"At night, we kept watch for turtles."

The above starts with an into prep. phrase and is followed by a simple sentence. "We" is the subject. The subject seems to have volition, desire, so it must be an agent, a causer. "kept" is the verb. It is in past tense. "watch," I guess, is the direct object, but I don't know. That sounds sort of odd. We kept Something, and that Something is Watch? But what is Watch, really? I don't know. It sounds a bit idiomatic. "for turtles" is a prep. phrase. It modifies "watch" in that it tells us what kind of watch is being kept.

How would I write a similar sentence. Like Noy Holland, will I choose to start with an intro phrase? No, I will not. I don't like the idea of starting with an intro phrase. She has a first person narrator here--a "we"--so would I like to have that, too. No. I'll make it a "he." So the first word of my sentence must be he.

He

What should my verb be? I'll simply look at the dictionary and pick a verb. The verb will then govern what I'll have to do next. Dislodge.

He dislodged

Like Holland, I've elected to use the past tense. The word "dislodge," though, must take a direct object. One doesn't simply dislodge. I could use dislodge as an intransitive verb, I guess--there are no rules here--but I don't want to break a rule in the first sentence. I am looking to captivate all readers here. I want to pull them into my beautiful composition. I want them to imagine all the movies they've ever seen--all the paintings they've seen on their vacations--all the oceans and mountains and trees. That's what I want--and no less--with this project. But this is just the first sentence, and I am not really even in control here. The verb is in control, and I need a direct object for the thing. So I'll just look in the dictionary and find a good noun.

The idiot in me would like to select "his sex" or "his hound" or "the hound" or "a hound." (I have to select the appropriate determiner here. Or I could use this or that or these or those." He dislodged those sexes, for example, is very different to his sex or her sex or its sex. If it were its sex, then maybe he's working with insects. If it's her sex, then maybe he's in a relationship--or maybe he has a golden retriever. If I were to select a word like "confession," then I'm getting figurative. No one, really, dislodges a confession. That's just a figurative way to say it.

He dislodged his slip.

I like this a little. What I don't like, though, is the sound of those esses. To many esses, and this is a problem I have. So I should select a different kind of sound.

He dislodged the crow funeral from the metal house.

Great. That's sensible enough. He didn't just dislodge. He dislodged a crow funeral. This is good. A funeral is something that everyone experiences. And a crow is something we've all seen, so a crow funeral must be a pretty obvious thing. Plus, Noy Holland ended her sentence with a prep. phrase, so that means I should do that, too. My prep. phrase works as an adverb that modifies the main verb. The "dislodged." So, this he isn't just dislodging a crow funeral--he's doing so from a metal house. Everyone knows what a house is. And everyone know about metal. Plus, here, I have no strong ess sounds. Well, I have the house at the end, but no esses aside from that. Great sentence here.

"We made out beds one bed to lie across together, our pillows pushed up in the window we had popped the screen from."

Noy's second sentence.