A sampling of messages from faithful readers of this blog:
Bob Tennant was the first of three readers to find one of my
occasional misplaced modifiers:
You include this line: 'I learned that lesson yesterday after
church at the local bagel shop....' You went to church at the local
bagel shop?
Sorry, Bob, the line should have read: " ...yesterday after temple at the local bagel shop."
Cheers, RPC.
On the
distinction between WHAT narratives and HOW narratives,
Toni Salama writes:
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Poynter Online - Roy's Writing Tools - Tool #20
Roy Peter Clark talks about Writing Tool #20: Choose the number of elements with a purpose in mind.
Produced by Meg Martin |
Listen |
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I've just finished a story that I think might fit
into your HOW criteria. It's the story about the American Colony
Hotel in Jerusalem. Basically, if it hadn't been for the Great
Chicago Fire of 1871 this hotel wouldn't exist. How did it
happen?
That's what
Tom French would call a great "story engine," Toni, an
intriguing question that the story will answer for the reader.
Meghan Piercy writes:
I have spent the week savoring a HOW
narrative... Stephen King's "
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft."
The first half of the book tells the story of
how he came to be a
writer. The second half offers advice on the 'how to' of the
art. It is a clear, easy read....I highly recommend it.
Meghan, while I was drafting "Writing Tools," I stopped reading books
about writing for a while. It's time for me to catch up with Mr.
King and several others.
Alisha Wyman endorses the
value of letting a bit of dialogue do lots of
good work for the narrative. Here's part of a lead she wrote for
a story about coping with grief during the holidays:
... Chet Hawkins loved Christmas, and made their home sparkle with its
spirit. "Our house looked like..." Chet's wife Susan Hawkins
began... "...the North Pole,'" her daughter, Lindsey, 21, finished. But since Chet died in a vehicle accident in July 2004, the Hawkins
can't bring themselves to decorate.
Alisha, I like the way you have the daughter pick up the mother's
quote. We don't see that enough in newspapers. But that's
how dialogue works in the real world. Cheers.
Christina Hernandez writes about her current project about
women who have converted to Islam since 9/11. Here's a passage from Christina, which does indeed show
the value of bits of dialogue:
Hanson worried about using makeup containing pork (a meat outlawed in
Islam), which according to urban legends is an ingredient in many
cosmetics. Swartwout, who wore deep red polish on her
fingernails, piped up. "They don't put pork in makeup," she said. "That's silly. Read the ingredients. It's all stuff you
can't pronounce. It's all synthetic."
Hanson, who had thrown all her makeup away, was shocked, but pleased. "So I can go back to my light brown lipstick?"
Ali reasoned, "Allah is beautiful and he loves beauty."
Thank you, Christina, for this interesting moment in your story. Good luck.
Thanks for your recommendation, Marcio. I'll check it out. As...
