Middles

No, not mine. I wonder if everybody is reading the same stuff I am–how-to blogs about writing the middles of books. People seem to have a lot of trouble with writing middles, and are either looking for help or providing help for others. So I’ll help, too. Yeah, sure I will.

Beginnings and ends are fairly easy to think of. The trouble starts and stuff happens and the trouble ends one way or another. I remember asking my mother what happened on an action-adventure show we always watched and that I missed one week. “The bad guys caught them and locked them up, but they got away and caught the bad guys.” Yeah, thanks, Mom–That’s what happened every week. The fun part was HOW THEY DID IT, and that’s the part she left out. And that’s the middle part.

I used to have…. I was going to say that I used to have trouble with the middles of books, but that’s not entirely true. When I didn’t quit when I got to the middle, THEN I had trouble with the middles of books. It isn’t that I couldn’t come up with anything to have happen, it’s that there were too many possibilities. You know–because of quantum, as Terry Pratchett would say. Every action and every character provides endless possibilities for moving the plot in one direction or another. If THIS happens to HIM, his reaction might be THIS or it could be THIS or, if SHE is watching, it could be THAT….

So I started outlining. Yeah, I know–mechanical, restrictive, inorganic…. But it’s a framework I need. I often have the vaguest idea of where I want my story to end. If I don’t pin it down somewhat, the whole book just flaps around like a picnic blanket in a high wind. I start out with the opening situation, which is usually what I have in mind first (don’t laugh–some people start with the outcome, some with the climax). Then I write down a very general ending of ways the situation can be resolved. Then I put the turning points in place–I don’t mean specifics, either, I mean the words “turning point”. Then, as I write the first part of the book, I think about what’s going on, who it’s happening to, and how to arrange meetings, conversations and events to lead the main character to make an important, pivotal decision. That decision automatically whithers all other possibilities, which is sad, but that’s quantum for you.

The job of the writer is not choosing what to put in, but what to leave out.

MA

Writing prompt: Write a very brief story, with about six sentences. The first sentence sets up the character and situation, the last sentence resolves it. The other four are the Middle. Do with them what you will. “Once upon a time, there was a princess who was as good as she was beautiful. And she lived happily ever after.” That’s nice, but it’s the middle that makes the story.

Holy Cats!

This is my mother’s calico cat, Sweetie Pie, as a kitten. As you see, she was a kitty evangelist, laying a healing on my camera. The lens aperture closed miraculously and I haven’t been able to take pictures since. Okay, that’s a lie.

Here’s the truth, though. You know how, if you somehow acquire two of something, everybody thinks it’s a collection and gives you additions to it for all possible occasions? Well, with my mother, it’s stuffed animals. Ever since Sweetie Pie was a tiny kitten, she’s loved those stuffed animals. She gets them off shelves and carries them around. There’s one, sent to Mom from the National Wildlife people, called a Blue-Footed Booby and which Mom calls The Goony-bird, which was three times Sweetie-Pie’s kitten size, and which Sweetie-Pie dragged all over the house by its neck.

Her two other favorites are a set of small polar bears and a marmalade cat. These are the beneficiaries of her religious fervor. She baptizes them in her water dish. Frequently. At first, not a day went by that Mom didn’t find at least one of them near and wringing wet or actually face down in the “baptismal font”. Religion seemed to have finally taken root, though, and nobody has had to be brought to Jesus in many months.

We were saddened to see that the marmalade cat has apparently been backsliding. Sweetie Pie’s foster brother, Ozzie, is also a marmalade, and we’re wondering if the stuffed cat is the actual offender or if Sweetie Pie is baptizing Ozzie in effigy. Personally, I think the stuffed cat is getting its own come-uppance. I mean, look at that face. If that isn’t the face of an unrepentant sinner, I don’t know what is.

I keep telling Sweetie Pie that her mother is a Lutheran, and Lutherans don’t dunk, they sprinkle. Mom tells me to let her alone–she’s entitled to her own religion.

Another reason why I love my mother.

