Tuesdays with Story

February 25, 2011
Writer’s Mail
by Cathy Riddle

From The Best American Short Stories 2006 series editor Katrina Kenison: “… the best stories I’ve read over the years have seemed to require nearly as much of me, the reader, as of the writer, a kind of passionate engagement that challenges not only my intellect but my humanity. Reading, reading actively, strengthens the soul.”

Fifth Tuesday…
March 29 at Booked for Murder.

Complete your 500-word masterpiece—a distillation of an interview with one of your own characters—and send it to Jerry Peterson. As for the $10 entry fee, send it to Clayton Gill. If your piece really sings, you could win a critique of the first 50 pages of your novel by Madison College creative writing instructor John Galligan, plus dinner with him—an opportunity to learn a lot.

Galligan wrote his first novel, Red Sky, based on his experiences living, working and traveling in Japan. His fourth book in the critically acclaimed fishing mystery series, The Wind Knot, is set to release in March. He has degrees in English literature and environmental studies. On his bio page online he expresses interest in jazz, cooking, gardening and camping.

Does that give you any ideas? Write your piece and send it in soon.

Second-and-Fourth at B&N…
Terry – Chapter 7: The Tome
Anne mentioned that it appeared as if the husband had one too many hands trying to hold his wife back. Holly was mad that he burned the book and wondered if it was really gone? Jack felt that the scene (as was currently written) was not as believable as it could be. Quite a bit of time was spent discussing the phone call and what different characters’ reactions would be if the words and situations were slightly different. Holly brought the discussion to a close by mentioning how much she like how the chapter ended.

Anne – Chapter 23
Kim and others felt that the band-aid on Chris’ face was too little injury for someone who had just been in the middle of a tornado. Terry wondered how Chris called for help when there was so much devastation around. The image of the coop in the barn was brought up again. Several people were still struggling with the idea. Anne mentioned that it was a coop that had been brought in from outside and not a coop that had been constructed as part of the interior of the barn. That seemed to satisfy the readers, but they felt that should have been more fully explained earlier in the book. Kim mentioned that she liked the changes in Anne’s rewritten Chapter 22.

Jack – Memorials
Holly began the discussion praising the many, many good lines throughout this section. Others echoed that thought. Anne brought up the whiskey vs. whisky dilemma. She also wondered what the Captain’s real name was. There was a back and forth about Miz or Ms or Mz (which was a difficult discussion to have as they all sound alike when spoken). The group enjoyed this section thoroughly and felt it was very well done.

Kim – Chapter 34: Storm
Anne wanted more description of the creature earlier in the scene. “The” creature not “A” creature. Holly had trouble with the flame and where it was coming from. She also thought that carrying and using the spell book was unnecessarily cumbersome. Anne brought up the difference between “roan” and “rowan” and also thought it was a little odd to say, “His dark face was pale.” Jack wanted the Captain to speak with more authority consistently. There were times that his words were not so captainish. There was some thought that James fixed the situation too easily and that it would be more interesting to watch him struggle.

Jen – Chapter 6: Rin’s Point of View
The conversation varied from queries on how many tails the main character had to the usage of suffixes throughout the story. Leah wondered why Rin would turn human when it so obviously drains her. Wouldn’t she flicker? Or be deformed in some way, asked Holly. Kim thought there should be more distance between the characters if they are not going out. She also mentioned that there ought to be more description of the room itself. Carol asked about adding in smells. The discussion then turned to the various sounds foxes make and You Tube was suggested as a good resource.

Holly – No Talking
Andrea took a dark turn by saying that she though the main character was about to fling herself off the cliff at the end of the chapter (she wasn’t). Terry suggested that the character talk to her eyes in the rear-view mirror. Then someone else suggested the reflection in the windshield. This opened up a discussion of how to expand on the themes of leaving something behind and new discovery. Anne wondered why the main character stopped the car twice along the drive. It was thought that there were many good things to build upon in this section. (And for the low price of $5.00, I will personally send you the extra-juicy, too-hot for TWS extra notes that I took for the rest of Holly’s chapter.)
(Thanks, Andrea.)

Who’s up next…
March 1: Pat Edwards (poems), Chris Maxwell (???), Millie Mader (chapter 24, Life on Hold), Judith McNeil (???), Amber Boudreau (chapter 18, young adult novel), Kim Simmons (chapter 57, City of Summer), and Leah Wilbur (chapter 2, Fog-Gotten).

March 8: Jack Freiburger (chapter, Path to Bray’s Head), Jen Wilcher (???), Kim Simmons, (chapter, City of Winter), Leah Wilbur (???), Carol Hornung (Sapphire Lodge.)

March 15: Amber Boudreau (chapter 19, young adult novel), John Schneller (chapter, Final Stronghold), Jen Wilcher (chapter, The Hogoshiro Chronicles), Cathy Riddle (chapter, Beer Crimes), Jerry Peterson (chapter 8, Thou Shalt Not Murder), and Kim Simmons (chapter 58, City of Summer).

March 22: Randy Haselow (chapter, Hona and the Dragon), Andrea Kirchman (???), Terry Hoffman (The Tome), Kim Simmons (City in Winter), Holly Bonnicksen-Jones (Coming Up For Air.)

Bad news for Borders fans…
The Ann Arbor-based bookseller announced this week it will close its store on University Avenue in Madison. Channel 3000’s website Monday noted the company has decided to shut down a number of stores nationwide. They have not released the criteria they used to determine what stores would be closed. Borders is the second largest bookstore chain behind Barnes & Noble. The Zeier Road store near East Town Mall remains open.

