Writer’s Mail for Tuesday July 8th, 2014
“If you want to write a fantasy story with Norse gods, sentient robots, and telepathic dinosaurs, you can do just that. Want to throw in a vampire and a lesbian unicorn while you’re at it? Go ahead. Nothing’s off limits. But the endless possibility of the genre is a trap. It’s easy to get distracted by the glittering props available to you and forget what you’re supposed to be doing: telling a good story. Don’t get me wrong, magic is cool. But a nervous mother singing to her child at night while something moves quietly through the dark outside her house? That’s a story. Handled properly, it’s more dramatic than any apocalypse or goblin army could ever be.”
-Patrick Rothfuss
Five writers gathered at Barnes and Noble Tuesday July 8 to read and critique two stories.
Jen read from Chapter 1 of her untitled novel.
Rebecca and Katelin wanted more reaction from the character Hibiki as she sees the blue veins for the first time. Wouldn’t she have some reaction from seeing something completely out of the ordinary? The reaction could be slight. Joel and Liam tracked with Jen’s intention to show that Hibiki isn’t processing anything while doing the Akido moves. Rebecca wanted the appearance of the blue veins to be more prominent and obviously magical, because it’s the most interesting part of the scene. Katelin suggested moving the description of the veins to a new paragraph to draw attention to it. Rebecca and Joel pointed out a few grammatical corrections. Joel suggested added a scene prior to this one to introduce the character so the ready knows why she is taking the test.
Liam read from chapter 1 of his novel. (more…)
Tuesdays with Story 