Writer’s Mail
Tuesdays With Story
July 23, 2013
Writer’s quotation . . .
“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tuesday at Barnes & Noble . . . (thank you, Carol)
Tuesday night at the bookstore it was all about Girl Power! And we had plenty to talk about.
Report from Camp: Katelin Cummins is approaching 30,000 words in the NaNoWriMo Boot Camp! Says she’s having fun but has waaaaaaaaaaaay too much information for a single novel. This is definitely an ongoing series. Still, the work has been very exciting, and she hopes to share some of it with us soon.
Rebecca Rettenmund debuted the first scene of Hale Tales. Carol loved the canaries, but also thinks we should get Phyllis’s last name (Hale) right away. Good catch phrase for Ma (“Oh for Heavens sake”) but keep it to only once or twice in the scene. Holly wanted more atmosphere. Terry really enjoyed the voice, but also wondered if the name of the town should come up sooner. Jen pointed out some passive sentences to fix, which would tighten up the scene. She also said to be aware of how people spoke in that era, which prompted a fun discussion on phrases and terms that are uniquely Wisconsin.
Terry Hoffman began the daunting task of condensing The Great Tome into a synopsis. Rebecca thought it got a little bogged down in the middle, too much “she did this” and “she did that.” Katelin wondered if the section with Ace was needed? We did suggest yes, but also said the Tome itself needs to be more prominent. Holly felt the term “swat team” was too matter-of-fact and wanted more of the resulting fear and emotion. Jen said the ending seemed to trail off – that the last line of the second-to-last paragraph is actually a great way to end it. Rebecca found the description of the climactic scene on the boat to be the most engaging. (more…)
Tuesdays with Story 