@jakel1828 I feel some commonality here & so share this ...

I was asked to write a story for stage. I created a character sketch. They asked for another. And another. And 3 more. Suddenly I had a raft of characters and their stories wrapped in a story of a town. And so began the writing of a novel that spanned 55 years. #HiramFalls

Through it all, I've listened to cellist Julia Kent (https://juliakent.com/) to help find tone & inspiration & mood of last writing. #writingcommunity

#PennedPossibilities MC-Fear; Junior reacts with anger....

"Grace looks deep into Junior's eyes. 'So did you set fire to the old farmhouse where your brother used to live?'
"Junior lunges towards Grace. Suddenly, in his ear, a voice: 'Stop! Don’t Do It!' Junior is startled, catches himself, shifts his weight to his back leg. He looks at David; it wasn’t him. Who the fuck said that? he wonders.
“What’s wrong, Earl?”
“Get the fuck out of here,” Junior shouts.

#HiramFalls #writingcommunity

#writingwonders #21 MC's drink

"Earl Beauchamp rides over to The Blue Goose where Maurice Poulin, the owner, fixes Earl's breakfast just how he likes it: 3/4 of a mug of beer, crack in two eggs -- don't break them & no fucking shells -- top off from the tap.

"Business has been dreadful at The Goose this summer of 1918 when the Hiram Falls Selectmen declared that businesses must limit customers to fend off the flu that’s been going around town like wildfire."
#HiramFalls #writingcommunity

The next morning, after Angie comes in and tells Lavender that things went pretty well and goes to make the coal black coffee everyone loves, Lavender tells her that she’s glad things went well because it’s all hers now because she’s leaving, right then, right now. "You’ll do fine," Lavender says, hoping her assurance will somehow help the girl to close her mouth. When she does and asks why, Lavender says she can’t say exactly why she is leaving, she just is.

#MastoPrompt #impulse #HiramFalls

#PennedPossibilities 5 -- Something MC deserves but doesn't have.

Love.

"And here it is Monday morning. David Fowler sits in his office chair and wonders what shape his life will take after his paper's exposé but is also thinking about the fact that once again he has waited too long, not taken action soon enough and has lost out. "

#HiramFalls #WIP #WritingCommunity

@WordyCurator @benjamincox

I confess that I have been a bit remiss on #FeedbackFriday of late... I have been deeply immersed in finishing the latest draft of my novel, #HiramFalls .

But, yes, post a link with a specific question you want us to zero in on and give it a tag #feedbackfriday

If it's an unfinished snippet (<3000 wds) DM whoever responds with a way to get at it and, yes, we may direct you to our Discord channel.

gg

#writingwonders 12:compliment

In the first of 5 character sketches from my #WIP #HiramFalls that were presented on stage, I had not yet created the fictional town of HF so used name of a real town in #Vermont. That piece was a fictionalized diary of an 18-year-old girl living in that town in the late 1800s.

After one of the performances, a woman came up to me and said: "We live in (that town) and my husband & I finally figured out where her farm was. Up on Brown Farm Road, right?"

Er, no.

@Elshahawk I use Mastodon to practice writing as it were. I regularly participate in the #writingwonders & #MastoPrompt challenges. WW has helped me boil down scenes in my novel, #HiramFalls.

I read works of other writers (I like links), provide them affirmation &, sometimes, feedback, discuss the writing process with others & share photographs (and admire others').

Rant? Not much. This is not a place that treasures hostility & anger. Mastodon is a throwback: civility and respect rule.

#writingwonders 10: MC weapon of choice

Lavender Libby fights with words. And her green eyes. She chooses her words carefully if she wants someone to do something, or change something, or not do something and she looks them straight in the eye & does not look away. When they turn away, she knows she's won.

Were she ever to get into a physical fight, she would grab a two-foot section of lead pipe she keeps in the barn to beat a post when she's angry. #HIramFalls #WritingCommunity #WIP

#writingwonders Least favorite stage of writing...
Now... I have finished a major draft of my novel & have sent it off to 2 editors, to my angel readers and to an Abenaki elder who is providing me guidance. Now ... I must wait.

