Tuesdays with Story

Writer’s Mail
Tuesdays with Story
December 3, 2015

 
The first word . . .

“When you’ve finished your script, proofread it carefully. Don’t read it as if it’s your baby and you love every word of it. Pretend you’re the world’s toughest editor. Look for every fault you can find in story structure, dialogue, characterization, and motivation. And keep rewriting until your script is as good as you can possibly make it.”
– Stan Lee (1922- ), writer and creator of comic book super heroes, from his memoir, Amazing Fantastic Incredible

What you missed if you weren’t with us . . .

Here’s what happened at first-and-third group’s gathering Tuesday evening at Alicia Ashman:

Lisa McDougal (chapter 44-45, Tebow Family Secret) – Pat Edwards, Alicia Connolly-Lohr, Judith McNeil, Millie Mader, and Cindi Dyke thought the chapter moved well and fast, although Jerry Peterson suggested it needs more action to break up the long sections of dialogue. Pat and Jerry didn’t like the swearing; Cindi, Judith, and Alicia didn’t mind it. Cindi wanted some sort of reaction from a certain character regarding the fate of another character.

Alicia Connolly-Lohr (short story, part 1, “Ricin Unleashed”) – The group generally liked it. Good sexual tension; there’s anticipation of something steamy. Needs correct technological terms. Male lead needs to be vulnerable. Too many K’s in the names of people and places.

Judith McNeil (theater monologue, “Someone’s Gotta Do It”) – This note from Judith: “Folks can check out <www.forwardtheater.com> to get the submission for monologue info. I read a little more carefully and they will have an actor perform the monologue. Whoever’s monologue is chosen will be given two free tickets to the performance—sometime next year.”
To the monologue, Pat suggested making Joanie’s name, Joanie McSpeedy. Think the group is waiting to see the ending.

Millie Mader (prose poem, “The Mall”) – Millie’s poem was relatively short. Several in the group encouraged her, in the rewrite, to provide more action in the scenes that she witnessed at the mall. Some felt that she should be walking among the mall shoppers instead sitting and sipping a latte.

Kashmira Sheth (chapter book, chapter 1-4, Nina Soni) – Pat Edwards liked how some new words were introduced and how the voice was age appropriate. JerryPeterson pointed out a logical mistake in one of the actions.

Bob Kralapp (short story, “Her Letters”) – Pat liked the story, singling out the passage with the Lord’s Prayer as very strong. Alicia felt that the ending amounted to a bait-and-switch situation in light of the opening. Kashmira suggested that the first sentence of last paragraph and the rest of it be made into two paragraphs.

First-and-third group meets next on December 15, again at the Alicia Ashman Branch Library. This time the group will be in the small conference room.

We’ve got editors . . .

Jerry Peterson is editing Writers Mail this month. You’ve got good stuff for our e-newsletter? Please send it to Jerry.

Amit Trivedi is our January e-newsletter editor.

Who’s up next . . .

December 8:
* Second-and-fourth meets at The Chocolaterian Cafe.

December 15: Alicia Connolly-Lohr (part 2, Ricin Unleashed), Kashmira Sheth (chapters, Nina Soni), Pat Edwards (???), Cindi Dyke (chapter, North Road), Kashmira Sheth & Amit Trivedi (chapter, novel), Bob Kralapp (???), and Jerry Peterson (short story, “Three Kings of Kansas”).

* First-and-third meets at Alicia Ashman Branch Library.

December 22:
* Second-and-fourth meets at The Chocolaterian Cafe.

January 5: Lisa McDougal (chapter 46, Tebow Family Secret), Alicia Connolly-Lohr (part 3, Ricin Unleashed), Kashmira Sheth & Amit Trivedi (chapter, novel), Judith McNeil (???), Millie Mader (???), and Kashmira Sheth (chapters, Nina Soni).
* First-and-third returns to Barnes & Noble Westside.

Forward Theater wants your monologue . . .

Forward is our Equity – meaning professional – theater in Madison. Each year for the past three years it has presented an evening of monologues on stage at the Overture Center.

They are doing it again, and you can be one of Forward’s playwrights. Here’s how the theater phrased its call for submissions for its 2016 monologue festival:

“Chances are, you’ve had one – more than one. They can be inspiring, terrifying, tedious, nauseating, and profound. Jobs. Jobs put food on our tables, roofs over our heads, and (sometimes) anxiety in our hearts. . . . We invite you to create characters telling their work stories: the exhilarating, the necessary, and the outlandishly absurd.”

Theme: Someone’s Gotta Do It.

Your monologue must be between two and 10 minutes in length, meaning the script can be no longer than eight pages, double-spaced.

There is no cost to submit up to two scripts, and you will send them in by email to the theater.

Deadline for entering is January 15. If your script is selected for production, you’ll get the word on or about July 1.

No monetary award, but Forward will give you two tickets so can see the September show.

Here’s where you go for the contest details: <http://www.forwardtheater.com/learn-more/submissions&gt;

Great word . . .

From Word Spy Paul McFedreis:

decopunk
Meaning: (noun) Books, films, or games that apply science fiction or fantasy elements to historical settings that display an Art Deco aesthetic.

Also Seen As: deco-punk
Etymology:
cf. steampunk

Examples:
“Catherynne M. Valente’s Radiance (Tor, $24.99) is set in a golden age of space travel. …Valente describes Radiance as a “decopunk alt-history Hollywood pulp SF space opera mystery with space whales and silent movies.”
– Nancy Hightower, Our top science-fiction and fantasy picks for October, The Washington Post, October 20, 2015

“Steampunk is pretty popular these days, but my mind has always leaned more towards the aesthetics of Art Deco. Thought I’d be the first to create a new sci-fi movement centered around that time period, but upon doing some research, turns out, the genre of Decopunk already exists.”
– Stephen Sumner, The Sci-Fi Sphere and Decopunk Beauty (Pictorial), Optimal Human Modulation, September 22, 2014

“Like many gamers, I loved BioShock and BioShock 2. These first-person shooter games took place in Rapture, an underwater decopunk world populated by crazed genetic scientists, Ayn Rand-inspired industrialists, creepy little girl clones and the iconic cyborg Big Daddy.”
– Danishka Esterhazy, Latest BioShock looks impressive but lacks moral complexity, Winnipeg Free Press, April 4, 2013

Earliest:
“The Fifth Element is a lovingly reconstructed fairy tale dragged up in stylish decopunk.
– David Golding, The List (was Good, recent SF films) (reply), aus.films, June 18, 1998

Notes:
A scene from the decopunk game, BioShock.

Those terrible typos . . .

This joke has been making the rounds on the web:
A husband wrote a romantic email to his wife while on a business trip and missed an “e” in the last word. Now he’s seeking police protection to enter his own house. His note: “Darling I’m experiencing the best time of my life and I wish you were her.”

Kashmira’s book rakes in the honors . . .

Kashmira Sheth’s picture book, Sona and the Wedding Game, was recently selected as the Book of the Week by Cooperative Children’s Book Center. It also made the Kirkus 2015 Best of Children’s Books list. Said a Kirkus reviewer of the book, “Everyone will want to attend this wedding.”

*** And that’s the news for this week. ***