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A bang on the head -- DIY version

This article is part of series I am writing called Experiments in Style. It is my version of Raymond Queneau’s Exercises in Style (Amazon affiliate link), in which the author takes a very mundane incident and reworks it in various ways. A graphic version of the same thing is Matt Madden’s 99 Ways to tell a story (ditto). I think it’s quite interesting to see how a change in style can dramatically alter the feel of a piece. My ‘experiments’ are based on the article I wrote called A bang on the head.

In this version, I’ve decided to pass the story over to you. Imagine that all the words that made up the original story have been thrown in a box. the contents of that imaginary box are listed below, in alphabetical order. In case it isn’t obvious, you can use a word for the maximum number of times it appears below.

17%

a

a

a

a

a

Accident

After

almost

among

An

and

and

and

and

and

and

As

as

awake

bathroom

being

being

book.

brought

but

call

can

chin

concussion.

conscious

darkness

days

different

direction

distancing

do

door

door

emerged

Emergency

entire

facing

facing.

failed

few

for

from

further

go

had

half

have

headaches.

hour

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

if

In

in

in

in

instead

into

knocked

knowledge

later

masks

means

middle

mild

more

much

much

my

myself

nausea

next

night

not

nothing

of

of

of

of

one

out.

people

petrified

pleased

prevarication

purposefully

quite

read

reason

result

secure

semi

semi

serious

social

somnambulance

states

than

that

that

the

the

the

the

The

the

the

the

the

The

the

the

their

thought

through

through

to

to

to

to

to

to

touching

towards

tried

twilight

twin

up

waited

walk

walked

walking

wall.

warmer.

was

was

was

was

went

where

who

whom

woke

wore

writing

you

you