Notes For August 6th, 2009

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This Day In Writing History

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On August 6th, 1809, the legendary poet Alfred Lord Tennyson was born. He was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England. Although his father George Tennyson was a rector, (who married a vicar's daughter) the Tennyson family were descendants of King Edward II. George Tennyson's skill at money management made him far more affluent than the typical country clergyman, and the family was thus able to spend summers vacationing at Mablethorpe and Skegness on the East coast of England.

Alfred Lord Tennyson was the fourth of twelve children. When he and his older brothers Charles and Frederick were teenagers, they began writing poetry. By the time he was 17, they had published locally a collection of their poems. Charles Tennyson would later marry the younger sister of Alfred's wife. Another one of Alfred's brothers, Edward Tennyson, would end up institutionalized at a private asylum, where he died.

First educated at Louth Grammar School, Alfred Lord Tennyson entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1827, where he would join an intellectual secret society called the Cambridge Apostles. While studying at Cambridge, Tennyson met poet Arthur Henry Hallam, who became his best friend. The same year, his first commercially published book, Poems by Two Brothers, came out. It also contained works by his older brother, Charles.

In 1829, Alfred Lord Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for his poem Timbuctoo. A year later, his first solo poetry collection, Poems Chiefly Lyrical, was published. It contained two of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, Claribel and Mariana. Although some critics derided it for being too sentimental, Tennyson's verse proved to be very popular with readers. It also caught the attention of fellow writers, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

When Tennyson's father died in the spring of 1831, he had to leave Cambridge before getting his degree. He lived at the rectory and took responsibility for his widowed mother and his siblings. His friend Arthur Henry Hallam came to live with the Tennyson family, and became engaged to Alfred's sister, Emilia. In 1833, Tennyson published his second book of poetry, simply called Poems, which included his famous poem, The Lady of Shalott. The book met with such critical scorn that Tennyson wouldn't publish another for ten years, though he continued to write.

That same year, Arthur Henry Hallam died suddenly of a stroke while on vacation in Vienna. His death had a profound effect on Tennyson, who composed a poem in tribute to his friend called In Memoriam A.H.H. Considered one of Tennyson's masterpieces, it includes the famous lines "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Then never to have loved at all." The poem became a favorite of Queen Victoria, who found solace in it after the death of her husband, Prince Albert, in 1861. In 1862, she requested a meeting with Tennyson.

In 1842, while living in London, Alfred Lord Tennyson published two more volumes of his Poems series of poetry collections. Unlike the first volume, they met with immediate success. They featured Tennyson classics such as Locksley Hall, Tithonus, and Ulysses. His writing career back on track, he continued to write and publish poetry collections. By 1850, Tennyson reached the pinnacle of his career. That year, he finally published his masterpiece In Memoriam A.H.H., and he was appointed Poet Laureate following the death of William Wordsworth. Also in 1850, at the age of 41, Alfred Lord Tennyson married his childhood sweetheart Emily Sellwood, who bore him two sons, Hallam and Lionel.

Three years later, in 1855, Tennyson wrote another of his classics, The Charge Of The Light Brigade. The poem is a tribute to the British cavalrymen who were involved in an ill-fated charge on October 25th, 1854, during the Crimean War. In 1884, Queen Victoria - a huge fan of his work - bestowed on Tennyson the title Baron Tennyson of Aldworth, and he took a seat in Parliament's House of Lords.

Alfred Lord Tennyson continued to write into his 80s. Near the end of his life, he revealed that his religious beliefs leaned toward agnosticism and pantheism. He had criticized Christianity in Maud, writing that "the churches have killed their Christ," and in Locksley Hall Sixty Years After, he wrote "Christian love among the churches look'd the twin of heathen hate." Tennyson died in October of 1892 at the age of 83. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. He is rightfully considered to be one of the greatest poets of the English language.

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Quote Of The Day

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"Words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

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Vanguard Video

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Today's video features a reading of Alfred Lord Tennyson's classic poem, The Lady of Shallott. Enjoy!

Notes For August 5th, 2009

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This Day In Writing History

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On August 5th, 1850, the legendary French writer Guy de Maupassant was born in Dieppe, France. He grew up in Normandy, where he collected in his photographic memory a vast amount of information he would use in his short stories, which often dealt with the Norman people. Maupassant's parents separated when he was eleven years old. He lived with his mother, to whom he was very close. They lived in the Villa de Verguies, which was located between the sea and the countryside.

