This week: Stories are like Bananas Edited by: Legerdemain  
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The purpose of this newsletter is to help the Writing.com author hone their craft and improve their skills. Along with that I would like to inform, advocate, and create new, fresh ideas for the author. Write to me if you have an idea you would like presented.
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 Are only fit for monkeys to read?
Uhm, no. What I mean is they can be time-sensitive. I buy bananas at the store, all the time. But it seems we either gobble them up right away or they just sit on the counter, looking all sad and lonely in their peels, turning brown. A good baker knows brown bananas are the best for baking. Black bananas, not so much.
When you get a story idea, it's like a banana, it hangs out with its friends (other story ideas), and begins to grow. Now some of the party banana friends (crazy ideas) fall off the tree and some get consumed by monkeys (forgetfulness, lack of interest). But some hang on, growing longer and more delicious. Soon the stem is heavy with tiers of bananas, waiting to be picked. This is when you decide to write a story.
Stories can be time-sensitive like bananas. If you don't stick with them, they'll turn black and rot. It's best to get your bananas to market so people can consume them. If your bananas start to darken, bake them into banana bread and put it into the freezer (store them on your hard drive). Some day you'll have a hankering for banana bread and take that moist delicious bread out. Perhaps then you'll have an idea on how to fix up your story so it is consumable.
The point is, when you have a great story idea, run with it. I've found that sitting on an idea too long muddles the original intent and gets mixed up with a bunch of other crazy ideas and gets spoiled. If you can't finish the story, store it until a fresh idea comes along to fix it.
Write on, and watch out for monkeys!
This month's question: What do you do with your unfinished work?
Answer below  Editors love feedback! 
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Excerpt: “Just pretend not to notice,” Jay whispered to Raven. There were eight of them waiting in the hanger, anxious to receive their dispatches. At least seven of them were a little confused.
“How can you not notice?” Raven replied under her breath, then made the mistake of looking back and receiving a discourteous snort. “I mean, are they kidding? There must have been some sort of mistake at Corporate. How can they expect this guy to do the job? After all, we’re air mail. And he’s…not.”
Excerpt: Elisha had never been fascinated by anything as much as she took interest in this red fruit. Its chunky flesh, along with the enigmatic red was a necessary addiction she had to indulge herself into every season. The golden seeds on its body, so fragile yet firm under her teeth sent a jarring charged wave across her bloodstream each time she took a bite. Elisha had fixated all of her life's cravings and addiction to strawberries, and this was since childhood.
Excerpt: “In Poland we have saying,” slurred Zozo the Clown in his heavy Slavic accent. He clumsily leaned back in his chair and flopped his oversized yellow shoes onto the interrogation room’s table. “It is this. ‘Not my circus, not my monkeys.’ You know this saying?”
Detective Greenwood shook his head, exasperated. Three hours they’d been at it, and all he’d gotten out of this drunken circus freak were denials and Eastern European idioms.
“It means ‘not my problem,” Zozo explained. “You have dead elephant. This is problem, yes. But not Zozo’s problem.” The clown honked a hand-held horn in defiance.
Excerpt: The scene is simple: a young man sits at a Formica table in a concrete grey room. On the table, out of reach, are a glass of water and a jug for refills. Watching through the mirror near the door are two men. They've been standing there over half an hour.
I am the young man at the table and I know there are watchers because I can sense them. David has good control of his emotions; beyond knowing he's there I can't get a bead on him. The unknown man, however, is running out of patience. Serves them right, I think, staring at the black table top. It's the middle of the night and I'm here in pyjamas and bare feet because they hadn't given me time to collect myself.
Excerpt: "No. I never want this trip to end. What do you think Gramps?" Brad looks over at the older gentleman sitting beside him and waits for his answer.
Taking a minute to pause Gramps, says, "It is not the duration of the trip which is important. The experience is greater in learning lessons in life we are here to learn. Although Gramps may be a fun name for you to call me, my name is Nada."
"I did not mean to offend you, Nada. You have a cool name."
"No offense taken."
Excerpt: A village on a riverbank was home to a very talented wood carver. The people of the village marveled at the figures he carved, they seemed so lifelike. He was a very clever man, and the toys he created were magical indeed. One day he fell asleep under a palm tree after many hours of carving. In a dream, the jaguar god came to him and said, "Carver, you are very tired. You need a helper or two, to do menial tasks for you. I will give you a gift: make a wooden monkey, tell it what it's job is, and it will do that job for you." The dream ended and he woke.
| |  | Dorothy (18+)
A young woman redefines her life, in a most unusual way.
#1789676 by Hatsuda   |
Excerpt: There he goes again, she thought. Every Friday evening, sea bag thrown over his shoulder, this giant strode past her shop window as she hung back in the shadows, watching, wondering and dreaming. He was tall, she noted, hatless, his dark blond hair swept across his forehead like an unruly flag of determination and resolve. Sharply chiseled jaw, dark sideburns and what appeared to be blue eyes. He was beautiful she thought. Moreover, from all appearances, he was even taller than herself.
Excerpt: “Daddy…do you know what day today is?”
“Sure I do Pumpkin. Happy Birthday.”
“That’s right! Today I am ten years old. I hope you haven’t forgotten that you said I could get a pet when I turned ten.” She looked up at him with her oversize brown eyes.
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This month's question: What do you do with your unfinished work?
