Tuesdays with Story
February 2, 2021
The first word . . . Panegyric
Some of us don’t use the word blessed much anymore. Maybe too complicated, used by some, misused by others.
But I’ll use it anyway: Tuesday with Story has been blessed to have Jerry Peterson as its leader/administrator/guru/guide/inspiration/add your own panegyric, for the last God knows how many years.
Author of at least six novels and novellas and as many short story collections, and according to him, a suitcase full of early rejection letters, Jerry gives hope to all of us who envision invitations to book fairs once our successful book is published. He’s been our under spoken friend, mentor, and guide. Some of the success obtained by the published authors in the group, and those authors who have left for England or ceased attending due to age, must be attributed to Jerry.
The life of TWS has been usually friction free for the two decades or so that I have attended. We offer each other critiques without criticism, stretch from our own literary venues into the strange worlds others are creating, to participate and email endless notes of advice and encouragement to one another. That too is a reflection of our leader.
So define blessed: VENERATED: Not yet, he’s still too young. HALLOWED: Close, but it would be an overstatement that Jerry would edit out. OF ENJOYING HAPPINESS: That’s a good one. Despite our endless wrestling with words, the community Jerry has formed and fostered with TWS provides the joy of solidarity and mutual support. We are a bit like the fraternal organizations that once dotted all Wisconsin towns, local clubs and organizations with some sort of general goal that brought together men and women of disparate employment, culture and age to form a supportive community, providing not only some attainment, but also the pleasure of each other’s company.
For the joy we need to thank Jerry, blessed as we have been by his efforts.
Penned by Jack, these thanks would include signatures from around the table if it were not for a pandemic (which we survived), from across the ocean, and over the decades if we could turn back the clock.
Tuesday evening on Zoom . . .
TWS writers from across the country met by the courtesy of Zoom, safe at home, together in spirit.
— Kashmira Sheth Kashmira discussed her plans to rewrite Journey to Swaraj, refocusing on Veena and her character development.
—Amit Trevedi poem
1. Move a few lines around
The last one and the one ‘ Now I wonder why…was full of stars’.
2. Remove punctuations
Exclamation and the dash.
3. Suggestion was made to make make the reference to bird more concrete by naming a specific bird.
— Larry Sommers Dizzy, Chs. 33-34 Several people felt that Izzy’s outlook remained too negative despite the developments in the last couple of chapters, or that Izzy did not really achieve a significant arc from the beginning of the book. There was a lot of talk about the exact significance of Izzy’s giving away his baseball glove to Mutt-mutt Corner. Should his motives be clearer? Should the action simply remain a mystery? Kashmira noted two or three places where a bit more of Izzy’s emotional reaction needs to show through. Thanks, everybody.
— John Schneller (chapter 35, Broken rewrite) . . . The final chapters and a rewrite of the final page felt satisfying to some; provoked suggestions from others. Wording changes to avoid mimicking of other stories that slipped in.
— Jamie Nelson Noven Chapter 7 … This week, Kashmira suggested some places to include references to Rice’s past/childhood. Amit suggested looking at the dialogue between Gertie and Rice if they are not meant to be such good friends. And I was schooled on the art of the plastic mailbox flag. Thanks, all!
— Jerry Peterson (short story, “How the Pences Really Got Home to Indiana”) . . . Said Jack of the story, “Jerry, you made a good hat rack. Now we’ve hung a lot of hats on it for you.” Those hats include making more of Covid, making something of the threats made back during the insurrection at the Capitol to hang Pence, upping Mrs. Pence’s part in the story, making more of the rough-riding Humvee, and bumping Pence into coach class, in Seat 13 next to Stubblefield and between Stubblefield and the fat lady from West Virginia, or Stubblefield spending his own money to upgrade to first class to be where he expects Pence to be only to have Pence bumped to coach. John also said the high-speed run to the airport has to be justified. “They’ve only got fifteen minutes to catch the flight,” he said as an example.
Who’s up next . . .
On February 16, here’s who will be presenting:
Bob Kralapp (???)
Paul Wagner (???)
Amit Trivedi (???)
John Schneller (Final Stronghold chapter?)
Kashmira Sheth (???)
Jerry Peterson (chapter 34, part 2, Night Flight)
Our editor . . .
John Schneller will edit our February issues of Writer’s Mail. He would appreciate your news. Email it to him and he’ll include it in the next issue.
Publishing Wisdom (Jamie requests submissions of questions for any further topics)
Story Rubric
Academic rubrics became popular in the 80s as a way to quantify (and perhaps justify) letter grades for writing assignments. Author J. Thorn has created both a fiction and a nonfiction rubric, which he uses in his freelance story editing services. He offers these rubrics on his website, free to download. You don’t even have to enter your email address. Why not test your pacing, characterization, plotting, tone, etc. against the Story Rubric and see how you fare? StoryRubric.com
The last word . . .
People who read fiction want to feel like they’ve been somewhere else, to experience an episode of life as if they had been someone else, maybe someplace where it’s impossible, impractical or even dangerous to go—but they want to spend time in a situation that grabs and holds their interest. They want to know, “What would it be like to be the person in the story?” They want to explore the human experience, to come away enriched and enlivened.
From Writing Deep Viewpoint by Kathy Tyers
Tuesdays with Story 
Leave a Reply