Craft Talk / Thirty One

Until some time around Christmas, you can’t write: Kenny wondered if Monica didn’t like him going out at night…”


Instead, you’ll have to Un-pack that to something like: “The mornings after Kenny had stayed out, beyond the last bus, until he’d had to bum a ride or pay for a cab and got home to find Monica faking sleep, faking because she never slept that quiet, those mornings, she’d only put her own cup of coffee in the microwave. Never his. - Chuck Palahniuk

Thanks, Chuck !
I am going to do something I never ever do and talk a little bit about craft. I came across this essay by Chuck Palahniuk about thought verbs. He gives some writing challenges and I've found myself trying to do some of these challenges in my novellas because it's too hard to do in a full serialIt's basically about showing vs. telling.

I like the advice and I thought I might blog a little bit about my "process: but seriously all the example paragraphs in this essay are the worst.

Chapter 30
We made it back to the prologue ! Whew, I have been writing and writing to get here forever.

Let's talk a little bit about that last scene with Juliana. That scene is based on a scene from this movie called Pan y Rosas about the strike of immigrant custodial workers.The main female character named Maya has an older or aunt or possibly even friend named Rosa who is really against the strike because she doesn't think Maya understands what she gave up to help bring Maya to America.

Rosa then tells Maya basically about how she was tricked into working in a brothel in Tijuana for five years order to pay her way and she's telling Maya for the first time about what she had to go through every night so she could come to America. She's talking about herself in the third person and  I can't find it in English, but the Spanish dub is on YouTube and the scene is at about 1:23:50.




Anyway, I just like this scene because like UL it's this character who had this awful thing happen to them but can't talk about it and then one day the just snap...IDK, it's always stuck with me.
Okay, moving on.

Recap
Rocket Olsen is writing an oral history about United Light and is headed down to South Florida to get some interviews. Juliana, 8 months pregnant, has decided to come with her for a few weeks because she's ready to tell her own story.

We are getting into what I see as Part III of this serial and the chapters are going to be shorter.

Chapter 31
We're going to fluff it up a little...

Chapter 31
Playlist
-1-  Falling Slowly by Louise Dearman
-2- Let It All Goby Birdy