THE STORY OF RED RIDING HOOD
Red Riding Hood has a DESIRE
to visit poor, sick, lonely Gramma.
"Can I go all by myself?" she asks Mom.
"All right, my sweet little girl.
Just make sure you don't speak
to strangers along the way."
"Cool," says Red. "I promise."
Red feels like quite the free spirit
as she meanders through the woods.
She's all grown up now
& can take care of herself.
But she soon faces a CONFLICT.
She is so friendly that
she forgets her promise to Mom,
& speaks to the big, bad wolf.
When writing a short story,
keep your focus small.
Concentrate on 1 event
& elaborate on that.
For instance, the heart of Red's story
is her DESIRE for independence,
out on her first solitary stroll through the woods.
The CONFLICT is introduced when
she meets the big, bad wolf - that sly devil.
This is the beginning of Red's STRUGGLE.
Our unsophisticated sweet young thing
tells Wolf where she's going,
& he visualizes the great meal
he'll make of Red & Gramma.
Wolf runs ahead, breaks into Gramma's house,
& locks the poor, sick, lonely lady in the closet.
The plot intensifies
when he dons her nightgown,
hops into her bed,
& pretends to be Gramma.
Will he get away with it?
We shall see.
Meanwhile, young Red is proud of herself.
She had a blast on her walk
through the woods.
Now she's at Gramma's with food & flowers.
And she's thrilled to find that
poor, sick, lonely Gramma
left the door unlocked for our gal.
Red walks in & sees you-know-who
in Gramma's bed.
For a second,
she's taken in by that you-know-what,
& believes he's Gramma.
We're all holding our breath as
Wolf bolts out of bed & gears up to cook
our Red & her Gramma for supper.
Will he be successful?
Not if Red can help it!!!
Our formerly naive heroine has undergone a
character change.
No longer unworldly,
she screams & fights Wolf off.
He is so blown away
by her grit & determination that
- splat!! -
he faints dead on the floor.
Red wipes the sweat from her brow,
calls the cops & that's the end of B.B.W.
Then our Dear Defender
rescues Gramma from the closet,
appreciates the wisdom of her experience,
& promises Mom
that she'll never speak to strangers again.
In your story,
involve the reader in whatever challenge
your characters must overcome.
Walk us through their struggles.
We want to see them grow.
We also want to see them whip the enemy,
if possible.
That's not to say that every story
ends in triumph,
but however it ends,
we want to be there.
HAPPY WRITING!!
The following workshops are offered at
State College of Florida (SCF)
Bradenton Campus
5840 26th St. W.
Bradenton, Florida 34207
Ages 13+ are welcome! (Registrar has Details)
All workshops are $30
All begin at 5:30 p. & end at 8:30 p.
To register, call 941.752.5669 or 941.752.5203
Bring a notebook, pen
and your story or story ideas.
Please join us for the following:
HOW TO WRITE/SELL
MAGAZINE ARTICLES
March 18
Do you have a hobby,
area of expertise, or
story that you'd like to
share on paper?
This class covers different types
of magazine articles -
including the interview,
informational,
inspirational & essay.
Learn to cultivate story ideas,
map one project into several,
& jumpstart your projects.
We will explore the mag markets,
including different approaches
to breaking in,
interpreting writers' guidelines,
how to query &
submit articles & stories,
examine the importance of
professionalism in your writing
& with editors.
We will also touch on
editing your work.
Bring a pen, notebook, &
your story or story ideas.
THE SHORT STORY
Learn how conflict drives your story,
create memorable characters,
write realistic dialogue & build a scene.
Thursday, March 25
ORGANIZE YOUR NOVEL
Have you ever dreamed of writing a book?
Then join us as we discuss premise, back story,
characterization, the working outline,
synopsis & submission process, & MORE.
Bring your work & your questions.
Thursday, April 1
WRITE YOUR LIFE STORY
Whether it's just for you & your family,
or for publication, we will have fun
uncovering a few of the gems
that make you who you are today.