In these surroundings, the young Maupassant developed a passion for outdoor adventure and fishing; he would fish with the local fishermen off the coast. In 1868, when he was eighteen years old, Maupassant saved poet Algernon Swinburne from drowning off the coast of Eterat. That wasn't the first writer he met; when he started junior high school, Maupassant met the great novelist Gustave Flaubert, who had been a childhood friend of his mother. Her father was Flaubert's godfather.

After receiving his primary education, Guy de Maupassant entered a seminary, but he got himself expelled, as he came to hate religion and the prospect of joining the clergy. He went to university instead. Shortly after he graduated in 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out. The 20-year-old Maupassant volunteered for military service and fought bravely. After the war ended, he returned home and moved to Paris.

Maupassant joined Gustave Flaubert's literary circle. He became Flaubert's protege and was introduced to famous writers such as Emile Zola, Henry James, and Ivan Turgenev. From Flaubert, Maupassant learned the craft of writing. He set out to start his own writing career, supporting himself by working as a civil servant in two different positions. He hated the jobs. For recreation, he canoed on the Seine and pursued women.

In 1880, Maupassant established himself as a short story writer when he published Boule de Suif (Ball of Fat) in the anthology Les Soirees de Medan (Evenings at Medan) along with works by Zola and other writers. Set during the Franco-Prussian War, "Boule de Suif" is the nickname of a well-known prostitute traveling in a coach with some bourgeois passengers. The coach is detained by a Prussian officer who demands that Boule de Suif sleep with him. She refuses, and he continues to detain the coach. The other passengers grow restless and demand that she sleep with the Prussian. She swallows her pride and agrees. Afterward, he allows the coach to leave. The other passengers treat Boule de Suif like she had the plague. Remembering how these hypocrites had devoured the food and drink in the basket she brought with her, all Boule de Suif can do is weep.

Although Guy de Maupassant had written six novels, he was best known as the master of the short story. He wrote over 300 stories, one-tenth of which were horror stories. His most famous horror story was Le Horla (1887). In this disturbing tale, a wealthy young Norman believes that he has unwittingly summoned a horla. Horlas are invisible monsters, cousins to vampires, and they are said to eventually bring about the downfall of Man. As the young Norman grows more fearful of the horla he has summoned, he tries to destroy it. He eventually burns his house down, killing all of his servants. Believing that the horla is still alive, he decides to commit suicide. Was the horla real or just in his mind?

Madness is a recurring theme in Maupassant's stories; in A Night In Paris, the paranoid narrator suffers from a compulsion to walk the streets. In A Madman, a judge commits murder just to see what it feels like to kill, then sentences an innocent man to death for the crime. And in The Inn - which may have inspired Stephen King to write his classic novel The Shining - two caretakers are living at a remote inn in the French Alps that becomes snowed in and unreachable. When one of them goes missing, the other starts to go mad. Or is the inn haunted?

Ironically, Guy de Maupassant's fascination with madness in his writings would soon cross over into real life. He contracted syphilis in his 20's, which went undiagnosed. As the disease progressed over the years, it eroded his sanity. In middle age, Maupassant developed a desire for solitude, a fear of death, and growing paranoia. In January 1892, he attempted suicide by cutting his throat. He was committed to the famous celebrity asylum of Dr. Esprit Blanche, where he died in July 1893, a month before his 43rd birthday.

One of the great masters of the short story, Maupassant's work has inspired the writings of Somerset Maugham, O. Henry, and other great writers. H.P. Lovecraft credited Maupassant's horror tales - especially Le Horla - as the inspiration for his classic The Call Of Cthulhu. All writers of short stories owe it to themselves to read Guy de Maupassant.

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Quote Of The Day

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“Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.” - Guy de Maupassant

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Vanguard Video

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Today's video is The Out There, a short film adaptation of one of Guy de Maupassant's short stories. Enjoy!

Notes For August 4th, 2009

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This Day In Writing History

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On August 4th, 1792, the legendary poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in Horsham, England. His father was Sir Timothy Shelley, a Whig Member of Parliament. His mother was a landowner in Sussex. As a young boy, Percy Bysshe Shelley received his education at home from a tutor. At the age of 10, Shelley entered the Syon House Academy of Brentford.

Two years later, in 1804, Shelley entered Eton College, where he did poorly as a student due to daily harassment by a gang of sadistic bullies. They devised torments for him called "Shelley-baits" which included tearing the books out of his hands and literally ripping the clothes off his back.

