Tuesdays With Story
WRITER’S MAIL for November 7, 2012
“…as you print out another day’s worth of writing and add it to the stack of pages, embrace the sheer delight of seeing the world of your making assemble itself before you. . . . You are bringing something tangible into the world. If that isn’t magic, I don’t know what is.”-Kevin Wilson, NaNoWriMo Pep Talk, October 31, 2012
November 6 Meeting
Michelle Nightoak joined the group
Lisa read from Chapter Eight of Follow the Yellow. Amber wondered how one character knows what another is thinking if this is told from the first person. Pat liked the scene overall and all of the different conflicts that come out of it. Everyone seemed to like the format Lisa used to show one character’s writing. Pat insisted it kept the work colloquial. Millie thought one character’s mother needs to watch out for her offspring a little more. Pat had a comment about the racy scene, but she thought it was pretty well blocked. Jen wanted to see a character pull an item out of a bag and wondered how that character knew where another was standing if she’s blind. Clayton wondered if a character would bring up their ex on Valentine’s Day. Jerry wondered if a guy would spend $200 on a purse for a girl on their first date. Aaron thought it might be a knock-off.
Millie read her reviews of Jerry’s book, The Watch and Spike’s book, At First Light. We all think Millie should post these!
Bob shared a flash piece with the group. Lisa thought it was very mysterious and had to read it multiple times. Bob tried to make each sentence a contradiction. Clayton thought the pronouns were a bit paradoxical. Pat thought for a short piece, it needs to be super-tight and introduces us all a new word; weltschmerz. She was looking for some hope and beauty and not so nihilistic. Michelle thought there was wonder, but not any hope. The group found the title confusing as well.
Pat shared a power point poem. Millie felt Pat was really trying to understand herself but she thought she’s being awful hard on herself. Lisa thought it was all over the place, which is what it was supposed to be. Jerry found an edit. Jen almost read one of the last lines, love as loved instead. One person hated the etc, another person liked it. Clayton noted that Geminis are always one thing and something else. Amber was curious about the format, but liked it. Aaron loved it. Clayton wondered how the esteemed scientist responded to her friend’s inquiry.
Aaron shared the first part of a new screenplay. Lisa had a question about including camera angles. Aaron felt if it’s important enough, you can do it. Lisa thought one character should check her watch or look around to show she’s waiting. Pat thought one character is weird and the other is normal.
Jerry read from Chapter twenty-five of Thou Shalt Not Murder. Millie noticed a lot of good verbs. Amber suggested shortening the command, Kiss him, to just kisses. Michelle noticed the words bail bondsman twice in about six lines.
Who’s up next . . ..
November 13: Terry Hoffman (chapter, The Great Tome), Rebecca Rettenmund (chapter, The Cheese Logue), Jack Freiburger (poem, “Avibus”), Liam Wilbur (???), Katelin Cummins (Notes on Concept – Malixa)
*One slot open! Email Carol Hornung at chornung88@aol.com to sign up.
November 20: Rebecca Rettenmund (chapter 15, The Cheese Logue), Amber Boudreau (chapter 11, Noble), Millie Mader (chapter 39, Life on Hold), Pat Edwards (???), Aaron Boehm (film script/part 2, “Whole Again”), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 26-28, Rage).
December 5 – Wednesday: Liam Wilbur (???), Susanne Fortunato (???), Bob Kralapp (???), Aaron Boehm (film script/part 2, “Whole Again”), Judith McNeil (short story part 4, “The Man with the Broken Heart”), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 1-4, Shadowcatcher).
Writer’s Mail: Duty Roster
Katelin is editing for November. Send your story ideas and meeting notes to her at katelin.cummins@gmail.com.
December – Clayton Gill
January – Pat Edwards
February – This Could Be You!
March – Sign up today!
January’s Fifth Tuesday . . .
Put it on your calendar now. Make your commitment to be with us on January 29. First-and-third group hosts. While the place has not yet been set, the writing challenge has.
Here it is: You, or a character of your creation, believe the world is going to end on a set date. You or your character get ready for it . . . then it doesn’t happen. What do you or your character do now?
Maximum length? Our ever-popular 250 words.
NaNoWriMo Report!
The worldwide collective 2012 word count as of 9:15pm November 8 is 1,009,871,099! At a steady pace of 1,667 words a day, today’s word count would be 13,336. Liam Wilbur signed up, has finished his story outline and is fleshing out the details before he begins the draft.
If you or someone you know is madly writing 50,000 words of story awesomeness this month, let us know how the journey is going!
How To Use Craigslist as an Editing Tool
“Self-published novelist Matthew Mather used Craigslist as his “secret weapon” for editing his novel. Since he released his first science fiction novel in August, Mather has counted over 40,000 downloads of The Complete Atopia Chronicles. This week, he shared his free SHAKESPEARE system for self-published authors, including his Craigslist tip.
“. . . Go on Craigslist and find some recently-graduated (and unemployed) English lit majors to edit your book on the cheap. A ‘real’ editor can be extremely expensive; while the quality may not be perfect, hiring unemployed English-lit majors can save you hundreds, even thousands of dollars. . . . Note that this is not for line editing, but for high level feedback to make your story more engaging in an iterative process.”
Full article can be found here: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/how-to-use-craiglist-as-an-editing-tool_b59708#more-59708
Example of Stream of Consciousness Writing:“One Summer …”
A Memoir by Nicholson Baker
“One summer I lived in a house that was being renovated, in a bright yellow room, with a mattress on the floor. I woke up late and tried to type in bed. I was working on a story about a man who by chance runs into his brain on the street. His brain is wearing a jaunty hat and is in a hurry. It has some kind of a sales job. At night I walked to a restaurant called Gitsis Texas Hots and ordered two hot dogs and a cup of coffee and reviewed the day’s work on “My Brain.” The story was never finished.
“One summer my family went on a boat in Ontario’s Georgian Bay with another family. . . .”
Follow the link to read more!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/05/AR2005070501215.html
Great words . . .
From Word Spy Paul McFedries . . .
table writing: noun, the creation of scripts, jokes, and stories by a committee of writers.
Example Citation:
In addition, [Larry] Gelbart argues, TV writing has grown more solipsistic: whereas television once attracted people trained in radio, film and theater, it’s now the province of lifelong couch potatoes with a fondness for inside jokes. And on sitcoms, those jokes are increasingly crafted by committees. “There’s a custom out here now called table writing,” he says. “A draft will be prepared by one or two writers, and the staff will sit around a table and try to get in as many new lines as possible.”
– Michiko Kakutani, “Master of His Domain,” The New York Times, February 1, 1998
Earliest Citation: To circumvent Writers Guild of America rules discouraging “table writing” (a group effort common in TV which has resulted in lawsuits over credits when practiced on feature films), the brainstormers were required to sign waivers.
– Rex Weiner and Adam Dawtrey, “New Bond issue may rattle lion’s cage,” Variety, December 9, 1996
The Last Word:
“…if you’ve gotten to the end of this, stop procrastinating and start writing.”-Gennifer Albin, NaNoWriMo Pep Talk, November 5, 2012
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