THE REVIEW

RE-WRITES

At Wednesday’s Meeting, Charity and Cougar joined me and all three of us read from projects we had been re-writing. It was wonderful Charity had regained her health well enough to attend. Unfortunately, Annette wasn’t feeling well and was unable to join us.

Cougar said he had been working on changing the character Erik, to make the conflict he feels about his trip to Iceland more intense. He re-read the same chapter as last time, with all the changes he’d made. Charity said she could really see how depressed, paranoid and neurotic Erik appeared, so Cougar achieved his goal. I especially liked the descriptions of the desolate Icelandic landscapes.

Charity read from her YA western, “Trixie Trouble”. This chapter was “Georgina Clay”, about Trixie’s mother. Trixie is still recovering from her injuries but wants to leave. Her mother wants her to stay. Trixie thinks Georgina wants the gold from a previous stage robbery and Georgina thinks Trixie knows where it is. There is also a bounty out for Trixie for Brett Marley’s death. Donovan arrives in town for a boxing match. Charity said she had re-written earlier parts of the book to add to the relationship between Trixie and Donovan, that will intensify the conflict that may, or may not, be resolved. Charity is thinking of writing another book to continue Trixie’s saga. In this chapter I enjoyed the portrayal of the mother’s character. She is a beautiful woman who can be kind and caring, or else as hard as nails, whatever she needs to be to attain her goals.

I read my re-write of “Penny Pincher”. At Cougar’s suggestion, I started the story with a scene that included dialogue, instead of the narrative and introspection I had first used. I let Cougar and Charity read both beginnings. Charity, like Annette did previously, said she liked the first writing better. She felt an instant connection with a woman finding the perfect purse at a thrift store. I liked the first version better, too. So I guess preference is a gender thing. Men and women respond differently not only to content of stories, but also to how they are told. That is something to consider when you think of who might be your audience. And I will do some more re-writing on this story.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, October 17th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope you’ve had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. And I look forward to seeing you on the 17th! Keep writing!

Lisa A. Hatton
Author