Tuesdays with Story

November 15, 2022

The first word . . .

Trigger the imagination. A story never belongs solely to you the author

Tuesday evening with Zoomers and Sitters:

TWS writers offered their input on four submissions from their colleagues.

—Kashmira Sheth Kashmira submitted two chapters of Nina Soni, Miserable Traveler. The biggest takeaway was to have a positive title and show more excitement about going to India. Also need some more tension in the story.  

— Larry Sommers “Smile”- Although the factory setting, the violent action, and the tension between the two main characters are interesting, most readers felt that Johnny’s detached state of mind in the immediate aftermath of the slashing was unrealistic and that there needs to be a deeper and more meaningful resolution of the clash.  Thanks, everybody!

— John Schneller A series of scenes were submitted. Most felt the redirection of Nia into an active role offers better potential for her storyline. (You can only do so much when locked up.) Dialogue needs were identified.

— Amber Boudreau

Amber read from the beginning of Chapter 20 of Second Act. Amit didn’t understand the humor at the end of chapter 19 and thought there was a bit too much introspection on the part of the main character. Meanwhile, Kashmira wanted to know about what the main character was thinking at the end of chapter 20. Kashmira and a few others also had to ask if a certain character had died because the way one particular line was written made it sound like they were still alive. 

Who’s up next . . . 

Those wishing to present material on December 6 are:

Judy Cummings

Suzanne Gillingham

Jaime Nelson Noven

Mike Austin

Amit Trivedi

Kashmira Sheth

Amber Boudreau

Every scene in your novel should advance your story or reveal character. Avoid:

• Throat-clearing—a literary term for a page or two of scene-setting and background before a story or chapter finally really begins. Get on with it.
• Too much stage direction. Don’t spoon feed the reader every action of every character in every scene. Stick with the heart of the scene and let the reader enjoy deducing the rest.
• Cliches—this doesn’t apply to just words and phrases but also to clichéd situations: starting your story with the main character waking to an alarm clock; having a character describe herself while looking in a full-length mirror; having future love interests literally bump into each other upon first meeting, etc.
• Telling what’s not happening—like “He didn’t respond,” “She didn’t say anything,” or “The crowded room never got quiet.” If you don’t say these things happened, the reader will assume they didn’t.

The last word . . .

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.