Creative Writing Exercise # 10: The 75-Word Sentence

by Laura Lai/Uncategorized

I have just read of a creative writing exercise formulated by the Australian Writers' Centre (AWC) and because I liked the challenge I thought to try and see if a political sentence in English can actually be … so looong. I know that in Italian the sentences can be very long, and I also know that in German only one word, such as ‘Politikwissenschaften’ (Political Sciences) can be half a line. Therefore I wrote an as-long-as-I-could political sentence in English:

‘The Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries for the 3^rd time already to push for general elections in the United Kingdom – an initiative which needs the approval of 434 of the British MPs – because he considers that the UK Brexit process – a political saga rolling on for several years – is held hostage by the current members of the British Parliament and because he believes that a change of the political architecture of the British Parliament may be more in favor of … releasing Brexit from the kind of ‘House arrest’ it is now held.’ (93 Words)

Then I was very surprised myself that a political sentence can be so long and that I actually need to make it shorter, meaning that I have to make it an exactly 75-word sentence:

‘Boris Johnson tries for the 3^rd time to push for general elections – an initiative for which he needs the approval of 434 British MPs – because he considers that the Brexit process is held hostage by the current members of the Parliament and because he believes that a change of the political architecture of the British Parliament may be more in favor of … releasing Brexit from the kind of ‘House arrest’ it is now held.’ (75 Words)

Now I am happy that I formulated my political sentence in 75 words. I made it: My 75-word achievement! If any of you is willing to try writing a 75-word sentence, please don’t let any political initiative stop you! J