Duotrope

I signed up for a free account on Duotrope. It's a fantastic search engine for publishing markets. With a free account I can keep track of my submissions there. Increasing my submissions is one thing I really need to work on. I'll never get published if I don't keep my work circulating. I have three stories out now, and several more I could send.

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos

Sex! There's more sex in this pulitzer prize winning novel than all the other twenty Pulitzers I have read. It's the story of the the Mambo King Cesar and his brother Nestor, Cuban immigrants who were musicians. Think Ricky Ricardo and Babalu! The brothers were actually guest musicians on the "I Love Lucy" show. Of course, all of this is fiction.

Almost zero plot. All character, and a sexual intercourse description every few pages. The best descriptions of sex I have ever read, but that's still a LOT of sex. It's also "stream of consciousness" writing, like some Faulkner, so there will be page long sentences. Time seems of little importance to the author too, so it's seldom a linear story.

But it's not as hard to read and comprehend as it seems. I had no problem keeping track of it all. My biggest complaint is the lack of plot.

Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie

A marvellous book. A little slow in the beginning, but it didn't take long before I was hooked. Very stylish and British - I could never write a book like this! I am surprised it won a Pulitzer though, not because the writing isn't good - it's definitely Pulitzer quality - but because it takes place entirely in London. It seems like an elaborate stage play, although there isn't enough dialogue. The principal characters are American, so I suppose that is enough to make it a comment on the American condition, and eligible for a Pulitzer.

Looking at the author's bio, she was writing about things that she knew. at least as far as the occupations and interests of her characters. I expected another plotless mish-mash. but the alternating love affairs kept things going, and the dramatic conclusions of the affairs were very satisfying.

19 Pulitzers read

I have somehow managed to read nineteen Pulitzer prize winning novels so far this year. Not too shabby. If nothing else, I am learning what I like and don't like about literary fiction. Plot is important to me, as are memorable characters. I like a setting that contributes, almost like another character. Close the circle with symbolism and I am a happy reader.

The element most often missing is plot. So many times there is nothing driving the novel forward, nothing to keep me reading. It doesn't have to be a thriller, but at least take into consideration that the reader requires some forward movement to stay interested. Look at A Thousand Acres. That novel has everything, including a forward momentum of stress/release that kept me interested.

I have no intention of stopping my Pulitzer reading project at this point. I'm having fun with it. Occasionally I take a little break, usually while waiting for another shipment of used books to arrive from Powells. It's becoming a habit now to read, just like it used to be for me years ago, and that is a good thing. At breakfast, at lunch, in the last hour before bedtime, I have the latest book open and am reading.

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

Remember the Neil Simon comedy the Out-of-Towners? It's been made into a movie a couple of times. The best way to describe this book is to compare it to that movie/play. A husband and wife travel to a funeral, and back home. The wife is as scatter-shot as they come. The husband is fact-driven. Yet they love each other and somehow stick together.

I admit I got bored with it about half way through. I stuck it out, but had to skim ahead, and then read the last two chapters. There just wasn't much driving the novel forward. From experience with these types of novels I knew that nothing was going to change, nothing of consequence was going to happen, for this odd couple. And I was right.

It would make an entertaining short story though, shortened to about four thousand words.

Another NaNoWriMo Idea

I'm not too fond at the moment of the historical novel idea for the next nano. I tried writing a short story with the correct setting and a likely character and was not happy with the result. I have been attempting to come up with something different, something that excites me, something that I can write with good results.

I think I have come up with a potential idea, code named "Devil's Walking Stick", for no particular reason. Probably because I have some growing in my backyard and I saw it last night and it got me thinking about the symbolism of that plant. This idea has plot, memorable characters, and a setting that excites me.

It's a retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story, but set during desegregation in 1970. Sometime I lived through. Instead of the Montagues and the Capulets, it's a white family and a black family. A strong grandfather figure in the white family knows some facts about the black family, namely that the boy and girl are cousins. The boys ancestors owned the girl's ancestors, and the girls g-g-grandmother was a mistress of the boys g-g-grandfather. Should be an interesting twist on an old story.

It will be a big challenge to handle the telling of this story correctly. I have no idea at this point how to tell it, but I'm confident I can come up with something. I like this idea; it excites me. It will be difficult to write, but that has never stopped me before.

