One-Eighth Street or Two-16ths Street
My dream was the beginning of a story about a beginning writer as she attempts to get her novel published.
At the time a very successful movie had been produced called Eighth Street.
Sarah Silverman then did two take-offs on it, One-Eighth Street and then Two-16ths Street, each successful in their own ways.
So everyone was trying their hand at crafting fiction that captures a small community and some of the individuals living there.
Enter two writer-editors with stacks of entries in this sudden glut of Eighth Street knock-offs. Tempted to chuck the whole lot of them in the circular file, both of them had the same hope that maybe one of them could be shaped into a new Hollywood box office success, a hit on the Broadway stage or at least a paperback novel that sold well in airport bookstores.
One of the stories was hawked directly to both of the writers by an attractive if pushy red-haired woman in her 30's. The hard-bitten writer had it on the top of his stack while the other writer had already trashed his copy. "Ugh, I couldn't even understand the first sentence, why should I bother?," the young writer, Tony said to Amos who was drinking coffee staring at the pile of manuscripts.
"I mean, I liked the woman and all, but I don't have time to deal with bad writing."
"Yeah, but that's what we're here for...to help these writers mold good stories into something people will read."
"Ok, Amos, I'll bite." Tony snatched the stapled group of pages from the stack and started reading.
"'Mulligan's Day, one of the most celebrated holidays in Kilkenney, Ireland, was the day that Mike O'Rorke decided he would....' Oh, this is just too much."
Amos encouraged him. "No, No, let's break it down. Probably not a good idea to start with a proper noun. You don't enter a stranger's home unannounced. Proper nouns need a proper introduction. Molly needs to re-order the opening line."
Tony tried again with his on-the-fly editing: "'One of the most popular holidays in Kilkenney, Ireland was Mulligan's Day. What better day than that, town resident Mike O'Rorke reasoned...' Alright I can get it!"
So the two of them spent most of the day working through Molly O'Dot's story, re-typing it with the changes and being drawn into it with each paragraph.
At the time a very successful movie had been produced called Eighth Street.
Sarah Silverman then did two take-offs on it, One-Eighth Street and then Two-16ths Street, each successful in their own ways.
So everyone was trying their hand at crafting fiction that captures a small community and some of the individuals living there.
Enter two writer-editors with stacks of entries in this sudden glut of Eighth Street knock-offs. Tempted to chuck the whole lot of them in the circular file, both of them had the same hope that maybe one of them could be shaped into a new Hollywood box office success, a hit on the Broadway stage or at least a paperback novel that sold well in airport bookstores.
One of the stories was hawked directly to both of the writers by an attractive if pushy red-haired woman in her 30's. The hard-bitten writer had it on the top of his stack while the other writer had already trashed his copy. "Ugh, I couldn't even understand the first sentence, why should I bother?," the young writer, Tony said to Amos who was drinking coffee staring at the pile of manuscripts.
"I mean, I liked the woman and all, but I don't have time to deal with bad writing."
"Yeah, but that's what we're here for...to help these writers mold good stories into something people will read."
"Ok, Amos, I'll bite." Tony snatched the stapled group of pages from the stack and started reading.
"'Mulligan's Day, one of the most celebrated holidays in Kilkenney, Ireland, was the day that Mike O'Rorke decided he would....' Oh, this is just too much."
Amos encouraged him. "No, No, let's break it down. Probably not a good idea to start with a proper noun. You don't enter a stranger's home unannounced. Proper nouns need a proper introduction. Molly needs to re-order the opening line."
Tony tried again with his on-the-fly editing: "'One of the most popular holidays in Kilkenney, Ireland was Mulligan's Day. What better day than that, town resident Mike O'Rorke reasoned...' Alright I can get it!"
So the two of them spent most of the day working through Molly O'Dot's story, re-typing it with the changes and being drawn into it with each paragraph.