In 1810, at the age of eighteen, Shelley matriculated at University College, Oxford. According to legend, Shelley only attended one lecture during his time at Oxford and chose to educate himself by reading for as long as 16 hours a day. By all accounts, Shelley was unpopular with both the students and the faculty. He did make one friend, however - a fellow student named William Jefferson Hogg, who would later write a memoir of their friendship.

During his first year of college, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote and published his first book, a Gothic novel called Zastrozzi (1810). In this book, Shelley vented his atheistic, anti-religious ideals through his villain Zastrozzi, who abducts his enemy, the Conte Verezzi, and chains him to a wall in a cavern. There, Zastrozzi extracts his revenge by tormenting Verezzi and ultimately manipulating him into committing suicide, a sin resulting in eternal damnation, according to Verezzi's Christian faith. Why? In retribution for Verezzi's father (also a devout Christian) abandoning a young woman he had impregnated - Zastrozzi's mother.

The same year he published Zastrozzi, Shelley collaborated on a book of poetry with his sister Elizabeth, which they published as Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire. In 1811, Shelley published his second Gothic novel, St. Irvine, or The Rosicrucian. He collaborated again on a poetry book, this time with his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg, called Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson - a ribald and subversive collection of verse.

He also published a pamphlet called The Necessity Of Atheism. When the pamphlet caught the attention of the faculty, including the Dean, Shelley was ordered to appear before them at a hearing. The faculty offered Shelley a deal: if he agreed to recant the views he expressed in the pamphlet, he could remain at college. Shelley refused, and they expelled him. His father intervened to try and get him reinstated. The faculty offered him the same deal, and again, he refused to recant his views, angering his father.

Four months after he was expelled from college, Percy Bysshe Shelley, then nineteen years old, went to Scotland to marry his 16-year-old girlfriend, Harriet Westbrook, the daughter of a pub owner. They were married on August 28th, 1811, and Shelley's father disinherited him as a result. When Shelley offered to let his old college friend William Jefferson Hogg live with them, Harriet objected. So, he took her to Keswick in Northern England, intending to begin a writing career.

Shelley was distracted by the political events of the time, and went to Ireland, where he wrote and performed his Address to the Irish People at Nationalist rallies, (he was stridently anti-war and anti-monarchy) earning him the wrath of the British government. Three years later, Shelley's marriage to Harriet had become unhappy. He often left her alone with their daughter, Ianthe. When he went to visit writer / journalist / philosopher William Godwin at his home and bookshop in London, Shelley also met his daughter, Mary Godwin.

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin had been named after her mother, a writer, philosopher, and feminist, who wrote the 1792 feminist philosophy book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. She would later be known as Mary Shelley, author of the horror classic Frankenstein; on July 28th, 1814, Percy Bysshe Shelley left his pregnant wife and ran off with Mary, taking Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, along for company. They sailed to Europe, wandered through France, and settled in Switzerland. Six weeks later, broke and homesick, they returned to England.

In the fall of 1815, while living near London with Mary, Shelley wrote his epic poem Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude. It attracted little attention when it was published, but has since been recognized as his first major work. In the summer of 1816, Shelley and Mary made another trip to Switzerland, at the behest of Claire Clairmont, who wanted them to meet Lord Byron - her ex-lover, whose interest she hoped to recapture.

The Shelleys and Byron rented neighboring houses on Lake Geneva. Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron became good friends, and their conversations got Shelley's creative juices flowing again; he began writing prolifically. When he and Byron took a tour of Chamonix in the French Alps, it inspired Shelley to write the poem Mont Blanc. In December of 1815, not long after the Shelleys returned to England, Percy's estranged wife Harriet committed suicide, drowning herself in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London.

A few weeks after Harriet's body was recovered, Percy and Mary Shelley were properly married, partly so Percy could regain custody of his children. Unfortunately, the court refused to grant him custody of his children because he was an atheist. They were placed with foster parents. The Shelleys moved to Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where Percy became part of Leigh Hunt's literary circle and soon met poet John Keats. During this time, Shelley wrote his second major work, Laon and Cythna; or The Revolution of the Golden City, a long narrative poem that attacked religion and featured a pair of incestuous lovers. It was withdrawn after only a few copies were published. It would later be edited and republished as The Revolt of Islam in 1818.