I need to write a short story dealing with some of these characters and see how it goes before I make a final decision. It may not pan out; if not I have time to change my mind again before November.

The next NaNoWriMo

It's not too soon to start thinking about it. Actually I have been thinking about it for a couple of months already, just look back through the blog for the Cherokee and slavery related books I have read and the trip to North Georgia and Nashville that Laurie and I did for research.

The problem at this point is that I am not all that crazy about the type of novel I am contemplating: a historical novel set in the period around the Cherokee removal, or earlier on the Georgia frontier, including as characters African slaves, Cherokees and Creeks, and white settlers.

After reading "The Killer Angels" I am sure it has to be a focused novel, like a searchlight on some small fact or incident. I had hoped to use the Tsali encounter. Recent research has convinced me that it is not the "Nathan Hale" type moment that the Cherokee have traditionally portrayed. Tsali was not a willing martyr, giving up his life to save the eastern band of the Cherokee from removal. The Eastern band already had permission to stay. They led the hunt to capture Tsali. The Cherokee did not really think of themselves as a "nation", but as city-states, or towns. Allegiance was to clan, not nation. Tsali was on the edge of the towns that were being left in NC, he didn't get the protection of Will Thomas. Anyway, it is a very confused incident, difficult to portray. I am certain any portrayal I do will be disappointing to the Cherokee, and for that reason too I am reluctant.

I have other historical novel ideas: the old Negro Fort, the adopted Creek son of Andrew Jackson, the battle of Horseshoe Bend, the practice of slavery by the Cherokees, the Moravian missionaries among the Cherokees and their acceptance of slavery. It's tough to pick one.

It requires more thought. I have already done a lot of research along these lines, but if something that really inspires me comes along I will not hesitate to abandon the work at a moment's notice.

A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor

This is the kind of novel that drives me crazy - usually. There might be a dozen lines of dialogue. Nothing really happens. It violates the "show, don't tell" rule, since it is all telling. The language is stilted, the style old fashioned.

And the first two-thirds of the novel really did drive me nuts. It's 233 pages, but for the first 147 of those pages the narrator sits in his apartment and reminisces about his family. Maddening.

After that things pick up a little, but still, nothing happens. The narrator finally reaches an understanding of his family. That's enough for a novel, of course, but it certainly needs to be less boring in the telling. And it won a pulitzer. Not one of my favorites.

First Place - GWA June contest

My short story "Montag's Utopia" took first place in the June Georgia Writer's Association contest. The theme was "utopia", of course. My story is about a fireman who has a book reading habit that interferes with his social life. And yes, the choice of name, Montag, was deliberate. Remember another "fireman" by that name who had an obsession with books?

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

This may be the best Pulitzer winner I have read. I'm up to sixteen now, the latest ones for the most part. This novel is as good as "To Kill A Mockingbird", I think.

It starts slow, a retelling of the King Lear story, but there are plenty of foreshadowings of things to come. And they do come, unexpected twists that kept me guessing and reading. All the way through I was marvelling at how well constructed the novel is. Much planning and a lot of hard work went into this book. Highly recommended.

Walking the Trail by Jerry Ellis

Subtitled: One Man's Journey along the Cherokee Trail of Tears.

A really nice, insightful book. I'm a big fan of "journey" books anyway, and I have read several about hiking the Appalachian Trail. I hope to hike it someday myself. Ellis hiked the Trail of Tears, backwards from Oklahoma to Georgia/Alabama. Not exactly the outdoor experience of hiking the AT, but the man was on a mission. He's a great writer - makes me want to look him up and see if he has written any fiction.

It also makes me jealous. I love his descriptions, and he has a wonderful sarcastic tone at times that I like. The whole thing is upbeat though, something that I never seem to be able to manage. A great read.

Research trip

Laurie and I went on a little trip to do some research for a possible novel I want to write. We visited New Echota, the Chief Vann House, and the Hermitage. They were having a re-enactment at the Hermitage for the 4th of July, and I got this picture of a cannon firing.



