Writer’s Mail
Tuesdays With Story
June 8, 2011
Someone asked Tom Wolfe his advice for writers.
“I would say get out of the building and look around. I say, if you spent 30 days in any place in this country, I would say you would come up with material you never knew existed before.”
Tuesday at B&N . . .
Jim Cue rejoins the group from 2nd and 4th after several years. Another visitor, Jennifer, also joins the group (she writes poetry!)
Randy reads from a backstory he put together for Hona and The Dragon. Millie thought it helped her understand Hona’s story. Greg had a comment about the style. He thought it was a little difficult and pulled him out of the story. Aaron agreed it might be a little hard for young adults to follow. Jen wanted to know if this would be printed somewhere in the book. Kim thought parts of it would be revealed throughout the story – definitely not a preface – there’s too much telling, not enough description for Greg. Millie thought this was part of the Hona story and Randy tells us it has roots in this backstory. Rebecca thought it flowed, but she missed character development and thought it could have been describing dragon history, not the human history of the story.
Kim shares chapters 60 and 61 from City of Summer. Millie thinks Kim writes beautifully, but she still doesn’t understand – she thinks one character is another’s father, thought they were married at some point, but Kim explains some reincarnation has gone on. Rebecca suggests using the word reincarnation in the story – maybe several times. And Rebecca thought a scene of one character raising another would help. Jim suggested putting something on the shelf and letting it gather a little dust before brushing it off and reading it out loud. Greg wants to know what this has to do with James and who the antagonist in the story is. It doesn’t have to be a single character, but there has to be a conflict somewhere. Kim also lets everyone know she figured out why James is important to the story. Millie suggests a synopsis.
Aaron shares part 8 of his screenplay Hell Cage. Aaron gives us a bit of a synopsis to start. Millie thought it was interesting and she’s wondering how the demon is going to get out. Rebecca thinks the demon sounds a little haughty. Aaron says he should sound a little arrogant. Randy wondered why the demon just didn’t go for the blood when he had a chance. Jim suggests the blood might have to be freely given. Greg wonders how descriptive you’re really supposed to get in a script. Amber thought one character didn’t need to be shown bound and gagged. Greg asks if we know how the demon gets around from person to person. Jen asks what kind of power the residual demon would have. Rebecca is looking forward to demon wrestling. The more Randy understands the demon’s motivation, the more compelling the story becomes.
Amber shares chapter 21 from her YA novel. Bucktown needs grounding. And lots of other great comments I’m not fast enough to type.
We have some extra time: Rebecca reads a short part of her cheese logue with the group. Her question is if there is any conflict in the story. Several agree that there is and that her writing is very humorous. Liam has a question about characterization the group tries to assist with. We all miss Jerry and Pat and hope they are well and that we’ll see them soon.
Who’s Up Next . . .
2nd & 4th
June 14: Jack Freiburger (chapter, Path to Bray’s Head), Rebecca R, Kim Simmons(chapter, City in Winter), Cole Ruby, Randy Haselow, and Carol Hornung (scene, Sapphire Lodge)
1st & 3rd
June 21: Millie Mader (chapter 27, Life on Hold), Greg Spry (chapter 7, Beyond Cloud Nine), Chris Maxwell (???), Liam Wilbur (???), Clayton Gill (chapter 17, Fishing Derby), and Amber Boudreau (chapter 22, young adult novel).
2nd & 4th
June 28: (to sign up, contact Carol at chornung88@aol.com)
1st & 3rd
July 5: Judith McNeil (???), Kime Heller-Neal (chapter, Feathered), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 12, Thou Shalt Not Murder).
1st & 3rd
July 19: John Schneller (chapter, Final Stronghold), Eileen Flanagan (???), and Aaron Boehm (screenplay/part 9, Hell Cage).
August 30th is the next FIFTH TUESDAY! First & Third hosts.
Newsletter editors needed. Sign up for a month, please! Fill in a gap – any gap! Let Carol know.
July – ?
August – Clayton Gill
Sept – Carol Hornung
October – Amanda Myers
November – ?
December – Clayton Gill; January – ?; February – ?
Writing and Selling Books . . .
Writing for the world: Best-seller adventures in India
Best-selling English language authors now flog their books in India, where blogger Madhusree Chatterjee reports the 300-million strong middle class is powering a book publishing boom. So far adventure and crime novelists appear to be most popular: Chatterjee says Ken Follet, Peter James, and Wilbur Smith plotted book tours last year.