That same year, the Shelleys and Claire Clairmont left England for Italy to take Claire's daughter Allegra to her father, Lord Byron, who was living in Venice. When Percy reconnected with his old friend, Byron again inspired him to write. He began work on Prometheus Unbound, a play in verse, which he would complete in Rome, as the Shelleys moved around Italy during the following couple of years.

Tragedy struck when first their son William, then their infant daughter Clara died. On December 27th, 1818, a third child was born - a daughter named Elena, but the identity of her mother is a mystery. Some scholars believed that Percy Shelley fathered her with either Claire Clairmont or the family nursemaid, Elise Foggi. Other scholars believe that Percy adopted Elena in the hopes of distracting Mary from her grief. He would refer to Elena as his "Neapolitan ward" and place her with foster parents not long after her birth when he and Mary moved again. Elena would die when she was just 18 months old.

In 1820, when he heard of John Keats' illness, Percy Shelley wrote to him, inviting him to join him at his home in Pisa. Keats replied that he hoped to see Shelley, but his plans changed, and he instead went to Rome with artist Joseph Severn. When Keats died the following year, Shelley wrote a poem for him called Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats.

In 1822, Shelley invited his old friend and supporter Leigh Hunt to come to Italy with his family. Shelley intended for himself, Hunt, and Lord Byron to create a literary magazine called The Liberal. With Hunt as editor, Shelley and Byron could disseminate their controversial writings. The magazine would act as a strong counterpoint to conservative periodicals such as Blackwood's Magazine and The Quarterly Review.

Sadly, on July 8th, 1822, Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned in a storm while sailing from Livorno to Lirici on his schooner, the Don Juan. At the time, he was returning after having set up The Liberal with Leigh Hunt. The boat, which was custom made for Shelley in Genoa, sank after being pounded by the sudden storm. Shelley claimed to have had a premonition of his death. Mary Shelley would later claim that her husband's boat wasn't seaworthy. Most believe that the boat was seaworthy and sank as the result of both the storm and the poor seamanship of Percy Shelley and his two mates.

Some have claimed that Percy Shelley had been depressed and committed suicide at sea, while others believe that Shelley's boat was attacked by pirates who mistook it for Lord Byron's ship. There is also evidence, albeit scattered and contradictory, that Shelley was murdered for political reasons by an agent of the British government.

When Shelley's body washed ashore, he was cremated on the beach as per the requirements of the quarantine laws of the time. His heart was rescued from the pyre by his friend, writer / adventurer Edward Trelawny, and given to Mary Shelley, who kept it with her until the day she died, after which, it was interred next to her grave.

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Quote Of The Day

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"Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted." - Percy Bysshe Shelley

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Vanguard Video

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Today's video features a reading of Percy Bysshe Shelley's classic poem, Ode To The West Wind. Enjoy!

Poetic License: Dreams

Poetic License: Dreams

Notes For August 3rd, 2009

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This Day In Writing History

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On August 3rd, 1861, Great Expectations, the legendary novel by Charles Dickens, was published. Specifically, the final installment of the novel was published. Great Expectations first appeared in serialized format, published in installments in Charles Dickens' own weekly literary magazine, All The Year Round.

Great Expectations tells the tale of Philip "Pip" Pirrip, and his unexpected rise from poor orphan boy to wealthy gentleman, and the life lessons he learns in the process. The novel opens on Christmas Eve in 1812. Pip, then seven years old, is a poor orphan boy being raised by his older sister and her husband. Pip's cruel sister resents having to take care of him and beats him. Her husband, Joe Gargery, is a kind and humble man who works as the village blacksmith. He becomes a father figure to Pip.

On Christmas Eve, in the village churchyard, little Pip meets a man he at first believes to be a poor, starving soul - until he sees the man's leg shackle. He is, in fact, a convict named Magwitch who just escaped from a prison ship. He scares Pip into getting him some food and a file to cut away the shackle. Pip steals the goods from his sister's house and brings them to Magwitch. The convict is surprised and moved by Pip's kindness and generosity.

Later, Pip receives an invitation to the house of Miss Havisham, a wealthy old village woman. Miss Havisham lives with her adopted daughter, Estella, and for several years, Pip visits them regularly and keeps them company. Miss Havisham is a ghost-like woman who always wears an old, yellowing wedding dress. She was jilted at the altar - an act of cruelty that scarred her for life. As the years pass, Pip grows close to Estella and falls in love with her.

