him, thinking he was a rabbit."
~The Great and Terrible Quest
Sonlight's programs are packed full of Award-Winner books. But it's not just that these books are a joy to read or listen to. Consuming great literature like this will naturally impact your writing. This can be further encouraged with a Language Arts program that models these wonderful stories.
Reading great books will help your writing.
That's not to say that practice and hard work aren't essential to composition. But a heavy background in wonderful literature is an important foundation.
Interestingly, I was sent the following article this morning and found it incredibly relevant to this series: The Case for Literature. I was thrilled that so many of Nancie Atwell's points are precisely the things that Sonlight offers in its literature.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father
*Unfortunately, I have long lost that post (was it on a blog? a Sonlight Momement? a customer comment?). If you wrote that story, please let me know so I can link to it!
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