Tuesdays with Story

Writer’s Mail
Jul 24, 2015

“A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it to be God.” – Sidney Sheldon

Notes from July, Week 4, 2015

Lisa M: Judith thought both chapters were good. Pat can tell that something big is about to happen. Pat thinks there’s more to a character’s fear of nannies. There was some confusion in the writing about what the lead character was selling. Jerry found one character’s voice to be well done, but another (a female) sounded manly. Group suggested changing the spelling of that character’s name to appear more feminine. Cindi thinks a character should more of a reaction to learning about her horrible past. Joke at the end of chapter 33 needs to come across as a joke and not a serious proposal.

Cindi D: There was a deep discussion regarding the use of a “lamb” analogy ( I mean, we went there). Pat questioned the ending and Cindi explained that the chapter wasn’t finished. There was a discussion about why she should end the chapter and start a new one with the two character’s continuing their date. Pat feels there should be a bigger conflict. Jerry wants something to bigger to happen to block two characters from getting together. Lisa really liked the chapter and felt it was Cindi’s best chapter. Everyone (it seems) guessed the surprise except for Lisa. Lisa also wonders about the cancer and if that’s a factor since it hasn’t been mentioned. Jerry wants to see signs of her getting sicker.

Amit T: Lisa wanted to know what happened to Uma and why did the story jump. Amit explained that he is not working in order. Pat likes a new character. Pat wants more detail information about the train experience.

Bob K: Says he’s finished his with the story. Millie wonders why? Judith and Lisa thinks the stealing from the lead character should have been mentioned earlier. Pat likes the conversation between two characters. There was a discussion about Russian Olives and changing its fate. Lisa didn’t get the story when she read on her on, but got a better understanding after Bob read it.

Jerry P: Pat Edwards pointed out a major flaw in chapter 5 of Jerry Peterson’s novella, Killing Ham. “You have Fishbine hacking the main server of a major company so he can steal email files,” she said. “Most big companies have firewalls that prevent that. Have him do what the hackers of Target did, go in through the HVAC server.” Kashmira Sheth liked the humor in the scene where Wads is trying to find the fire department’s paramedic asleep in the station’s dormitory. “He shakes one man sleeping in one bed, then another, and another. ‘No, it’s not me.’ ‘He’s in the bed over there.’ Very funny.”

Other Odds and Ends

What’s in a title? . . .

Go Set a Watchman is an odd, odd title for Harper Lee’s sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird . . . unless you know your Bible.
Here’s an except from writer Greg Garrison’s story as carried on al.com – al, Alabama.
The title has caused bafflement among many fans of To Kill a Mockingbird.
The phrase in the title comes from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, in the King James Bible:
“For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” – Isaiah 21:6
It makes sense that Lee’s choice of a title for her novel was a King James biblical quote.
“That’s what she loved – the elegance of the language of the King James Version,” said historian Wayne Flynt, a longtime friend of Lee and also a Baptist minister. “She grew up in a Bible-reading family. She was imprinted with it as a child.”
Isaiah was a prophet in the Kingdom of Judah, probably between about 740 B.C. and 698 B.C. In this verse, he is prophesying about the fall of Babylon. “Nelle (Harper Lee) probably likened Monroeville to Babylon,” Flynt said. “The Babylon of immoral voices, the hypocrisy. Somebody needs to be set as the watchman to identify what we need to do to get out of the mess.”
Lee wrote Go Set a Watchman as the story of her protagonist, Scout, living as an adult in New York and returning home to Alabama. She was advised at the time by her editor to write the book from the viewpoint of a child, and to change the title, which became To Kill a Mockingbird.

The new book marks the return of her original title. Her choice of the phrase Go Set a Watchman as a title followed the tradition of William Faulkner, who liked biblical allusions in his work.
“In the Southern literary renaissance, it was still a biblical culture in the South,” Flynt said.
“During that period, Faulkner turned out a piece called Absalom, Absalom!”
The title of Faulkner’s 1936 novel alludes to King David’s son, Absalom, who rebelled against his father. Faulkner’s story creates a similar conflict between a father and son in Mississippi at the time of the Civil War.
“Go Set a Watchman means, ‘Somebody needs to be the moral compass of this town,’” Flynt said. “Isaiah was a prophet. God had set him as a watchman over Israel. It’s really God speaking to the Hebrews, saying what you need to do is set a watchman, to set you straight, to keep you on the right path. What more elegant title could there be?”
In the case of To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch serves as the watchman.
on the review tab. see the Compare function?

Merging two documents

Ever wanted to find an easier way of editing two documents that are the same, but have different edits in different places? Now you can, thanks to Pat. instructions for Word are below:

Goodbye Wiggio
We hardly knew ye…
TWS has decided to end our relationship with Wiggio and commit to Yahoo. Sometimes you just have to date others before you realize you were with the right one all along. We wish Wiggio all the best in the future.

Coming Soon…
July 28: Second and Fourth
August 4: Pat Edwards (???), Cindi Dyke (chapter, North Road), Millie Mader (chapter 64, part 2, Life on Hold), Judith McNeil (???), and Bob Kralapp (???).
August 11: Second and Fourth
August 18: Lisa McDougal (chapter 34, Tebow Family Secret), Cindi Dyke (chapter, North Road), Kashmira Sheth & Amit Trivedi (chapter, novel), Bob Kralapp (???), and Jerry Peterson (chapters 9-12, Killing Ham).
Look who’s editing Writers Mail . . .
Lisa McDougal finishes out the month, then Judith McNeil takes on the assignment for August. E-mail them your contributions.