This week: Doing Some Rehab Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Checking Into Rehab
The title isn't personal, really...but it's about a pet peeve of mine. I drive through run down neighborhoods that have beautiful old homes going to ruin, or subdivided into tiny apartments and I wonder what caused the urban decay. Did a nearby company close? Did the freeway divert traffic? Or did the township mismanage the services provided so people up and left. Sometimes it takes decades for the decay to turn around and new families to come in and rehab the shambles to their former glory.
That would be a great thing, but I drive ten minutes further down the road and see a forest being completely leveled for a new development. It makes me grind my teeth to see the waste. Wouldn't it be easier to spend the money flipping those old places? Sure, but the return on a flip isn't completely definite so builders go for the easy dollar. Except most of these new homes are not built with the care and craftsmanship that the older homes were built.
In the same way, we all have stories in storage that might have had a fantastic character or a beautiful setting, but somewhere along the way got lost and mismanaged and we decided to discard it. Sometimes we grow as a writer and our skills improve. Sometimes it's a simple matter of time management. We wrote part of a story but didn't finish because the contest closed before we wrote the last line. I'm just as guilty, I have tons of shards in storage and rarely look at them.
Perhaps next time you're looking for inspiration, you can rummage in your writing closet and bring out something well-loved and perhaps discarded. See if you can dust it off and bring it to life again.
As always, Write On!
This month's question: Have you managed to refurbish a story? What were your methods?
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#2190229 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “Hello, Bob. Time to rise and shine.”
I rolled over, stuffed my pillow around my ears, and prayed out loud. “Isn’t it Saturday? Come on. Give me another fifteen minutes.”
Excerpt: "Stop!" Bella put her arm in front of her face. "Thank god you're here! There's a man who keeps following me, he gives me the creeps!"
"Where!" Amber looked around expecting to catch a glimpse of him.
Excerpt: From the time Luke entered the log cabin the air felt charged. He hadn't spoken more than a scoopful of words to her since the door slammed shut behind him.The movements of his muscular body usually comforted her, but tonight she was edgy. Luke jerked to his feet, the table shook and the empty cup fell on its side, “Damn it woman, why did you lie to me?” His mahogany colored hair tumbled over his broadcloth collar as he leaned on his arms, palms curled on the table.
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#2190276 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “Teddy,” he’d say, “if you ever see a camp of bats just standin’ on the ground in a circle, you can be sure one of us Tompkins men is gonna die.”
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#2189633 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Strange things happen to people in life. I didn’t think much about it at the time. I mean, it was only a dream. Work was the usual boring stuff it was every day. I reported into the plastics factory sharply at 6 AM, walked to my machine and prepared to take over from the night shift guy, Ben.
Excerpt: Rebecca buried her face into his pant-leg and smelled the ground-in oil and grease. “Grownups always say that,” she said, pouting. “And then they’re gone for a long, long time...just like Mommy.”
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#2153629 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “Legend has it that Muriatic Woods is filled with mystical creatures, lost treasure, and many dangers. Stories tell of evil curses, dragons, and fairies. Many a man has lost their lives by getting hooked on the tales of fortune and mystery that surround those woods. I warn ye all to never fall prey to that cursed place.”
The bard had a way of storytelling that made people feel like they were living his tales. Three friends huddled close together to hear the bard's stories. Jana, Althalos, and Brom had heard tales of the dragon Crychal and her treasure since they were small children. They dreamed of one day being able to find Crychal's lost treasure.
Excerpt: Hannah Chapman returned from summer camp broken.
She was withdrawn, spending most of her time alone in her room. Her mother Audra was so concerned, she called a therapist. When she called them, the camp director couldn't give her much of an explanation for the sudden change in her daughter's personality. "She seemed fine while she was here!" she chirped cheerfully through the phone.
Excerpt: The only thing that Daniel was worried about was Sierra’s cat Cheri. He had suffered from an intense fear of cats since he was very little. He hadn’t told Sierra about his fear. It made him feel ashamed. She had mentioned the cat on other dates, while they were getting to know each other. Sierra talked about the cat like it was her best friend. He planned to be brave and try to hide his fear.
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This month's question: Have you managed to refurbish a story? What were your methods?
Last month's question: How do you slow your story pace?
Quick-Quill  replied: To give your readers time to breathe is important. Put in a pit stop. I have a plot idea I've been playing with. It would be considered an action adventure. I thought while on the run from a government type, they may need to hide out. Why not have them camp out along the way? This gives some time for interaction between my two MC, develop more of a relationship,and give the reader more insight into who they are. They meet so fast and are on the road fleeing. The reader needs time to get to know these people. Later on I think about them meeting others who step in and help hide them. This is a good time to introduce what "Preppers" are and their own code of ethics. Adding this type of information needs to be smooth. No "hey its a key action moment, time for an advertisement!" you have to slow the action and have your characters tell the reader what's going on or what they might be facing ahead.
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Action/Adventure: May 08, 2019 Issue [#9540]
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