In a response to Skip Crosby about how groups of structures can be used to create a story even without a story script, Laurie Clarq wrote:
The most “natural” way is to pick a high-frequency phrase, just one, and then build your story around that. Very naturally another phrase will occur.
Then Laurie went on:
Having said that, if you want two phrases that knit together well, think of the relationship between the phrases, as in:
1. Cause and effect: needs/looks for, is hungry/eats too much, has a test/is nervous, forgets/asks for….
2. Buddies: smiles and laughs, hugs and kisses, loves from the bottom of his heart, sings and dances, sees it but doesn’t believe it….
3. thinks/feels/says/does.. pairing expressions as in:
thinks that______ + says ______, (thinks that mushrooms are great and says “I want more mushrooms!”)
does something and feels _____________, (sees the present and feels surprised)
Maybe we can get some examples of paired phrases that work suggested in a thread below as comments and, since this is a blog post now based on Michele’s request, we can then access it via the search function (as “Laurie Clarq” or “Creating Stories Without Scripts” or by clicking on the “Story Scripts” category in the category list).