MA

Writing prompt: Have you ever been to a christening or baptism or other ceremony signifying membership in a religion? How did it feel? How did it seem to change the life of the person inducted (if it did)? If you haven’t been to one, look up an explanation of one online and imagine it.

Yesterday Was a Lucky Day

Had a good morning with Mom and at the library, enjoying the high-speed connection. Then came home, put on my woodsy clothes, sprayed for critters and ventured forth.

The first thing I found was this. Can you see it? I used not to be able to see four-leaf clovers, until my friend Jane, who could spot them at a distance, told me to look at the centers. You look at the center of a clover, and you can see the difference between a regular one and a polyform one. When we both lived in Louisville, I would always take her the first 4-leaf I found in spring, to say thanks for teaching me the pleasure of finding them. Now, I’ll have to send it to her by email.

In the woods, I didn’t think I was going to find any mushrooms. It’s been damp, but it’s turned chilly. But I persevered, and I found a goodly number, some of them quite large. Of course, I had some help: Al, our #4 daughter’s 17-year-old cat, and Joe, our #1 grandson’s Lab/Dalmatian.

I brought home my haul and made supper: salmon croquettes, peas, and the mushrooms in a cream sauce spooned over all.

Went to Mom’s and read her some of Terry Pratchett’s SMALL GODS.

When I got home, the TV was on, but nobody was in evidence. Then our #1 daughter’s husband came up from the basement: we were under a tornado warning. I called Mom and told her to turn on her television and maybe go to the basement, and I went down. #1 daughter and family don’t have a basement, so they come to ours when there’s severe weather. We never wanted Riley to be frightened, so we always called the shelter-taking “storm parties”. If we were going to be downstairs for any length of time, we took snacks and games. Now he brings his own games. He and his dad played several quick games of “The Eye of Horus”, and we talked and laughed.

The house didn’t blow away, and we all went our various ways.

A good day.

MA

Writing prompt: What is a lucky charm for your main character/antagonist?

Two Sweet Little Old Ladies

I brought Mom to volunteer at the Book Box today while I came to the library and did some Southern Indiana Writers stuff.

When I went in to pick her up, she told me her cat would only sit on her lap in the bathroom, not in the living room. So I said, naturally, “Have you tried dropping your drawers in the living room?” She didn’t think that was a very good idea, and she hasn’t even tried it!

So then we got in the car. There were tire tracks close to the entrance to our drive, so Mom says, “You lay that rubber?”

“Sure,” I said. “I have drag races with the other quintanarians. I’m almost too old for the category. Next year I’ll be a sexagenarian. Be some fun next year! Ten years of it–man!”

Mom said, “I’ll be an octogenarian. What’s ninety?”

I said, “Nonogenarian.”

“Yeah? And after that, I’ll be a centurion.”

“Cool! Commander of Roman soldiers. That’s sooo cool.”

“Yeah. They talk about how people didn’t live long in the old days, but the Bible has lots of centurions in it.”

“True,” I said. “But they were all Romans. Must be that Mediterranean diet. All that olive oil.”

And that’s a typical conversation. See why I love to be with my Mom? See why I grew up to be the way I am?

MA

Writing prompt: How old are your main character’s parents? Are THEIR parents alive? How old are THEY? How do they get along and why?

MomGoth’s Little Spots o’ Joy

I am MomGoth. I don’t read dark fiction–there are quite enough real boogermen in the real shadows, thank you very much. But, whenever I start feeling too dark and dismal and can’t seem to rise above it, I focus on a little thing that makes me happy, and that rescues me. I mean, I’m no good to anybody when I’m sitting around feeling defeated, am I? So I’m glad to have these sparks in my universe.
Look at these — what one of my grandsons, when he was very young, would have called cootie-pies (cutie-pies). I totally LOVE Hello Kitty! My poor #4 daughter, who was more of a dinosaur-and-cars kind of kid, was gifted with many a Hello Kitty because I wanted them. Yes, that is MY Hello Kitty toothbrush in the back. And that is MY Eastern Kentucky University pin on the big kitty’s bow.

