WRITER’S MAIL
Tuesdays With Story
August 27,2015
Aug. 25th Meeting
WHO’S UP NEXT
September 1: Lisa McDougal (chapter 36, Tebow Family Secret), Pat Edwards (???), Cindi Dyke (chapter 18, North Road), Kashmira Sheth & Amit Trivedi (chapter, novel), Millie Mader (epilogue, Life on Hold), Judith McNeil (short story, part 2, Walking In), and Bob Kralapp (???).
September 8:
September 15: Lisa McDougal (chapter 37, Tebow Family Secret), Cindi Dyke (chapter, North Road), Kashmira Sheth & Amit Trivedi (chapter, novel), Mo Bebow-Reinhard (???), Bob Kralapp (???), and Jerry Peterson (chapters 13-16, Killing Ham).
Fifth Tuesday! Fifth Tuesday! The most exciting of Tuesdays!
September 29th is Fifth Tuesday and Tuesdays with Story will be celebrating in an EXTREME style!
Write about an everyday activity but make it EXTREEEEME!!
EXTREME dog walking! EXTREME dish washing! EXTREME lawn mowing!
Bring your EXTREME story to Fifth Tuesday on September 29th!
Maximum 500 words.
WISCONSIN PEOPLE & IDEAS 2015 FICTION AND POETRY CONTEST READING
Join us at the Wisconsin Book Festival for an evening of the best new writing from Wisconsin
Friday, October 23, 2015 – 5:30pm to 7:00pm
A Room of One’s Own Bookstore
315 Gorham Street
Madison, WI 53703
Every year Wisconsin People & Ideas, the Wisconsin Academy’s quarterly magazine of Wisconsin thought and culture, hosts fiction and poetry contests that garners hundreds of submissions from across the state. In addition to securing cash prizes of up to $500 and publication in the magazine, contest winners are featured at an annual reading during the Wisconsin Book Festival. Join us at the 2015 Wisconsin Book Festival for a reading featuring the Wisconsin People & Ideas 2015 Fiction and Poetry Contest winners. Fiction readers include: Nikki Kallio (Hortonville), Erica Kanesaka Kalnay (Madison), and Kathryn Gahl (Appleton). Poetry readers include Lisa Vihos (Sheboygan), Sean Avery (Madison), and Kathleen Dale (Milwaukee).
– See more at: http://www.wisconsinacademy.org/events/wisconsin-people-ideas-2015-fiction-and-poetry-contest-reading#sthash.mWKTOM0d.dpuf
ENDING YOUR STORY
An article from August 2015, The Writer offers an article on tips to help end the story.
- Change. Is there a change in the main character’s life, personality, etc. “Example: In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”, an unpleasant husband has an unexpected epiphany thanks to a blind man. The husband doesn’t transform from zero to hero because of this, but his worldview has shifted. It’s subtle, and it’s mostly implied, but change is change.”
- The story question which revolves around the main desire of the main character(s) at the beginning of the story. “Example: Frank Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger?” sets up the young suitor of a princess for marriage or death by a ravenous tiger. Readers never find out which occurs.”
- Tie it together. Of course this relates to tying up the loose ends. If there are multiple arcs in the story, it is suggested that you start at the end of the story and work your way back. “Example: Todd James Pierce’s “Columbine: The Musical” is a love story, a coming-of-age story, a satire, social commentary and a story about a high school student irrevocably changed by a culture of surveillance and isolation.”
- Emotional Impact. If the beginning and middle of the story have grabbed the reader, make sure the ending clinches that emotion. “Example: Ken Liu’s “Paper Menagerie” won a Hugo, Nebula and a World Fantasy Award. Google the free online version and see firsthand how this science fiction tale provokes an emotional reaction.”
- Deus Ex Machina. “This is Latin for ‘God out of the machine’ or a miraculous solution to the conflict of the story.” “Example: In “Little Red Riding Hood,” she’s saved by a woodsman who just happens to be walking by at the right time. Yeah, right.”
- Beyond “The End.” An ending that suggests but does not confirm the next sequence in life of protagonist or situation. “ Example: In John Updike’s “A&P”, the final line forecasts the protagonist’s bleak future. He’s just quit his job and on the way out, he’s looking back at his old boss. ‘His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he’d just had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.’”
ANOTHER WAY TO GO WITH SHORTS AND FLASH FICTION
Another way to submit short-shorts, flash fiction. Check out HOOT magazine at: www.hootreview.com. Whatever selections the editors choose, (150 words only) they print along with artwork on postcards and mail to their subscribers, who pay $15 a month. They read fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry and book reviews.
DIFFERENT TAKES ON ONLINE PRESENCE FOR AUTHORS
An article in April, 2014 of The Writer re the effect of a writer’s online presence on book sales.
Lara Perkins, Andrea Brown Literary Agency says: “Being available to your readers in some way online is increasingly expected, not just by publishers, but by readers, librarians, booksellers.”
Lisa Graziano, managing editor for Leapfrog Press says that the author’s contacts are more important than social media important. “We have middle-aged and older authors who don’t have web pages or Facebook pages,” she says. “It’s not useful for them to start, either.”
Gordon Warnock, a founding partner at Foreword Literary, says “You have to target and interact with your desired audience, and you have to offer them something that they value. Otherwise, they don’t care. Simply putting in more time won’t result in more sales. It’s a matter of quality.”
Janet Evanovich has been having books published for twenty years. Her books were selling greatly before the social media became a way to publicize books. However, she does think it is an essential tool for authors. “When I look at Facebook and see how many readers are talking to each other about the books, I think it has to be a positive factor with regard to sales,” she says. “Every day I see posts from longtime readers in conversation with readers who’ve just picked up one of my books for the first time. The ‘old timers’ are constantly making title recommendations to the ‘newbies’. It’s very gratifying. The bottom line is that social media has really worked well for me.”
Tuesdays with Story 
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