Tuesdays with Story

Tuesdays with Story
October 19, 2019

The first word . . .

“I was a lot dumber when I was writing the novel. I would come home every day from my office and say, ‘Well, I still really like the story, I just wish it was better written.’ At that point, I didn’t realize I was writing a first draft. And the first draft was the hardest part. From there, it was comparatively easy. It was like I had some Play-Doh to work with and could just keep working with it – doing a million drafts and things changing radically and characters appearing and disappearing and solving mysteries: Why is this thing here? Should I just take that away? And then realizing, no, that is there, in fact, because that is the key to this. I love that sort of detective work.”

― Miranda July (1974-), film director, screenwriter, actress, novelist, short story writer

Tuesday evening at the bookstore . . .

A small group of writers—six in all—huddled around a table on the bargain books floor, where they proceeded to critique the works of their colleagues. Here is some of what was said:

— Jack Freiburger (chapter 62, A Walk upon the Water) . . .

— Kashmira Sheth and Amit Trivedi (chapters 24-25, untitled novel) . . .

— Cindi Dyke (children’s picture book, Kerpout) . . .  This poem is the first in a series of picture books for young children. Jerry wondered why Kerpout has hooves instead of paws,  but he is a mythical woodland creature (Kerpout, not Jerry) and I see him with hooves. Jerry also didn’t think chocolate ice cream for breakfast would make you sick. I’m willing to test that out for accuracy. Kashmira thought a bit of adult vocabulary in a child’s picture book is fine, but it needs to be limited. Several thought the metrical structure needs attention in a couple of stanzas.

— Mike Austin (short story, “The Handyman”) . . .

— Jerry Peterson (short story, “Dead Ahead”) . . . A lot of silence after Jerry introduced the story. Larry broke the silence, saying the story was the most powerful of Jerry’s that he had read. Cindi agreed. Still Larry spotted several weaknesses. In the first paragraph, we have no idea who Hatcher and Lewinski are, discovering only later that they are the engineer and the fireman for the day crew. “Also delete the word vibrant from the phrase ‘what had fifteen minutes before been a living vibrant being,’” Larry said. “Living being is stronger.” Jack said it would be stronger, too, if the woman killed is unknown, that it instead triggers the memory for Hatcher of another woman killed, that this woman is known to Hatcher. Then the prayer that ends the story becomes the prayer for all the dead.

Who’s up next . . .

November 5

Jack Freiburger (chapter 63, A Walk upon the Water)

Larry Sommers (chapter, Freedom’s Purchase)

John Schneller (chapter 12, Broken rewrite)

Bob Kralapp (chapter, Capacity)

Jessica Smith (chapter, Holding the Balance)

Jerry Peterson (???)

Fifth Tuesday . . .

Yes, it’s 10 days away, October 29. Again we will journey to New Glarus. Tracey and Scott Gemmell will host us at their home.

It’s potluck, so bring a big dish or plate of great food to share. Do email Tracey that you’re coming so she sets out the right number of chairs. And tell her what you’re bringing for the feasting table. Do it now. Do it this evening.

The writing challenge. Well, it’s different. You are going to give a talk of no more than 3 minutes to the group about an area of specialized knowledge that you possess. It’s a way for us to get to know you better—what interests you, what winds you up.

Separate from your presentation but a part of the challenge, create a list of four facts or details about yourself, three of which are true and one false, or one true and three false—your choice. After your talk, we in the audience will take part in a guessing game, to see whether anyone among us knows you well enough to get your list right . . . which of the items are true and which are false. Please do this to help us, send your four facts or details to Jerry Peterson. He will print them off so we all have them at our fingertips while we talk about you. That’s the writing part, the only writing part. You don’t have to write your presentation, although you can if you’re more comfortable reading a speech than working from notes or ad-libbing.

Jerry needs your four facts by Sunday evening, October 27.

Our editor . . .

John Schneller, our editor this month, hands over Writer’s Mail to Amit Trivedi for November. If you have good news or have found interesting things about books and writing that you’d like to share with the group, please email them to Amit for his first issue.

The last word . . .

“Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day. It helps.”

― John Steinbeck (1902-1968), novelist, short story writer