Airplanes and Yellowstone

February 13, 2014

Hello, writers,

Hope all of you have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

As I mentioned Tuesday, I’m reading “How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times” by Roy Peter Clark. Last time, we considered his suggestion to write 100-word stories.

In the second chapter of the book, entitled, “Study short writing wherever it finds you,” Clark suggests looking around everywhere for short writing-in fortune cookies, on baseball cards and atop those candy hearts so popular this time of year!

Here are two of his suggested assignments and one from me. I haven’t decided which of the three I’ll complete yet, but I’ll post my response here when I finish.

Fortune Cookies

“Make believe that fortune cookies were served at all ethnic restaurants. How would the fortunes read at, say, a NewYork-style Italian restaurant? ‘Fuhgeddaboudit!’ or ‘Stop reading, you meatball, and EAT!’ Try this with a variety of ethnicities” (Clark 28).

Movie idea

“Write a brief premise for a movie in which something discovered in a pack of baseball cards proves crucial” (Clark 28).

Ad slogans

Come up with 3-5 new slogans for a product you use every day.

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Please consider completing one, two or all three of these exercises and sharing them with us Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, here’s a recap of Tuesday’s workshop led by moderator, Michele N. Thanks for leading us, Michele!  

Warm-ups

Choosing from prompts below, we all completed a writing warm-up.

1.       Smudges, stains, greasy spots

2.       Brakes

3.       Valentine’s Day

4.       Curly vs. Straight

After a few of us shared our warm-ups, we introduced ourselves, shared good news and started our critique session.

Critique overview from February 11 CCWW

Lisa C. began with “Elevated,” a poem contrasting the grandeur of being airborne with commonplace entertainments, such as Candy Crush. CCWW members said her powerful verbs (i.e. gander and meander) worked as did the poem’s metaphysical tone. Oliver M. then shared a commanding piece about adult life. Members said the conflict and search for meaning in his piece worked well. Connie W. continued by reading, “Airplane,” a memoir about her first flight. Members said her descriptions of flying before September 11 and her use of flashback worked well.

James B. then shared a piece featuring Tabitha, a writer who uses a quill pen. Members said the stress he infused into her character as well as his descriptions (i.e. “itch of the parchment”) worked well. Thomas E. read a continuation of his story featuring Mr. Larson and Mia. Members said his word craft and his showing of details instead of simply telling about them (i.e. flames as amber liquid) worked well. I, Nancy B., then read a poem written to the Yellowstone prompt. Members said the poem’s focus on mankind’s addiction to technology worked.

Michele N. then shared a continuation of Wyatt and Katherine’s romance. Members complimented Michele’s vivid descriptions (of Katherine’s eyes, for example) and her ability to set scenes for readers. Robert O. continued reading more of his Gabriel Whitewolf story. In this part, a new character (blonde and female) approaches Gabriel. As usual, members praised Robert’s descriptive writing (i.e. “living masterpiece painted on the sky….”). Connie K. then shared a poem and a 100-word story. Her poem allowed readers to glimpse the true value of life, while her 100-word story about Abraham and Sarah resonated with CCWW members because of its plot and brevity.

Katilyn S. then read a prequel to one of her earlier dream stories. Members complimented her pacing and her use of imagery. Cameron S. continued by reading “Lost Reality,” a piece about a person in a coma after being in a wreck. Members said the twists and the descriptions in her piece worked well. Richard N. finished the session by sharing another installment of his Dodge story. Members connected Richard’s plot to the new GI Joe movie and complimented his well-researched descriptions of kinetic weapons.

Fine writing, everyone!

Links of Interest

“The Story” - A Short Story Competition

Many CCWW members write family-friendly fiction. Here’s a short story contest with publishing creds as one of the prizes. Deadline is March 15. Winner announced May 1.

More here: http://contests.salempublishing.com/FamilyFiction/

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“Glimmer Train” publishes new authors every year

The publication offers a short story award for new authors. Next deadline is Feb. 28.

More here: http://www.glimmertrain.com/newwriters.html

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Up for reading a cool creative writing blog?

Patrick Ross offers insights and opinions on writing, art, technology and more.

Check out his blog, “The Artist’s Road,” here: http://artistsroad.wordpress.com/

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Prompts for Tuesday, Feb. 18

The first prompt is hexagons. The second prompt is the artist. You’re free to write in any genre you like (fiction, drama, non-fiction, poetry, etc.). If you’d like to bring a WIP (work-in-progress), please do.

Please keep pieces to 1500 words or less and bring copies if you can.

See you Tuesday at The Sweet Spot!

~Nancy B.

P.S. CCWW will take a short two-week break, so we will not meet on February 25 or March 4. The next session of workshops begins Tuesday, March 11 and runs through Tuesday, April 15.