Creative writing

"Solemnly, and with the deep sense of emptiness that only a dismal performance on a standardized test can provide, the students began collecting their number 2 pencils, papers, and personal belongings. As each broken soul filed sulkingly past the pencil woman, Reynie could see the pencil woman’s sense of satisfaction grow from a slight, sinister gleam in her eye and into a wicked smirk across her lips, until it finally erupted into an evil laugh that sent the last five students screaming into the hallway. A cold wind sent a shiver down the back of Reynie’s neck, and the door slammed shut..."

With focus on a story's (and more particularly, it's paragraph's) elements, such as variation in sentence structure, cohesion and coherence, and vivid imagery, writers can capture readers' imaginations and take them on fantastic journeys. The excerpt above is from an assignment, which was part of the 2010 English exam for folkeskolen. It is a continuation from a story which describes a student's experience with testing and illustrates the potential horrors involved with testing as perceived by the young, unsuspecting Reynie...