Miss Havisham tells Pip that he can't visit her anymore because it's time for him to begin his apprenticeship with Joe Gargery. Having tasted the good life at Miss Havisham's, Pip is miserable as an apprentice blacksmith. He wants to marry Estella, but fears that she will see him as common and beneath her. What he doesn't know is that Miss Havisham is raising Estella to be a cruel woman destined to break men's hearts.

After Estella leaves the village, Pip's fortunes change literally when a lawyer arrives to tell him that he has inherited a large sum of money from an anonymous benefactor, on the condition that he leave for London immediately and become a gentleman. Pip agrees. In London, he studies with a tutor and lives with his new friend, Herbert Pocket. Pip determines to become a gentleman, and becomes ashamed of his old, common life with Joe Gargery, from whom he grows apart. Pip believes that Miss Havisham is his benefactor, and that she wants to make a gentleman of him so he can marry Estella.

One stormy night, Pip learns the truth about his anonymous benefactor. It wasn't Miss Havisham at all - it was Magwitch, the convict he befriended years ago on Christmas Eve. Moved by Pip's compassion, Magwitch left him his money so he could become a gentleman. What's more, Magwitch will soon arrive for a visit. Appalled that he was financed by a convict's fortune, Pip fears that Estella will never marry him.

When Pip is reunited with her and Miss Havisham, he finds that Estella is unhappily married to a man named Bentley Drummle. He also learns the truth about Miss Havisham's jilting. When the old woman accidentally sets herself on fire, Pip saves her life. Pip decides to flee with Magwitch, who is still wanted by the law. When he makes one last visit to the badly burned Miss Havisham, she repents and asks Pip to forgive her, which he does.

With the help of his friend Herbert Pocket and Herbert's friend, Startop, Pip tries to help Magwitch escape, but the convict is caught thanks to his old enemy, Compeyson - the swindler who jilted Miss Havisham. The two men fight; Compeyson is killed in the struggle and Magwitch is badly injured. He goes to jail, and Pip finally realizes that Magwitch is a good and noble man. Pip tends to his ailing benefactor, visiting him every day. He soon makes a shocking discovery - Magwitch is Estella's father. Pip tells him on his deathbed that he wants to marry Estella, and Magwitch dies a happy man.

Penniless again and ill, Pip goes home, where Joe Gargery nurses him back to health. After his recovery, Pip goes into business with Herbert Pocket. Years later, Pip decides to make one last visit to Miss Havisham's old house. There, he finds Estella wandering about, and learns that her marriage is over. She asks Pip to accept her as a friend, and the novel ends with the hope that they may finally be together.

Great Expectations is considered to be one of the greatest and most sophisticated works of English literature ever written, and rightfully so. It has been adapted for the stage, radio, screen, and television over 250 times.

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Quote Of The Day

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"Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule." - Charles Dickens, from the novel Great Expectations

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Vanguard Video

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Today's video features the complete performance of a stage play adaptation of Great Expectations, taped live at the Ellice Theatre. Enjoy!

IWW Members' Publishing Successes

It's been another great week for Internet Writing Workshop members, who continue to find publishing success in all venues.

Congratulations to this week's crew!

Jody

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Barry Basden

Poor Mojo's Almanac(k) has published "Reynolds and Me." It's my fourth piece there. One more and I get the T-shirt, which I will wear proudly....

Thanks to all on the nonfiction list who helped with this one.

Two poems, "Lovesick" and "Flights Not Taken," are now up at Full of Crow.

...and if you squint, you can almost see someone there who's now long gone....

Jeannette Cezanne

The "Numbers" issue of Stimulus/Respond is now available online, with my poem -- also called "Numbers" -- in it.

Leslie Greenwood

My poem "Blueberries" is up at Eat Your Words: A Journal of Food Literature.

Deanna Hershiser

A guest blog post I wrote in January is up at Relief Journal.

Back then I had just joined IWW and I mentioned this group, as it was a post on critique groups. I'm still recommending you.

Kathy Highcove

I have published my August In Focus issue, the newsletter of my West Valley branch of the California Writers Club.

The issue announces that I recently received the Jack London Award from our group. The award is given in June to a member who has made a special contribution to the club. My contribution was learning how to edit the In Focus newsletter. It's been a challenge to learn the editing process, but I've had fun experimenting with design and format.

If you go to the above site, the first page announces the JL award, I'm interviewed on page 5, and contribute a story from the Practice List exercises on page 7.

