Entering the darker places: The bleak hill-top in Wuthering Heights

Running up the flagged causeway

Let’s look at the next couple of clauses.

This snippet uses an expansion in the middle, which adds extra detail to the story to make it more compelling.

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...and, running up the flagged causeway bordered with straggling gooseberry-bushes, knocked vainly for admittance.

Wuthering Heights(1847)

Look at the next example and think about how the expanded detail makes it more involving.

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…and, locking myself in the kitchen so I wouldn’t be disturbed,  made myself a stunning sandwich.

Write your own expanded sentence like the one above. It doesn’t have to be gothic in style.

The other thing to notice is the choice of 'dark' words: straggling and vainly. Even gooseberry bushes, which aren’t pretty—they’re kind of stunted and brambly.

…and, running up the flagged causeway bordered with straggling gooseberry-bushes, knocked vainly for admittance.

Let’s try writing a fully gothic variation. Here is the pattern:

...and, running up the flagged causeway bordered with straggling gooseberry-bushes, knocked vainly for admittance.

…and, running up the creaking stairs lined with threadbare carpet, collapsed unhappily upon the landing.

…and, limping down the silent corridor lined with deserted classrooms, called hopelessly for assistance.

…and, racing down the muddy path bordered by twisted brambles, heard the tour bus leave me behind.

Write your own variation.
Write another one.
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