I don't fear the criticism. But I am exhausted -- this was a major revision of a work of 120,000 words with 2 pass-throughs for fixes.

Where will I find the energy to sift through the feedback & make changes that make it better?

#WritingCommunity #WIP #HiramFalls

@Curator
On the theory that writing is art...

1. I write fiction.
2.Favorite program: Scrivener.
3. Influences: The late writer Brian Doyle; I've been listening to Julia Kent, cellist, for the 4 years I've been writing it.
4. It is a story of small-town life where some secrets are discovered & some shouldn't be. I want to convey the importance of resilience and kindness.
5. Proudest moments: five character sketches from the novel have been presented on stage.
#WritingCommunity #HiramFalls

@Curator
On the theory that writing is art...

1. I write fiction.
2.Favorite program: Scrivener.
3. Influences: The late writer Brian Doyle; I've been listening to Julia Kent, cellist, for the 4 years I've been writing it.
4. It is a story of small-town life where some secrets are discovered & some shouldn't be. I want to convey the importance of resilience and kindness.
5. Proudest moments: five character sketches from the novel have been presented on stage.
#WritingCommunity #HiramFalls

Latest draft (8th) of #HiramFalls sent out to editor, "beta" readers and new reader -- former editor who knows NOTHING about the book.

Now to explore indie publishers. Recommendations accepted!

#WritingCommunity #WIP

#writingwonders Intro Day
I am in my third life.
I began as a journalist, 33 years, mostly in newspapers. We put some folks in jail. Won some awards. Grew circulation.
Then I started and led a nonprofit to help kids write better and teachers teach writing better. I passed it on.
Now I am nearly 4 years into my first novel, #HiramFalls. I just finished my 8th draft and sent it out to my editor on Thursday. Yay.

I love writing. I take pictures, too. I like to help other writers.

#WritingWonders 1 -- MC shows up at your door.
If it were Junior, I'd make sure my fire insurance was paid up. If it were his father, I'd make sure my fire insurance was paid up. If it were Ben, I'd go out, start my car and he'd tell me what's wrong with it. If it were Lavender, I'd hope she had a blueberry pie with her. If it were Jenna, her daughter, I'd hope for her donuts with spearmint glaze. If it were Grace, her daughter, I'd hope she wasn't doing a story on me.
#HiramFalls

Good day #writingcommunity
#3goodthings:
1. Finished 8th draft
2. Finished 3rd pass-through.
3. Sent to editor.
#hiramfalls

@emerybrooks

I am on my 5-Minute Procrasto Break.

I am doing the third pass-through on my eighth draft of my first novel, #HiramFalls which must be in the editor's hands by Friday. The book is about a small town with secrets. Some are discovered. Some shouldn't be.

I am still enjoying myself.

#WIP #WritingCommunity #amwriting #photography

#writingwonders wedding
After the toasts for Vera and Ben, Jed Bartels and a few of the Libby boys start a jig down on the makeshift stage at the far corner of the barn and soon people are twirling and gyrating and the hay dust kicks up into the air and sparkles in the late afternoon sun.
Horace Libby backs his wagon up to the east side of the barn and a few of the men hoist down his last barrel of hard cider that he’d saved for the occasion showing remarkable self-restraint.
#HiramFalls #WIP

#writingwonders MC POV: a place to avoid

Lavender Libby will have no part of North Country Savings & Loan. She forbids her daughter, Jenna, and her granddaughter, Grace, from having accounts there as "long as you live in this house." She will not tell them why, though they suspect it has something to do with Millard Brown, whom they don't trust anyways. So they do their banking 10 miles away at Barton Savings where the tellers are glad to have the business.
#HiramFalls #WIP #WritingCommunity

#3goodthings

1. I got my garden in.
2. Forecast says rain.
3. I finished the latest (last?) draft of #HiramFalls (beyond giddy; feel like an ocean wave.)