Thursday, April 8
CREATIVE NONFICTION
Do you have a true story to tell?
Creative nonfiction uses the tools of fiction,
but stays true to the facts.
Bring your story idea & questions.
Thursday, April 15
SELL WHAT YOU WRITE
Bring your work-in-progress.
We will go through the query,
novel synopsis, movie logline, or
whatever-ya-got,
how to create a platform for it,
& market your work.
Thursday, April 22
CRITIQUE GROUP WORKSHOP
Bring 1-5 pages (plus copies) of
your novel, nonfiction, article,
or whatever-ya-got.
We will set up a productive, respectful
critique group where everyone
can read their work aloud, & we will offer
encouragement & suggestions.
TThursday, April 29
SEE YOU IN CLASS!!
CONTACT INFO:
pswriter1@netzero.net
Stephen King's
ON WRITING
is a wonderful memoir on the craft of writing.
On page 28,
Mr. King mentions that when he was six,
he copied a story from a comic book,
& showed it to his mom.
"Write your own story, Stevie," she told him.
"I bet yours will be better than this one."
Mr. King says,
I remember an immense feeling of possibility at the idea,
as if I had been ushered into a vast building filled with closed doors,
& had been given leave to open any I liked.
There were more doors than one person could ever open in a lifetime
(I thought so then, & still think so).
So Stevie wrote another story, & his mom dropped everything to read it.
She laughed in all the right places,
& when she finished reading all four pages, she looked at him & asked,
"You didn't copy this one, did you?"
"No."
"Well, it's good enough to be in a book," she told him.
Mr. K. says that nothing anyone's ever said to him
since that day has made him happier.
Isn't that a great memory! How blessed Mr. King is to have had such an insightful mom.
We ALL need inspiration, encouragement & validation to motivate us to reach higher.
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THE WAY DOWN!!
INTO THE SUPERNATURAL?
GUIDEPOSTS MAGAZINE – February 2005
His Mysterious Ways - More Than Coincidence
Written by Diane E. Robertson
My lupus had flared and I was in terrible pain. The doctor had put me on a powerful anti-inflammatory.
Still, I could barely walk.
My husband, Sal, was overseas on business and
my parents lived a thousand miles away.
“Come on home,” my dad said. “We’ll take care of you.” Mom’s chicken soup and a warm bed
sounded like the perfect cure.
Now I just had to get through the flight.
A friend drove me to the airport and dropped me at the curb. I stepped out of the car.
Pain shot through my lower back. I winced.
“Are you okay?” my friend asked.
“Fine,” I said, not wanting to worry her. The skycap offered me a wheelchair,
but sitting was uncomfortable.
Maybe it would be easier to walk to the gate.
“Your flight’s been delayed an hour,” the skycap said.An hour? Another hour of agony.
I walked slowly through the terminal.
God, I prayed, I need a place to lie down for an hour.
Some place to rest.
That’s when I saw the ladies’ room.
If I splash some water on my face, I’ll feel better, I thought. Imagine my surprise when I stepped inside and
saw an old-fashioned lounge area with a long mirror,
a dressing table and a couch. I sank down.
The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was
a bit of graffiti on the opposite wall that read, “I love Jimmy.”
An hour’s rest on that couch, and I was able to make it to my parents’ home.
Ten days of bed rest under their care helped immensely.
I flew home in much better shape and
Sal picked me up at the airport.
While walking through the terminal,
I was about to tell him about the couch when
we came to that same ladies’ room.
“Excuse me for a moment,” I said. I darted in.
There was the long mirror, the dressing table,
even that familiar bit of graffiti: “I love Jimmy.”
But no couch.
An attendant was cleaning so I asked
if she’d changed things around.
“No, no,” she replied.
The lounge had always been set up this way.
There had never been a couch in here. Except the one hour when I desperately needed it.