We were impressed with all three sites. New Echota was the most surprising, of course. So often our mental image of Indians is wrong. The next picture is the Cherokee Council House, where the government met. It's a reconstruction, of course, but supposedly very accurate. A two-story log cabin, the ground floor is one room, with a raised bench on one side for the VIPs and a fireplace at one end.



The final picture is Chief Vann's tavern, moved from its location on the Chattahoochee River to New Echota. It's half log cabin and half vertical clapboards, with a central chimney. Chief Vann was a famous drinker and gambler, so including his tavern here seems appropriate. He was killed in a brawl at a tavern.



The Hermitage is a classy place, fitting for a presidential home. No pictures allowed inside the house though.

What was missing from the re-enactment? The Cherokee warriors and the slaves that would have accompanied the officers. The tour guides in the Hermitage were also in period costume, but no slave guides. I'm not trying to accuse or lay any blame, just wondering why those groups were not represented. The explanation could be as easy as lack of volunteers - all the volunteers were white.

All three sites are gems, little known and not that well visited. Definitely worth another trip if I decide to go forward with the novel.

Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney

An impressive body of work, collected from the eastern band of the Cherokee by the author in the late 19th century. While much Cherokee lore had been lost over the centuries, this book faithfully preserved sacred formulas and myths that had been saved by the last shamans.

Of course, I am primarily interested in the Tsali legend, and Mooney presents the version that later became the martyr legend. Since I recorded the historical version presented by Finger, here is the version given by Mooney:

One old man named Tsali, "Charley," was seized with his wife, his brother, his three sons and their families. Exasperated at the brutality accorded his wife, who, being unable to travel fast, was prodded with bayonets to hasten her steps, he urged the other men to join with him in a dash for liberty. As he spoke in Cherokee the soldiers, although they heard, understood nothing until each warrior suddenly sprang upon the one nearest and endeavored to wrench his gun from him. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that one soldier was killed and the rest fled, while the Indians escaped to the mountains. Hundreds of others, some of them from the various stockades, managed also to escape to the mountains from time to time, where those who did not die of starvation subsisted on roots and wild berries until the hunt was over. Finding it impracticable to secure these fugitives, General Scott finally tendered them a proposition, through (Colonel) W. H. Thomas, their most trusted friend, that if they would surrender Charley and his party for punishment, the rest would be allowed to remain until their case could be adjusted by the government. On hearing of the proposition, Charley voluntarily came in with his sons, offering himself as a sacrifice for his people. By command of General Scott, Charley, his brother, and the two elder sons were shot near the mouth of Tuckasegee, a detachment of Cherokee prisoners being compelled to do the shooting in order to impress upon the Indians the fact of their utter helplessness. From those fugitives thus permitted to remain originated the present eastern band of Cherokee.

A wonderful story, too good to be true. See the Finger book for something more realistic.

The Eastern Band of Cheokees 1819-1900 by John R. Finger

An excellent, scholarly book, with plenty of footnotes and an impressive bibliography. I've been wanting to get a copy for quite a while, and found a copy at the Hermitage.
The reason for my interest is the author's treatment of the Tsali story, the first I have ever read that relies on fact and not legend. The facts don't supprt the martyrdom of Tsali, of course. The incident is a lot more complicated then the legend suggests.

Here's the relevant quote from the book:
It is now necessary to view the Tsali incident in a somewhat different light from that of the heroic legend. First, there is no documentary evidence to support the charge that soldiers mistreated Tsali and his band. This does not mean such cruelty did not occur - merely that a reasonable doubt exists as to the army's culpability in the drama. Furthermore, if one is to believe Colonel Foster and his informants, the younger male Indians rather than Tsali were the principal actors in the murders. As for Thomas, it is obvious he was an important participant in the events, but there is no evidence to support Mooney's tale of visiting Tsali's lare after the murders and personally convincing the Indian to surrender. The documentary accounts, moreover, make it clear that Tsali did not surrender at all but was tracked down by other Cherokees, apprehended, and executed by them. Thus, there was no noble sacrifice. And last, the capture and execution of Tsali little affected the right of the Qualla Cherokees to remain in North Carolina. They already had at least tacit permission to stay. Only Euchella's small band directly benefitted from the episode.

Of course, that makes my idea of making a novel out of the story questionable! But that's why we do research.