Model Sentences from F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sentences to study and imitate from the author of This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and The Beautiful and Damned, quotes about life’s great moving experiences and boredom, and more.
F. Scott Fiztgerald, circa 1920
The Jazz Age. Excess. Gilded mansions. Extravagant parties. Alcohol and debauchery. Is there any wonder why Fitzgerald is so well-loved and read? His stories span the strata of society in the 1920s. And his prose is just as luxurious and lustful as the romances and relationships in his novels. To study his prose is to feel what it’s like sipping champagne with Zelda and F. Scott at a dinner party on Long Island.
Three Questions to Ask When Studying Sentences
Use these three guiding questions to help you study the model sentences below and to write your own:
How is the sentence structured, and why does that structure work?
What literary or rhetorical devices are being used, and how do they enhance the sentence?
How does the sentence create emotion, and what techniques contribute to that effect?
Three Sentences by F. Scott Fitzgerald to Study and Imitate
Sentence #1
I don't want to repeat my innocence. I want the pleasure of losing it again.
from This Side of Paradise
Practice: Try this sentence frame using a topic from your writing.
(Pronoun) doesn’t/don’t want to _____ . (Pronoun) want _____.
Here’s an example I came up with.
He doesn’t want to remember his mistakes. He wants the pain of ignorance.
Sentence #2
I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.
from The Great Gatsby
Practice: Try this sentence frame using a topic from your writing.
(Pronoun) wasn’t _____, but (Pronoun) _____.
Here’s an example I came up with.
She wasn’t truly happy, but she believed in her own fantasy.
Sentence #3
Tired, tired with nothing, tired with everything, tired with the world’s weight he had never chosen to bear.
from The Beautiful and Damned
Practice: Try this sentence frame using a topic from your writing.
(Adjective that describes a state of being), _____ with _____, _____ with _____, _____ with _____.
Here’s an example I came up with.
Energized, energized with hope, energized with gratitude, energized with the possibilities that she never dreamed of before.
Your Turn: Use the model sentences and frames to craft your own sentences and post them in the comment section below.
Two Quotes by F. Scott Fitzgerald from the essays “One Hundred False Starts” and “The Crack-Up”
Quote #1
"Mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves — that's the truth. We have two or three great moving experiences in our lives — experiences so great and moving that it doesn't seem at the time that anyone else has been so caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before."
from “One Hundred False Starts”
Journal Prompt: What are the two or three “great moving experiences” in your life that you write about often? Why? How have those experiences continue to shape you and your writing?
Quote #2
"Boredom is not an end-product, it is comparatively rather an early stage in life and art. You've got to go by or past or through boredom, as through a filter, before the clear product emerges."
from “The Crack-Up”
Journal Prompt: What role does boredom play in your creative process? Do you make time to be bored? Why do you think boredom is essential to the creative process?
One Cool Thing - F. Scott Fitzgerald Reads Shakespeare
Magic happens when literary worlds collide. Listening to Fitzgerald recite Othello’s speech from Act 1, Scene 3 is like listening to Einstein talk about Newton or Monet talking about Da Vinci. Giants of culture live in our imagination in ways that WE want to remember, not as they truly were.
Enjoy Fitzgerald and Shakespeare existing in one recording.
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My Mission
To give aspiring writers the tools and techniques to build their confidence, find their voice, and write damn good stories.
i am liking these sentence building exercises. I hope someday, something will sink in. Could repost the one from Rushdie please?