I bought myself the big kitty for Easter one year. #4 daughter got me hooked on ST:TNG. The first episode I saw, Deanna Troi had a big bow in her hair and a wide-eyed look through most of the show, and I thought she looked like…. You’re way ahead of me. So I had to get this one, because she’s holding a baby Worf. Isn’t that sweet?

So I keep my Hello Kitties close at hand and look at them when I need an Awwwww fix. Happy, happy MomGoth.

MA

Writing prompt: Have a character give someone a gift that he/she would like him/herself but the recipient obviously wouldn’t. How does the recipient respond? Does it trigger or open or reveal something about the recipient that was latent or hidden before? Does the recipient begin to like it? Does the recipient never like it? Does it change their relationship or the relationship of the recipient and someone else?

Vittles

Been to the grocery and into the woods and brought back sacks of vittles. That’s food, for those of you who didn’t grow up watching Davey Crockett. None of it was local, alas, except the morels. Not a very big bunch, even before I gave some to my mother. It’s really a little early yet, so I’m happy with what I can get.

I know this doesn’t look like much of a haul altogether, but Charlie and I don’t eat that much. They laugh at me at the farmers’ market when I buy one potato and one turnip, but that’s all it takes to make the dish I have in mind. That’s where the farmers’ market has it all over growing your own. Try growing one turnip a week. Doesn’t happen. You either have no turnips or ten pounds of turnips.

So I have some red new potatoes left from last week, and I’ll cook the green beans with some of them. I’ll cut the heads and tails off the sweet potatoes and roast (or smoke!) them with some of the potatoes, carrots, celery and onions. I’ll probably make eggplant Parmesan. I’ll cut the skinny part of the yellow squash off and slice it and the zucchini and… oh, I don’t know… make a casserole or a stir-fry or tempura or something. I’ll slice the fat part of the yellow squash long-ways and bread it and fry or bake it so it’s crispy outside and tender inside.

And the fruit…. Don’t have to do much of anything with fruit except eat it!

Had our first creative writing class Tuesday night. I don’t know about the students, but I had a blast! There’s something just plain invigorating in talking about the process. I try to think up examples to demonstrate what I’m talking about, and a story seed pops into my head. It makes me want to dance. I gave them an assignment, which I’ll use as today’s prompt.

MA

Writing prompt: Make a list of six professions (use the want ads, if you need to) and a list of four places where people might meet. (My #4 daughter and I have lists of occupations and meeting places that number over 100 each.) Then pick two professions at random and one meeting place at random and write a paragraph in which, say, a priest and a prostitute walk into a bar….

Dancing–Carefully–In the Woods

I went out yesterday and found some morels! These are the most luscious mushrooms, and the only ones I feel confident in gathering. Nothing looks like a morel, not even False Morels, really. I didn’t find a lot of them, but I found enough to tell me that the season is beginning. AND it rained last night, which means there will be more. I danced VERY carefully, because I didn’t want to step on any baby morels that hadn’t poked up through the leaves yet.

I also gathered a tick, but that goes with the territory. SIGH. Morels are definitely worth the risk.

Mom and I are going to visit my father’s cousin Jean today, who was Mom’s best friend in high school. When we get back–I’m off to the woods!

MA

Writing prompt: What would your main character go into the woods to get?

Blast From the Past

One of my brothers-in-law showed us a big stack of Classics Illustrated comics he had picked up during his years as a high school teacher. He had put them in the classroom in an attempt to lure some of his students into stories they would then like to actually read. He said it didn’t work. The ones who liked to read already read the actual books, and the ones who didn’t want to read didn’t even look at the comics.

One of the issues was KING SOLOMON’S MINES by H. Rider Haggard. I was like–OMG!! My cousin Ronnie used to have this one, and I looked at it all the time. There were these two bits that have haunted me my whole life long. Did I dream them, or are they really in here? I flipped open the comic and–there they were, exactly as I remembered them. They were even on facing pages.

