Tuesdays with Story

Tuesdays With Story
WRITER’S MAIL for November 15, 2012

“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” ~ G.K. Chesterton

November 13 Meeting
We welcomed our guest, Michelle Nightoak, and got right into the critiquing (and giggling. It seems there’s lots of giggling with this group at times).

Liam Wilbur presented his rewrite of the first chapter of The Fog-gotten. Katelin liked the images of the wires disappearing, but the water droplets pushed by soundwaves didn’t make sense. Michelle did like the idea of noise/sound replacing sight, though all thought the fog was a little too thick for any of these images if the main character couldn’t even see his hand at the end of his arm! Carol liked the way the character’s military background was brought into the story, but warned about the cliche of starting with the alarm clock. Rebecca urged him to keep writing – we’ve seen the first chapter enough, we want more!

Katelin Cummins presented a thorough description of the fantasy world where the Battle of Sista takes place. Terry said not to dwell too much on the details – many will fall into place as the story progresses. Carol likes the potential for conflict between religion and science regarding the substance. Rebecca said to focus on the characters, have fun, and allow yourself to make mistakes.

Terry Hoffman brought in a chapter from The Great Tome. Katelin likes how it built to the showdown, with everyone gathering at the house. Rebecca doesn’t want Rachel to kill herself! Katelin did say she lost track of the mitt during some of the middle of the scene. Jen pointed out that it is clear the book is angry – don’t need to tell us. Carol wasn’t sure the police would break in like that. Michelle concurred, saying it wasn’t likely around here, but that every police department handles situations in different ways. She did say they would evacuate the house before doing anything else, though, so make sure Rachel sees/hears everyone else leave.

Rebecca Rettenmund read from The Cheese Logue. Jen had an issue with the sentence “I didn’t experience the same opinion.” Can’t really do that. Karen said it’s a feeling, a reaction – you don’t share the same experience. Michelle got a little confused with the different way the term “fireworks” was used, distracted between literal and figurative meanings. Also, let Isaiah speak about his feelings, don’t try to tell us how he feels because then you are speaking for him and might not be right.

Who’s up next?
November 20: Rebecca Rettenmund (chapter 15, The Cheese Logue), Amber Boudreau (chapter 11, Noble), Millie Mader (chapter 39, Life on Hold), Pat Edwards (???), Aaron Boehm (film script/part 2, “Whole Again”), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 26-28, Rage).

November 27: Jack Freiburger (poem, “Avibus”), Terry Hoffman (chapter, The Great Tome), Karen Zethmayr (??), Rebecca Rettenmund (The Cheese Logue), Liam Wilbur (Fog-gotten), Michelle Nightoak (memoir).

Note: With the Thanksgiving holiday right before the meeting, a lot of people may be out of town/busy with family. Please try to send your submissions well ahead of time, especially with a full slate of readers, so everyone has a chance to read through them before the meeting. Thanks!

December 5: Wednesday: Liam Wilbur (???), Susanne Fortunato (???), Bob Kralapp (???), Aaron Boehm (film script/part 2, “Whole Again”), Judith McNeil (short story part 4, “The Man with the Broken Heart”), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 1-4, Shadowcatcher).

Writer’s Mail: Duty Roster
Katelin is editing for November. Send your story ideas and meeting notes to her.

December – Clayton Gill
January – Pat Edwards
February – This Could Be You!
March – Sign up today!

January’s Fifth Tuesday . . .
Put it on your calendar now. Make your commitment to be with us on January 29. First-and-third group hosts. While the place has not yet been set, the writing challenge has.

Here it is: You, or a character of your creation, believe the world is going to end on a set date. You or your character get ready for it . . . then it doesn’t happen. What do you or your character do now?

Maximum length? Our ever-popular 250 words.

NaNoWriMo Report!
It’s November 15th and the midpoint of this noveling adventure. Writers around the world are striving to reach 25,000 words. Some have already breezed past this landmark, while others feel lost and behind. Chris Baty, NaNoWriMo founder, offers hope in his pep talk from 11/12/12:

“If you’ve fallen behind on your word count or lost the thread of your story, you may think no breakthrough will be big enough to save your book. Take heart: There are 300,000 of us out there right now living that exact same movie. We’re all struggling to balance our books with the crazy stuff life has chucked at us these past two weeks. We’re all wondering if we have what it takes to see this thing through. And we’re all about to stand up, dust ourselves off, and go kick some major ass.

“The long, dark night is ending, my friend. The homestretch lies ahead.”

If you or someone you know is madly writing 50,000 words of story awesomeness this month, let us know how the journey is going!

The Commodity of Courage
Art Holcomb, Guest Post on Storyfix.com

“I believe a writer must have the courage to:

“START IN EARNEST: Not in fits and starts, but as if your life and world depended upon you taking this path. This could be the hardest thing you have ever done, because the need comes from some unspoken, ancient, and deep.”

“SAY WHAT OTHERS WILL NOT: I know you have seen things in the corners of Creation.”

Read more…
http://storyfix.com/the-commodity-of-courage-a-guest-post-by-art-holcomb

Writing Prompts
Get your creative juices flowing with these imaginative writing prompts:

http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/post/17477297690/my-28-most-tried-and-true-writing-prompts

The Last Word
“And then, when the hero in question is at last alive and ready to be murdered, when he is in every detail of his character demanding and requiring, and, as it were, crying aloud to be murdered, the novelist does not murder him after all. This is a serious waste of a fine opportunity, and I hope in future to see the error rectified.”~ G.K. Chesterton, “Errors About Detective Stories”