Chatterjee quotes independent writer-editor Nilanjana S. Roy: “I attribute this sudden interest in India personally to the growth in the size of the market and the change in the demography of the reading public. The first generation English readers in India want intelligent entertainment in literature. It takes at least two generations for readers to appreciate literary writing.” More at: http://www.sify.com/finance/eyeing-english-readers-best-selling-foreign-authors-head-to-india-news-default-kkwlEoejefd.html
Amazon says it’s now selling 105 Kindle books for every 100 print books, and that includes books that don’t have a Kindle edition. http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2011/05/19/kindle-book-sales-news-of-the-day/
Excerpt from Nathan Bransford’s blog
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/
How to Craft a Mystery in a Novel
A character’s desire + Consequences/stakes + Obstacles + Delay = Mystery
So the first step in crafting a mystery is showing what your character wants and what the stakes are. Showing your character caring and demonstrating the stakes plants the appropriate question in the reader’s mind: Are they going to get what they want?
The next step is placing road blocks in front of your characters that prevent them from immediately getting what they want.
This is the part where I think sometimes beginning writers go astray. A great mystery is not built by withholding information, and especially not by withholding information that the main characters know but the author isn’t sharing with the reader (unless there’s a very very good reason for it). I would think instead of a mystery as being built through obstacles. The character tries to get what they want and we know what they know, but the truth is obscured or confusing or surprising or not what was anticipated. The truth/object of desire lies just beyond their grasp.
A character keeps moving in the direction of the mystery, but that delay before they get there is what prolongs and deepens the mystery, often with reversals.
The more the character wants what they want, the more significant the stakes, the more tangled the obstacles, and the longer it takes to get there, the greater the mystery.
Words . . .
Steampunk. A relatively new addition to the fantasy family, steampunk is alternate history with a twist. Stories are set in the Victorian or Edwardian era and make cool use of steam-powered technology. A fun example is Gail Carriger’s The Parasol Protectorate series.
excerpted from: “6 fantasy subgenres to inspire you by Lisa Shearin”, The Writer Magazine, July 2011. Shearin is a fantasy author and blogger at lisashearin.com
Book Review . . .
Millie Mader: THE WIND KNOT, BY JOHN GALLIGAN
Allow yourselves to become immersed in a crazy quilt of fishing bums, psycho characters and murderers. Their quirky lives are interwoven by an almost invisible thread. It grows stronger and more apparent as the novel pushes on. This binding filament is based on Ernest Hemingway, his passion for fly fishing and his interlacing with the lives of the locals. He journeyed to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula after he had served in World War One, seeking peace and rehab in troubled days. He chose fly fishing as a panacea.
The setting in the Upper Peninsula is painted drab, with tangled forests, “bong colored” water and a plethora of rain. Through the mists we visit ghostly, deteriorating fishing resorts and a mansion out of another time. On the other hand, the characters loom vivid in their struggles for survival. We are drawn not only into their lives, but their minds as well.
Protagonist “Dog” hero worships Hemingway, and had come to the trout fishing mecca after reading the adventures of Nick Adams in the Two Hearted River series. After five years, he has assuaged neither grief nor guilt. The big trout are fished out; the glory days remain only shadows. He has become a fisher bum, and is about to head back to Massachusetts. He is road blocked at every turn, even suspected of murder. He is not psycho, and we feel his pain. We wonder all through the novel—will he make it out of the Upper Peninsula?
There are two more competing protagonists. One is Margarite, a lovely, lesbian deputy sheriff, who is sympathetic. She is guilty only of wrong choices in the pursuit of love. She is sane and self-analytical. Margarite survives a gun shot and turns inward.
Next we are intrigued by the slightly psychotic “librarian”, who only finds her true heritage at the very end. She is empathetic inside, but “potty-mouthed”, and cynical in life and love. A “smart ass” to the observer– she is a survivor—of nearly insurmountable odds.
Foul language falls from just about every page, just like the U.P. rain. There are three murders, a theft of water from Lake Superior, and several truly psychopathic characters to capture the reader
In the morass of the river tributaries, we see only brief glimpses of the glory of Lake Superior.
The novel echoes Hemingway, and two hero worshipers. His threads become strong and clear at the end. You will need to read some parts over to keep track of the action—which never really ends. Although much is resolved, we are left to wonder what fate awaits some of the players. It seems to call for a sequel.
John Galligan is a Madison author and educator. He has written four other novels, and graciously spoke at our last Fifth Tuesday.
Conferences . . .
Last minute: UW – Madison Write-by-the-Lake Writers Workshop and Retreat
June 13-17, 2011
Info: http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/lsa/writing/wbtl.htm
Coming up: WriteOnCon
2nd Annual free online writers conference
Geared toward: YA/Children’s
August 16-18, 2011
Details at: http://writeoncon.com/about/
State by state and international writers’ conference listings:
http://www.newpages.com/writing-conferences/
The Last Word . . .
For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain [and] the noise of battle. ~John Cheever
Tuesdays with Story 
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