The Writers’ Nook is a place where we, as a group, can provide a safe and positive environment in which to encourage one another and hone our own writing skills.
Mood and Atmosphere
I love to be completely and wholeheartedly immersed in a book. To be immersed in the story, the characters, the mood and the atmosphere, and when I lift my head it’s as though I need to readjust, put my self back into this space and time and remove myself from the graft of that imaginary one. But as a writers, we all know what goes into generating that effect because we’re not just building the blocks of a narrative, we’re tasked with creating something that’s less tangible. Something that, if we get it right, our readers won’t forget.
Sharing
This is where we share a page or so from a book we’re currently reading, to shed more light on the topic at hand, mood and atmosphere.
The Challenge
Your challenge before our next meeting on December 7th is to write a Christmas story, poem or essay. Before you begin, think of the meaning behind Christmas — think of those feelings we have for one another, and the wishes that we bestow on one another, and the mood and atmosphere that’s present all around us at this time of year. Try to use some of what we have discussed in our recent meetings to put forward the ‘feelings’ that exist, that we cultivate at Christmas time. What makes it a Christmas Story? That’s difficult to say, maybe it’s a story that references the Christ Child, or maybe it’s simply a heartfelt story that takes place around Christmas time.
Responses
Gifts by Karen Lesli
A Magical Christmas by Shirley Bigelow DeKelver
My Christmas Memory by Joyce Adrian Sotski, later submitted as A Christmas Readers Theatre Play (here)
Yule Rule by Kevin Gooden
Christmas Past by Marilyn McAllister
Karen: You brought tears to my eyes with your story. Yes this is a heartfelt story, guess you got the mood and atmosphere right.
Karen, what a lovely story “Gifts” is—a wonderful example of Christmas spirit. Took me down memory lane with your details: Bing Crosby, Singer sewing machine, Mattel, and Hot Wheels. Great final message.
Shirley, “A Magical Christmas” does an excellent job of capturing the atmosphere of ranch/farm life in Alberta at Christmas. A few parts of the story threw me off as I read. On page one, Caroline lying awake at night dreading losing her best friend confused—or perhaps surprised me—as I didn’t expect her best friend to be a horse. On page three, when Scott showed up with no introduction or explanation of who he was, I wondered if I’d missed his information earlier. In retrospect, there might have been too many names for me to keep track of. The last point was the most confusing, where in the last sentence of the second last paragraph on page three, you wrote she hoped Mr. Mitchell would forget about “buying” Ebony. I’m hoping that was just a slip and the verb intended was “selling.”
Joyce, “My Christmas Story” is a beautifully written memory story (I’m presuming), packed with lovely prose invoking rich images and ending with a positive outlook on what could have been—but wasn’t—a terrible Christmas. Only suggestion I have is at the bottom of page three, to not include the explanatory phrase “…, they have four of them,” as it is unnecessary information, perhaps by a small edit along the lines of “…switching feet, deciding which three of their four to stand on next….”
Kevin, the way I read it, I think in Shirley’s story it is Mr. Mitchell who is thinking of purchasing Grandpa’s horse.
Shirley, rereading today, I see I had things flipped around in your story RE Mr Mitchell–my apologies. Must have been having a bad day the first day I read it….
KAREN: I reread your story again. I so love some of your phrases, like mother ”cinched her housecoat and headed upstairs,” and “women still with messy morning hair,” as well as depicting the warmth of a community coming together to help strangers who needed it. A lovely Christmas story.
SHIRLEY: I really enjoyed your story. I had a few problems with discerning what the relationships between the people were. At first I thought that Peter and Caroline were husband and wife, enjoying their outing looking for a tree. Grandpa was Grandpa but it wasn’t until Caroline asked him if she could sit with her friend at church that I realized Grandpa must be her guardian. It made me wonder who Pete was, maybe a hired hand, an old timer who was good at forecasting the weather? Both Scott and Wesley’s names came out of the blue, I didn’t know who they were until you described the four of them as friends, with Scott obviously the heart-throb. Then again, it was confusing to me as to why Scott put a gift for Caroline into Suzanne’s present to her; so I decided that Scott and Caroline must be brother-sister. I was happy for the ending, the brooch and that she got it from her heart-throb; but saddened by the fact that she might lose the horse she loved, and I felt the harshness of youngsters who have to face these hard facts of life on the farm. Well done.
KEVIN: That was a fun story! I never knew what you were going to say next; sometimes I had to read a sentence more than once to see what you actually did say, vs. what I thought you’d said. I enjoyed all of the little descriptions and metaphors that you’d tucked in between words, to clarify everything so nicely. I noticed a few mixed tenses; for example the snowman on the hallway table, ”didn’t even notice” could have been “hadn’t even noticed.” But what got me were the tears at the end, had trouble seeing through them.