Tuesdays with Story

Tuesdays with Story
2-5-2012

Quote of the Week

“I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand an end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.”

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

And the winner is . . .
Everyone who came to Fifth Tuesday at Booked for Murder.

Said Brandy Larson, maker of the mighty 8-pound chocolate/chocolate bread pudding, “It was fun and Chris DeSmit, our guest of honor, had a good handout on ‘voice’ for everyone. After the readings, she made insightful comments on each person’s piece that everyone could learn from. Amber Boudeau won the dinner and critique with Chris – her story was REALLY great.”

You can read Amber’s and all the Fifth Tuesday stories. They’re posted on our TWS website.

A dozen writers took part in the writing challenge. Chris DeSmet was, said she, impressed with the quality of the writing and the sophisticated story-telling techniques the writers used.

Here’s her list of the best of the best:
– Honorable mention . . . Judith McNeil, “Muffy’s Heart”, and Liam Wilbur, “mDNA’s Heartbeat”
– Runner-up . . . Greg Spry, “Antimatter of the Heart”
– And the best of the best . . . Amber Boudreau, “Hearts Ablaze”

Looking ahead – waaaay ahead – our next Fifth Tuesday is May 31. Put it on your calendar now so nothing gets in the way of it. Second-and-fourth group hosts.

– Submitted by Jerry Peterson

And now a word from our Fifth Tuesday judge . . .

UW writing instructor Chris DeSmet sent this note to be shared with all:

Thank you for inviting me to judge (the Fifth Tuesday stories) and to join the meeting Tuesday evening. You guys have a fun time and lots of good writing gets done.

Here are the criteria I used for the choices I made. I was looking for these things:

1. Is it complete? In other words, did it have structure, form, an ending that made sense per what had come before it? Did it feel well thought out versus slap-dash.

2. Was it technically well-crafted? (Some of the entries had misspellings, incorrect punctuation and the like. In a contest or in real life, those mistakes automatically take off points for a writer.)

3. Did it have a good voice? Voice includes: fresh words and phrases, bold attitude of any kind (soft or brash, any kind), specific details versus generalities, showing instead of telling, a good finish that crescendoed for us somehow and delivered a twist or hook for us to ponder, and a feeling of confidence by the author and a “flow” to the piece. A writer’s confidence is important for voice.

4. Finally, was it at a publishable level or close to it overall? Would I put my name on it and recommend it to an agent or editor at this stage? Would the writer be proud or embarrassed if it were sent to an agent?

While we laughed with many writers at the meeting or smiled or felt our hearts warm at their pieces, the reason they weren’t picked is that they lacked something from the list above. But all they need to do is revise their piece one more time and push things even more and they’d have a very fine story or essay or prose poem! Revise, revise. That takes everything to a new level for any of us.

I’d be happy to respond further to any writer in the group if she/he will send me an email with another copy of their story (so I don’t have to go hunting for the story). Send it along with a question or two and I’ll be happy to respond. I will be on vacation starting February 8 for two weeks, so any questions sent after February 8 will have to wait for my response.

Thanks!

Again, a wonderful experience and I look forward to having dinner with Amber and helping her with her writing for up to 50 pages. We charge $5/double-spaced page. That’s a $250 prize she received, plus the dinner out. Congratulations to her!

Who’s up next . . .

February 7: Rebecca Rettenmund (chapter 4, The Cheese Logue), Liam Wilbur (chapter 6, Scott & Rory), Lisa McDougal (intro to the story, Tebow Family Secret Recipe), Amber Boudreau (chapter 2 rewrite, Noble), Pat Edwards (poems), and Jerry Peterson (chapters 22-23, Thou Shalt Not Murder).

February 14: Terry Hoffman (chapter, The Great Tome), Jack Freiburger (Jesus at the IHOP), Holly Bonnicksen-Jones (Coming Up For Air), Liam Wilbur (???), Andrea Kirchman (Pip Zin), Carol Hornung (Sapphire Lodge)

February 21: Kim Simmons (chapter 2, City of Autumn), Aaron Boehm (???), Greg Spry (chapter 18, Beyond Cloud 9), Millie Mader (chapter 32, Life on Hold), Judith McNeil (more of “The Waldorf Hysteria”), and Clayton Gill (chapter, Fishing Derby).

Newsletter editors . . .

Carol Hornung is our editor for February. Please send all the good stuff you want in the newsletter to her.
Lisa McDougal is our editor for March. Volunteers needed for April and beyond!

The Last Word . . .

“The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.”
– William Shakespeare, Hamlet