Tuesdays with Story

Writer’s Mail
Week of April 1, 2014

April editor . . .
Andy Pfeiffer is Writers Mail editor for this month. Got news or got feature stuff or something you’ve found on the net that will help writers? Send it to Andy.

Minutes from Tuesday . . .
Nine of us gather around the table, tolerating Amber showing them pictures of New Zealand before they get started.

Millie Mader shares Chapter Fifty-Two of Life on Hold with the group. Andy wonders how Erin walks right in and gets hired on the spot. Pat assures us there weren’t (and still aren’t) a lot of formalities. Pat thought the chapter moved forward. Jerry wondered what the physical feeling of mellowing out felt like. Andy felt one character would be more insistent. Millie has set us up for her main character to take a car trip rife with sexual harassment. John reminds Mille that she’s the character’s author, not her mother.

Andy Pfeiffer shares a few chapters (13-15) from The Void. Judith questioned one character’s comment on another’s behavior. Amber wanted one character to be speechless. Pat wanted chapter thirteen to cut back on the mentions of beverages and also the word ‘cute.’ Pat has a technical question relating to Chapter Fourteen and doesn’t think what happens there makes sense. Andy B. felt he left the chapters knowing everyone’s motives a little too well.

Amber Boudreau reads the first three chapters of a new novel, Stone. Andy P. wants some kind of introduction to the person telling the story as it’s in the first person. Andy B. thought the narrative was enough to keep him going. John suggests the nurse could give a hint in that instance. Pat suggests cutting the last line of the second chapter. John reminds the group that opening the book with a character in amnesia is a situational cliché.

Bob Kralapp shares Chapter Three of “Hole in the Wall.” Pat liked that the character went and held the gun, but still wants her brother to get rid of it. Judith has a question about a customer. Jerry points out that the character only puts one foot in the tub and not both when she dries her feet off after. Jerry suggests that the gun might be valuable and wonders why a collector wouldn’t want it. Pat notes that Bob has really nice verbs, but Jerry suggests removing some descriptors.

Jerry Peterson reads from the first chapter of Rub Out, his new John Wads Crime Novella. Andy wanted to know when and where the story takes place, as he was unfamiliar with the prequel. It’s contemporary and in Wisconsin. John has a logistical thing. Those aside, there were no qualms with the chapters.

-Thank you Amber for the notes!

Who’s up next . . .
April 8: Rebecca Rettenmund (???), Ruth Imhoff (chapter 5, Motto of the Hound), Holly Bonnicksen-Jones (discuss novel title), Karen Zethmayr (Origami), Carol Hornung (scene, The Ghost of Heffron College) and Jack Freiburger (chapter, The Trail to Bray Head).

April 15: Lisa McDougal (chapter, Tebow Family Secret), Andy Brown (???), Kashmira Sheth & Amit Trivedi (chapter 2, novel), Pat Edwards (???), John Schneller (???), and Judith McNeil (chapter 11, My Mother, Savior of Men).

May 6: Amber Boudreau (chapter 4, Stone), Millie Mader (chapter 53, Life on Hold), Kashmira Sheth & Amit Trivedi (chapter 3, novel), Bob Kralapp (short story part 4, “Hole in the Wall”), Andy Pfeiffer (chapters, The Void), and Jerry Peterson (chapters, Rub Out).

Fifth Tuesday . . .
Yup, still on. April 29 at Mystery To Me Bookstore. 7 pm.

First-and-third group hosts. It’s a potluck, so decide what you are going to bring for the food table.

Coffee shop stories is the writing challenge. Write a story, poem, essay or film scene in which a coffee shop is involved. Max length is 500 words. Stories will be judged by Andrea Thalasinos, a published Madison-based author and criminology teacher at MATC, with the winner receiving a hands-on critique from her of fifty pages of manuscript and a dinner on the town to talk about it.

Email your entry to Jerry by April 25th to enter. It is $5 to participate.

TWS alumnae’s book out . . .
TWS alumnae Susan Gloss introduced her first novel, Vintage, to Madison readers at a launch party last Saturday evening. If you missed it, you can get in on her next book event in our neighborhood, at the Velvet Button on Monroe Street – that’s near Mystery To Me Bookstore – on April 12 at 11 a.m.

Read up on the book by going to Susan’s website, http://susangloss.com/

William Morrow/HarperCollins published Vintage. A second novel is in the works.

Great word . . .

From Wordsmith Anu Garg:
Popular wisdom says it’s not the cards that you hold, but how you play them that makes the difference. Or as I like to say, it’s not the tiles on your rack, it’s what words you make with them that counts.

Playing cards have been around for much longer – they have had a thousand-year lead over Scrabble. Understandably, they also have a head start when it comes to being a part of the language. Here’s a term from a card game for you.

euchre

PRONUNCIATION: (YOO-kuhr)

MEANING:
verb tr.: To cheat, trick, or outwit.
noun: A card game for two to four players usually played with the 32 highest cards in the pack.

ETYMOLOGY:
Of uncertain origin. Perhaps from the Alsatian game of Juckerspiel as the two top trumps are Jucker (jack). The verb sense of the word arises from the fact that the failure to win three tricks is known as being euchred and results in the opponent scoring two points. Earliest documented use: 1846.

USAGE:
“You got euchred. The company lied to you about its status and you foolishly bought its lie.”
– Colin Barrett; A Harsh Lesson on Due Diligence; Journal of Commerce (New York); May 23, 2013.