Line by Line 12-6-2020
#WritingCommunity,
You are invited to #LineByLineTime, A Mini Critique Hour hosted by @graestonewriter on Twitter.
In the movie Gore Vidal’s Lincoln, the president “runs the lines” of The Gettysburg Address with his aides, saying, “I have a short short short speech, which I will try out on the chickens, as the farmer said.”
(Marvelous, powerful movie that has haunted me all these years.)
Each week #LineByLineTime writers share lines from their WIPs. (Try it out on the chickens, as the farmer said.)
There will be a focus question during the hour, a chance to share, and a time for “best in show.”
Next Time: Time Passes
Wednesday, December 9th, at 9:00 PM Eastern, we post lines that move the story in time.
Mad Magazine once had an article about “Time Passes, Inc.” The company supplied movie makers with calendars losing pages and clocks with spinning hands. Notting Hill had the beautiful scene with Hugh Grant walking through the market place as the seasons change. It was a step up from dissolve to black, causing the viewer to think their TV had stopped working.
The trick is to show time has passed without having to resort to “The next day.”
I am using Betsy Byars’ Good-bye, Chicken Little, and The Cybil War for our Line-By-Line exercises. Byars wrote MG books for years, won prestigious awards, and knew her stuff. Betsy passed away on February 26, 2020.
Byars was particularly adept with creating transitions that pulled the reader into the next scene, and time period. Byars didn’t feel the need to provide an accounting of time passed. In this example from Good-Bye, Chicken Little, we are swept to “The Party,” an event the reader knew was coming.
Since the party had begun, Mrs. Little had gotten younger before Jimmie’s eyes. All the relatives had. They had arrived old, and now, one hour into the party, they all had young faces, rosy childlike faces on wrinkled necks and stout bodies.
This is masterful because with one word, party, the time change is handled, and then Byars paints the scene we are about to enter. In addition, we find that Jimmy, the main character, is merely an observer.
I hope you will join us Wednesdays for #LineByLineTime.
Feel free to make helpful suggestions about other lines the group might explore in the future.