Imperatives

Here's an exercise I did with imperative voice. Basically, the challenge was to make something interesting, an interesting story, with the main thrust of the piece in imperative voice (telling someone to do something). I hope I succeeded. If you want to try, too, give it a whirl in the comments or put a link in! I want to see what other people have done.

How to Slay Your Dragon

Try not to panic. That’s the most important thing to remember.

You’ll want to panic when you see her come out; she’ll be so unimaginably huge that some part of your brain will be gibbering run-run-run when you see the sand rushing down her great scaly flanks, and the important thing is not to let that part of you win. Try not to panic, because if you do you won’t stand a chance.

Provided you manage not to panic, don’t run. She’ll eat you if you run. She’ll eat you if you freeze, too: slurp, gulp, down you go, and don’t believe all those stories about the heroes cutting their way out of some big monster’s stomach, either, because they’re about as true as feathers on a fish. Hit that stomach acid and you’re dead. Get in close first thing, that’s what you want.

Get right in close and mind the tail, because if she hits you with it—well—you’re dead.

At this point it helps if you are me, and have sort of done this before, or at least seen a Worm up close before. Make sure you have something over your mouth and nose, because when she starts flapping those wings it’ll kick up tons of sand. Nobody wants that in them.

Anyway, before she gets airborne you’re going to want to hop on her body and start climbing. It’s easier than it sounds, because her scales are big and rough, but it’s also a lot harder than it sounds, because she’ll be moving a lot. Her muscles are gigantic, so even a twitch will be enough to throw you off if you’re not careful.

Climb up to the back of her long snaky neck. Watch out for her wings. The best way is to get in between them so they won’t hit you. Just go right up her spine. You won’t get as much sand thrown in your face.

When you make it to the nape of her neck, it’ll be a little more stable. You’ll still have to be careful, because those wings kick up plenty of wind. Try straddling her neck and holding on with your thighs. You know, like a horse, only a lot bigger and scalier and—you get the idea. Then take out your explosives. I use Johnston’s Boom-Boom pretty much always. It’s easy to carry and detonate, and it’s nice and sticky, so keeping it on the back of her neck is not going to be a problem. Stick it there and slide on down her spine and you can yell “bangarang” any time once you’re past the wings. You might get a little stuff in your hair when it goes, but it’ll take her head off, sure enough.

Just don’t let her fall on top of you. You will get squished.