Competing in a tight, increasingly online economy pushed the mega store to bankruptcy, wrote one AP reporter. Borders had a reputation for promoting literary fiction, some publishers say.

The Deal Books/New York Times’ story on the Border’s bankruptcy can be read at: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/20011/02/16/borders-files-for-bankruptcy/hp.

U.S. News and World Report-er Miriam Salpeter advises job hunters…
Control your online image. Own your own name—your ownname.com—first off.

Salpeter, a social media strategist, suggests next that you set up Google alerts for your name to receive notification whenever Google indexes something about you or someone who shares your name. “Also consider searching and monitoring your name’s alternate spellings or misspellings,” she said.

Exploring love, life and deadlines as they once were…
Millie Mader wrote this book review about Nora Ephron’s I Remember Nothing

If you saw “You’ve Got Mail” or “When Harry Met Sally,” if you read Heartburn or I Feel Bad About My Neck, you’ve already met Nora Ephron. She intrigues you with her dry sense of humor—even if the subject is heartbreaking. In Heartburn she relates her tragic divorce from Carl Bernstein who, with Bob Woodward, exposed the Watergate scandal. Left with a small child, and pregnant, she discovered his affair with the daughter of a dignitary. She manages to insert wry witticisms into the pathos. With this, her first novel, she had me hooked.
As she enters her seventieth year, she muses on ageing in I Remember Nothing. She reaches back into her life as the daughter of playwrights, who eventually becomes a journalist. She reels forward after her graduation from Wellesley to her first job as a mail girl at Newsweek. Next she was “promoted” to a clipper. Journalism was her life’s love, and her ultimate rise is recounted with humor and self-deprecation. Her timeless early days in a grungy, smoke filled and male dominated city room are told with relatable humor. This was in the days before the feminine movement, and she is right on target with the image of that era.
Nora moves forward with a “can of mixed nuts” detailing mentors, antagonists, friends and life in the Big Apple. These vignettes are filled with dry humor, and present a vivid picture of life “back in the day.” People still hadn’t developed a taste for wine, and didn’t yet throw the F word around. Men greatly outnumbered women in the publishing business. Nora presses forward and, as the national scene changes she becomes hugely successful.
Her discovery of e-mail and its various stages are especially hilarious. At first she was fascinated—much later, with 120 unanswered e-mails. She said, “Just give me the phone.”
Today she bemoans that she forgets names, where she left her car keys, has she met this person before? However, we realize that she actually remembers much—the really important things. Her style of storytelling brings smiles to a dreary February day.

Nathan Bransford wants you to get real…
On writing without going over the top, the agent says:

“One of the most important skills every writer must master is also one of the most elusive: trust their own talent.

It sounds so easy! But lo, there are many threats to the ego lurking throughout the writing process, and it is easy to start doubting oneself, not to mention when one hears repeatedly about the necessity of grabbing the attention of a possibly distracted reader/agent. And perhaps the biggest symptom of writerly self-mistrust is trying just a bit too hard.”

There is a footnote at the end of this newsletter. There, Bransford does what we do every week—edits a page or so of someone else’s writing. Take a look and see what you think about this agent’s comments. Read the entire blog at http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/02/page-critique-thursday-my-thoughts-and.html

A Whole Nuther Short Story Contest …
The Texas Observer newspaper’s slogan is, “Sharp reporting and commentary from the strangest state in the union.” The Austin-based biweekly is holding its first short story contest and the judge is none other than Larry McMurtry, writer of many acclaimed novels, including Lonesome Dove and Terms of Endearment (it became the 1983 movie) and co-writer of the adapted screenplay for the movie Brokeback Mountain.

Contest Deadline May 1. The word limit is 2,500. There’s a $25 entry fee. For $35, you get a critique, from McMurtry himself perhaps.

One suggestion? Add cattle.

The link: https://www.texasobserver.org/2011-short-story-contest

Word of the Day…
Fake-ation n. A vacation where a significant amount of time is spent reading email and performing other work-related tasks. Also: fakeation, fakation, facation. [fake plus vacation.]
Example Citation: Forget about staycations. They’re so 2008. The new trend for 2010 is the fake-ation. As an avid fake-ationer myself, I had mixed feelings about seeing the results of the latest traveler survey from Newton-based TripAdvisor…The survey, which polled more than 3,000 people who used TripAdvisor, also shows 62 percent check their work e-mails while on vacation and 13 percent call the office to check in. – Jon Chesto, “TripAdvisor finds an increasing number of “fake-actioners” who take their work on the road,” Mass. Market, November 9, 2010.
Earliest Citation: Instead of taking vacation, I take a facation. You know what I mean, don’t you? It’s a fake vacation. You stay connected and though you’re not in the office, you still do all the things you’d normally do if you were at your desk and in your office. – Phil Gerbyshak, “Don’t Take a Facation!,” EveryJoe, February 16, 2009.
Notes: The word fake-ation has as many meanings as it does spellings: Calling in sick when you’re healthy; a miserable or problem-filled vacation; a pretend vacation where you stay at home but take steps to make it appear as so you went away (e.g. applying tanning cream.)
Related words: daycation; weisure, job spill, naycation, vacation deprivation.

Second-to-last Words:
“The essence of dramatic form is to let an idea come over people without its being plainly stated. When you say something directly, it is simply not as potent as it is when you allow people to discover it for themselves.” – Stanley Kubrick

Last Words:
“A good story is a Trojan horse.” – Ken Burns, filmmaker