He got up and sat on the edge of the bedstead with his back to the window. “It’s better not to sleep at all,” he decided. There was a cold damp draught from the window, however; without getting up he drew the blanket over him and wrapped himself in it. He was not thinking of anything and did not want to think. But one image rose after another, incoherent scraps of thought without beginning or end passed through his mind. He sank into drowsiness. Perhaps the cold, or the dampness, or the dark, or the wind that howled under the window and tossed the trees roused a sort of persistent craving for the fantastic. He kept dwelling on images of flowers, he fancied a charming flower garden, a bright, warm, almost hot day, a holiday—Trinity day. A fine, sumptuous country cottage in the English taste overgrown with fragrant flowers, with flower beds going round the house; the porch, wreathed in climbers, was surrounded with beds of roses. A light, cool staircase, carpeted with rich rugs, was decorated with rare plants in china pots. He noticed particularly in the windows nosegays of tender, white, heavily fragrant narcissus bending over their bright, green, thick long stalks. He was reluctant to move away from them, but he went up the stairs and came into a large, high drawing-room and again everywhere—at the windows, the doors on to the balcony, and on the balcony itself—were flowers. The floors were strewn with freshly-cut fragrant hay, the windows were open, a fresh, cool, light air came into the room. The birds were chirruping under the window, and in the middle of the room, on a table covered with a white satin shroud, stood a coffin. The coffin was covered with white silk and edged with a thick white frill; wreaths of flowers surrounded it on all sides. Among the flowers lay a girl in a white muslin dress, with her arms crossed and pressed on her bosom, as though carved out of marble. But her loose fair hair was wet; there was a wreath of roses on her head. The stern and already rigid profile of her face looked as though chiselled of marble too, and the smile on her pale lips was full of an immense unchildish misery and sorrowful appeal. Svidrigaïlov knew that girl; there was no holy image, no burning candle beside the coffin; no sound of prayers: the girl had drowned herself. She was only fourteen, but her heart was broken. And she had destroyed herself, crushed by an insult that had appalled and amazed that childish soul, had smirched that angel purity with unmerited disgrace and torn from her a last scream of despair, unheeded and brutally disregarded, on a dark night in the cold and wet while the wind howled
The Blog
65 Long Sentences in Literature 
Here are 65 examples of long sentences ranging from the relatively brief 96 words to one of the longest sentences at 2,156 words. Almost all of the really long sentences are under 1,000 words. The six longest sentences (1,000+ words) are mostly a curiosity, just to see what is possible. I hope students of writing can study these sentences to […]
Read More 44 Publishers Looking for Short Story Collections This is a list of publishers seeking short story collections, and it’s the most comprehensive list on the internet. I’ve read short story collections from most of the publishers on this list and altogether they are publishing some of the best short fiction on the planet. Despite all the doom and gloom surrounding the publishing […]
Read More The Mammoth Stockpile of Creative Writing Prompts With these 10 lists of creative writing prompts, there is no way you are going to stare at a blank computer screen today. Need a story generator? Got you covered. 50+ photo prompts? Also got it. If you want the first line of a story, choose from the 100+ lines to get you started. If you love […]
Read More 43 Great Sentences That Will Blow You Away I love good sentences. I really do. The best sentences are ones that show off brilliance without being show-offy. They pulse with the vitality of language and they aren’t any longer than they need to be. Below you’ll find 43 good sentences. Solid sentences, sentences that you would be proud to bring home to Mom and […]
Read More Top 24 Websites for Flash Fiction It doesn’t matter what you call it — flash fiction, sudden fiction, micro fiction, short-short — stories under 1000 words offer a quick zing of literary delight. But have you ever wondered whether anyone actually read your flash fiction piece you published online? This list gives you a good idea of how many eyeballs it reached by ranking the […]
Read More Writing Prompts Based on Songs (Part 2) This is the second part of a two-part series of Creative Writing Prompts. Visit part one. 16. St. Vincent: “Save Me From What I Want” Prompt: A woman reveals to someone close to her that she has gotten everything she has ever wanted yet still feels disappointed in life. What does that person tell her? […]
Read More Musical Creative Writing Prompts If you’re tired of writing about the same old topics, try these Musical Creative Writing Prompts. These 30 prompts are guaranteed to dig you out of that rut and generate new material, and each one of them will offer a wonderful chance to exercise your writing muscles. My advice is to start playing the music while you read the […]
Read More The Best Travel Writing Magazines I ranked the travel magazines below using the The Best American Travel Writing series. For the last five years, each magazine with one of its essays reprinted in the book got a certain number of points, and if it was listed in the “Special Mention” section in the back, it received a fewer number of […]
Read More 33 Publishers and Journals Seeking Novellas It can seem like there is no place to publish your novella, but actually the opposite is true: the form is experiencing a revival. From Melville House’s “The Art of the Novella” series of classic novellas, to Big Fiction Magazine and Nouvella, there are more places than ever to publish your novelette or novella. In […]
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