Answer below Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: Have you ever met someone with a negative attitude? How did you handle it?
smjones: Yes, I have met people with negative attitudes. Yes, I've been and sometimes am a person with a negative attitude. I know I personally am not always negative. I also know some of the people with negative attitudes that I've interacted with are not always negative. I think there's something to making the best of a situation. I also think some situations are not positive or uplifting but are chronic. There are some people who would try their best to uplift others when they're terminally ill. There are people who melt down over a broken finger nail. There are a great many like me who fall somewhere in between.
StephBee - House Targaryen  : Have I ever met anyone with a negative attitude? Yep. During the 1st meeting when I realize they are negative energy vampires, I try to keep it brief and get out of dodge. I try to avoid contact after that, but if I can't I usually try to recharge the batteries when I'm outta there, by listening to music or reading a book.
Quick-Quill  : Yes! My SIL. She’s a troll on FB. And after their Aunt and Uncle died within a month this year the family created a group text. Oh my, no matter what is said she will find a way to be negative. When the virus situation can she’d blow up the phone with her negative comments. Then it spilled over to the riots. While we all feel the same way it’s not the issue of being on the opposite side of politics, it’s her negative position. She is judgmental In the most negative view. Her son will sent me a private text apologizing for her. I’m not offended I know her. She’s almost as nuts as her younger sister. She’ll compliment you with a negative response.
Beholden  : I told 'em, "NO!"
Lili J. - On/Offline  : In sixth grade (couple years ago) my best friend changed his personality in the worst way possible. He started to put down everyone in my social group, calling us names that he knew would hurt us. He picked me, because I'm the ugliest girl in the group, and he would always pretend to care for me even though he called me fat and worthless. He used my dark past to make me feel guilty, he used my self hate to feel sorry for him. He used my past attempts to be spoiled with my attention, but wouldn't stop when I said I was feeling depressed and start going to therapy. End of the year comes, he wasn't coming back to the school, and I legit got my friends to pour all the pettiness he gave us into revenge. I was so relieved when the bullying was over, and now I realize that I need to pick better friends when I see faked care.
Elisa the Bunny Stik  : I sympathize with those who have a negative attitude. That attitude is there for a reason, and those who have it are more realistic. Those with negative attitudes (without crossing over into bigotry) are friend material.
Paperface : Myself. I am my own worst enemy, and I'm trying VERY hard to cope with life itself. Heavy, metal music helps me alot, through difficult times.
runoffscribe : Good morning, former member, From my perspective, you make a very keen point. Negative feelings make one vulnerable. So long as one has some support in life, this vulnerability leads to an opportunity to resolve these feelings. Lacking this support, a person is liable to act out, even to the extent of harming himself. It is said that your antagonist does not know himself to be an antagonist. I try to keep this in mind, in life and in plotting and characterization. Of all conflicted characters, Lucifer Morningstar is the archetype.
Robert Waltz  : People are always telling me I should be more positive. Okay, here goes: I'm positive we're doomed.
s : Hmmm...
What if I'm the one with the negative attitude?
graybabe : Yes. She trashed talked about me to everybody at work because she wanted my job. I noticed how she got some newbies to change their attitudes towards me. This woman was like that character in "All About Eve". Terrible time with her as a coworker. I left that job because the place became so suffused with her negativity.
jolanh : I try to stay out the negative zone.
Tannus : You know, the older I get, the better my selective hearing gets. Simple nods and talking about something else as soon as the negativity starts works best.
Them: “I hate it when it rains.”
Me: “ You ever notice that tree over there?”
Them: “no”
Me: “ I haven’t either. Let’s eat lunch.”
woolwaulker: After thousands of dollars worth of counseling, the best action advice I am using is "walk away".
Red Fork : I once had a friend that had a strong negative attitude all the time. He'd be down and negative all the time, always complaining about everything. I many times tried to help him to cheer up, and get him to see the bright side of life. I tried to teach him with my positive and optimistic example that happiness is more than a feeling, but a lifestyle. At some times I managed to get him to be more positive, but he always kept returning to being negative about everything.
Eventually I found that spending time trying to help him out and show him positivity was starting to drain me out of my energy. It was tiresome to always try and help him, but for him to never seem to make a change for the better. I tried my best, but in the end every person is the one who decides what they want to be like. I did my best trying to stick to him and be by his side, thinking that all he needed was a good friend to cheer him up. But as time went on spending time with him only made me feel tired and frustrated. In the end I had to do what was best for my emotional health, and simply move away and let him be.
I learned a valuable lesson. It's great to try and help others and be a good friend, but you should never have to put your own emotional health and well-being on the line to help someone who clearly doesn't want to be helped. As much as you want to be a good friend, sometimes the best thing you can go is walk away and leave them alone. It's no use to sacrifice your own well-being to try and help someone who just doesn't want to be helped. Though at first I did feel a bit guilty about leaving him behind, over time I learned that was the best thing I could do.
TheBusmanPoet : I talk to him everyday when I look in the mirror but then I'm a raving cynic. My rose colored glasses came off long, long ago. In a galaxy far, far away. 
tj ~ endeavors to persevere!  : Yes, I have and I handled it with social distancing before social distancing was a thing.
"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, from Kelly's Heroes.
keyisfake : I drove them crazy with being nice and not being bitter like they are.
Thanks to everyone for your responses and posts! Your replies are much appreciated! Leger~
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Action/Adventure: July 01, 2020 Issue [#10254]
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