I just came across this website and the task is as follows:
1. write two sentences.
2. create tension between them.
3. define “tension” any way you want.
Below are a few examples of user-submitted sentences. I have naturally selected those that have made some kind of impression on me.
The cool water closed in around him as he sank.
Kitty had a habit of dying.
This was her seventh time doing it.
Life consists of two things, Pain and Will.
The pain to strengthen our will and the will to go through the pain.
He saw me staring at him, and came up to me to ask if I had a lighter.
He was gorgeous but I didn’t smoke.
They were drawn together, deeply and forever.
She was married, so was he.
She took a sip of coffee.
I swallowed.
She felt the hand move up her back.
Surely it was a hand.
Addendum, December 27th 2008: The website used to be at twosentences.com, but it seems it is gone now. Pity.
Addendum, March 16th 2008: I have now added the comments box, so if the above examples have inspired you, feel free to make your own contribution! After all, it was a great idea. Perhaps, this way, we can keep it alive.
Can’t hold the look in your eye for long
Too scared to find what’s not there
And sad that you won’t what is.
I needed him to stay,
But I begged him to go.
So I might hit you up when I come down south.
You might do what when you go down where?
Silent steeples chase my heart.
Ripping at cords that keep us apart.
She shared her life with him. A life that consisted of a husband, which was not hers.
She longed for adventure. She longed for peace.
He loved her deeply. His pride was in the way.
she smiled again today.
she cried again last night.
The world was around my knees.
It made it hard to walk away, but he did it with ease.
As a smile crossed his face, butterflies filled my stomach.
At was then that I promised myself I’d never allow him to make me feel like that again.
The first time i meet her our eyes locked from across the table
but it was not her eyes i saw, it was her soul
I had never felt this alive
I was dying
The look on her face was more than he ever could have imagined.
She has to tell him it can never be.
The emotions I’ve always wanted to convey.
I’ll never have the courage to.
He told her she was beautiful
She closed the door when she left
I wake up everyday thinking how wonderful life is.
I worry everyday that at any second, I’ll die.
The bad reputation I have gained in this youth steers men away.
The boy who dared to approach, simply made it worse.
gentle like the breeze
I suffer from a terrible disease, I myself create. A simple foot tapping, obnoxious yawn, or cough, would be enough to drive nails up my nerves, and I cringe my teeth tight.
There was suspense.
The clock then broke.
After forty years, I finally know where my father is.
I’m supposed to scatter his ashes on the ocean.
She was there for him everyday, always giving him her all.
He left her with nothing, took everything she gave.
She yearned for his seemingly loving touch.
Seemingly, he yearned for an escape.
He told her he loved her.
Just as her hand slipped from his grip.
There’s beauty in this, the way we got arms around one another.
I had a dream about my ex-girlfriend.
I wake to floating with a breeze, down along slopes warmed by the sun.
The wind removes me and pulls me through dense forest and deeping canyons towards the unavoidable.
I walked out of church filled with the holy ghost.
And when I got past the door I filled my lungs with smoke.
He questioned the meaning of reality.
And chose the red pill.
summer fling, don’t mean a thing.
but oh, those summer nights….
It was the first time their eyes met.
The transplant surgeon tries to find two blues.
She slipped to the back of another conference room as her phone started to ring.
He wanted to screw again and she didn’t like her job that much anyway.
I visited this website.
Then I left.
She took the pills.
Then reread her note.
She pulled him into her arms, she smiled as a tear slid down her cheek. <3
He Put the gun to her head, telling her he loved her one last time. <3
perfect symmetry.
all but 1 crooked blind, holding its breath.
Time waited for no one; I waited until there was no time
In the wee hours of the morning, he helped her pack her life into a suitcase.
The window was open, the car was idling.
The beginning ends what an end begins.
Unless you have square thoughts which resist circles.
The morning came quickly,
Lying exhausted in each others arms so did we.
as is sit here broken and numb
you still sit there playing dumb
they made a shrine for me.
then ignored me as i stood by it
I fell in love three years ago, and I’m still as in love with her today.
Which makes it hurt that much more when I see her with her new boyfriend.
He told me he loved me.
The truth always seems to come out after the beatings.
the waves crashed upon the shore.
they burried his sickly cool body
The brilliant light warmed our faces, for the power of the sun was within reach.
I am become death, destroyer of worlds, harbinger of desolation.
As soon as I saw him, I turned the other way.
I couldn’t bare to fall any more in love with him knowing the consequences of doing so.
I took a deep breath, to clear my head.
The storm rushed in viciously.
The blood felt warm as it embraced her body. She suddenly realized that suicide was not poetic at all.
Last night we said goodbye from around a corner.
I hope you had a safe walk home.
He gently picked up my hand and held it until we reached the end of his journey.
I didn’t want him to get out of the car.