Ann Hite

My book review of Lucille Griswold's "Life Lived in Reverse" is up at Feminist Review. Enjoy. I found this book inspiring.

Mel Jacob

I have the following book reviews up at SFRevu:

"The Dame" by R.A. Salvatore -- Book three of the Saga of the First King, the Highwayman must leave his wife and newborn to stop the ruthless heir of Honce.

"The Sword-Edged Blonde: An Eddie LaCrosse Novel" by Alex Bledsoe -- The first of the Eddie LaCrosse mysteries combining hard-edged noir mysteries with a mediaeval setting. Hip dialogue may be too much for some, but music for others as Eddie, a sword-jockey, seeks to uncover the truth about the alleged murder of the king's heir.

"Traitor to the Crown: The Patriot Witch" by C.C. Finlay, "Traitor to the Crown: A Spell for the Revolution" by C.C. Finlay, "Traitor to the Crown: The Demon Redcoat" by C.C. Finlay -- A trilogy set against the Revolutionary War in which American witches struggle against a European group of witches. The Americans aid the patriots and work to thwart the evil witches who support the British.

My book review at Gumshoe Review includes:

"The Merry Misogynist" by Colin Cotterill -- Set in 1978 Laos where the National Coroner, Dr. Siri struggles against inept police, a bumbling bureaucracy, and time to stop a serial killer who marries and kills young women.

Heidi Kenyon

After a long hiatus, I have a piece up at Camroc Press Review. Feels good to be back in the swing of things.

Tom Mahony

My short fiction collection, "Slow Entropy," was just published as an ebook by Thumbscrews Press. Have a look if you're interested.

Edith Parzefall

I'm happy to announce that my flash fiction "Euphoria" has been published by Camroc Press Review.

Gary Presley

"Elegy for Backseat Passion" is up at the Camroc Press Review.

When you ride in a van, you can look down into cars at stoplights; this piece spun an impressionist story out of an observation.

I'm also in the new issue of Kaleidoscope Magazine, a lit mag out of Ohio focusing on the disability experience. It has featured writers like André Dubus and John Hockenberry before working its way down the ladder to people like me.

And finally, I was asked to speak at meeting of the local writers guild on the subject of creative nonfiction. It was an interesting experience, with some members bringing up the old bugaboo of creative nonfiction being nonfiction frosted with fantasy and another member demanding I differentiate the genre from "faction." It was a paid gig, to my surprise, and I sold three books.

Anita Saran

My first article for Suite101.com, "Vegetarianism and its Effect on the Psyche," is featured on their Recommended list -- despite the fact that it underwent two revisions guided by my excellent editor. She really taught me the ropes about writing an unbiased article completely in third person. (They don't even allow 'we' and 'our'.) Check it out.

Wayne Scheer

My flash, "A Lucky Woman," joins Edith's "Euphoria" at Camroc Press Review. Mine was once a Practice exercise so my appreciation goes out to the Practice group.

My story, "The Affair," is up at Ghoti Magazine. This story began as a flash in Practice and when it grew to a more developed work, it was thoroughly critiqued in Fiction. So I have a lot of folks to thank.

This Week's Practice Exercise

"Transitions (Version 3)"

Prepared by: Florence Cardinal
Posted on: Sun, 15 Apr 2001
Reposted on: Sun, 2 Aug 2009

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Exercise: In 300 words or less, move a character from point A to point B or from one time frame to another smoothly and quickly. Make us aware of the scene change without bogging us down in excess prose.
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Transitions, moving someone from one place to another, or from one time frame to another, are difficult for many writers. If you move your character too quickly, your audience may feel disoriented and it may take them a few moments to realize what has happened.

On the other hand, you can't show every step your character takes, or every second that passes as he moves from spring to winter.

Write a scene where you transport your character to a different time or place without jolting the reader or including too many unnecessary details. For example, if your character is sitting in the boss's office being reprimanded before being let go, you need to get him out of the office and into the bar with a clear transition the reader can follow and a minimum of fuss.

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Exercise: In 300 words or less, move a character from point A to point B or from one time frame to another smoothly and quickly. Make us aware of the scene change without bogging us down in excess prose.

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Critique by telling how well the writer takes us from one location or time to another. Does the transition knit the scenes together seamlessly, or do we feel as if we've hit a speed bump or a pothole?

These exercises were written by IWW members and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its members. You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that you found them at the Internet Writers Workshop (http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/).