I mean–MARKED FOR LIFE! The dramatic, cosmic irony of the villain being killed by her (wasn’t it him in the book?) own deadly device; the brave woman, dying in an attempt to save others; the One Whose Love Could Never Be Returned (in this case, because back in the day she was “too dark”) dying in the arms of the one who could Never Be Hers…. High drama, high romance–I thought this was the Real Stuff! I mean, in Disney, nobody dies but the parents, right? Everybody else might look dead but then turns out to be okay, especially the sidekicks. Even the bad guys usually end up in an embarrassing and humorous situation, but not DEAD. Man, it was a trip to see these pictures again! My B-in-L very kindly gave me the comic so I could bring it home and freak out over it in the comfort of my own home. It is seriously weird when something jumps out at you from the past like this. Proust knew what he was talking about, although I don’t think the Classics Illustrated KING SOLOMON’S MINES was quite what he had in mind. I have seriously had these images in my mind my whole life, and have had them pop into my conscious thoughts from time to time.

The first session of the writing thing I’m leading is this evening. I’m very excited. I’ve gotten my material out from when I was teaching creative writing, sorting through it. So much to talk about, so little time….

MA

Writing prompt: Have your main character come across something from his/her past that affected him/her strongly.

Angels on Sunday

Okay, I’ve been working on an Angel Biscuit recipe, and this one worked pretty good. I might fine-tune it some, but this one did the job. Millions of thanks to Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which got me hooked on refrigerator dough.

ANGEL BISCUITS - refrigerator method

• 3 cups flour
• 3 Tbs sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/4 tsp yeast (thinking about increasing this a bit)
• 1 1/2 cup warm milk (or buttermilk)
• 3 Tbs melted butter (or lard or margarine)

Measure dry ingredients into bowl. Heat milk and shortening (I use butter, but I would use lard if I could find leaf lard). Add warm milk/shortening to dry ingredients and stir to dissolve. Add flour and stir it together. Dough should be between a dough and a batter–too thick to stir easily, too wet to handle.

Put into clear container with a loose top and let rise until doubled–about an hour. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

When you’re ready to bake, flour a surface and tear off a wad of dough. It will be dry enough to handle now. If not, sprinkle with a little flour. Roll out to about 3/4 inch thick and cut, or shape with hands. Put on ungreased baking sheet and let rise about 1/2 hour. Preheat oven to 400F.

Top with a little butter and bake for 15-25 minutes, until risen and browned.

I’m thinking I’ll try rolling this out on a sugared board instead of a floured one, and making Chelsea Rolls–Honey Buns–Cinnamon Pinwheels.

MA

Writing prompt: What do your characters eat/remember/want on Sunday morning?

A Good Time Was Had By All

Yesterday, our friends Royce and Betty came over in the afternoon. We yakked for a while, then went over to Daughter #2’s to see her wonderful chickens, who keep us in fresh eggs.

Then we went to the Hong Kong Buffet for supper: Charlie, Royce, Betty, Mom and me. We ate and talked and ate and talked and ate and talked. After we’d been there so long we figured they would want to throw us out, they came and gave us necklaces! We were like, Why? Do you give necklaces to everybody on Saturday, or are we just special? They said we were just special. So we were happily surprised, but we still don’t know what it was all about.

After that, we went to the Corydon Presbyterian Church, where Molly McCormack was giving a free concert. The church has one of these Coffeehouse nights about once every three months. The entertainment is donated, the parishioners donate coffee and desserts, and you’re encouraged to drop money in the coffee can on your table. The money is donated to Community Services, which feeds the hungry, clothes the needy, and generally helps those who need some help.

Today, after church, we went to Charlie’s brother and sister-in-law’s for a BSI gathering. They get together about once a month. Usually, the whole extended family is invited, but four times a year it’s just Brothers, Sisters and Inlaws–BSI.

It’s so nice being part of a family that gets along so well. Their mother was such a wonderful woman. She’s no longer with us, but her spirit blesses every gathering. She would be so happy to know they still see each other so often and are still so close and loving and supportive.

Hope everybody’s weekend was as good as mine was.

MA
Writing prompt: What kind of family contact does your main character have?