So this is some of the background of various stories in the collection, with titles, times, word counts and changes.
Our Place in History: Turning Back Time
Begun and finished 7-30-03 11 p.m.-11:30 p.m.
In one fell swoop, as it should be.
**
The Unkindest Cut:
Begun 7-9-03, 11:02 p.m. under the title, “The Uncivil War”
Mayor deals with Red Hats, Potato Queens, Civil War re-enactors
continued 9-01-03, 10:17 p.m.
Finished 9-7-03 at 10:33 p.m. except for the name and home of the Boss Queen
Words: 3,658
Changed significantly for POV and other necessities in later months...
**
The Tempest:
Idea written: 9-8-03: In which Gil Weise confronts the terrible truth of his visions, sees things running in reverse for a change, realizes Wanda has the power to change the course of events, tries to tell her so, gets caught up in a fight between her and Max involving Danny, Jack Riley, Dana Peltier and Wally.
Original title: The Dark Backward
I foresee a stupidly mixed up conversation in which people are talking over each other, thinking one person is talking about a third person when they’re talking about a fifth.
New idea begun 9-9-03, 9 p.m., to write as a play with lines from The Tempest, after looking up “the Dark Backward” reference in Bartletts. Paused at 11:14 p.m.
Complete 10-5-03 at 10:42 p.m., 1858 words
**
Number One with a Bullet:
Started and finished five pages, 9:40 p.m. to 11.41 p.m. 10-8-03 words: 1,401
Came back to this 10-28, finished five more pages 10-29
**
A Clean Sweep:
Notes from a Writer’s Conference presentation:
“Remember to listen to that subconscious voice. When it tells you what to write, do so. You may not understand it yet. But you will.
“I was working on a story about a middle-age-crazy fellow who was sleeping with an under-aged grocery store cashier and ended up trysting with the girl’s mother. But try as I might, I couldn’t get a handle on the tale. I worked it and worked it, but it never made sense. The whole time, a line from the Bible kept coming to me, but I didn’t know why. Finally I wrote the line down:
“‘There were giants in the earth in those days.’
“The next thing I knew, I had a character who was raised in the church, knew his Bible backwards and forwards, but had a weakness of the flesh; a character who at first seemed reprehensible now had hope for redemption.
“I had a theme, a character, a plot, and I had a symbol that I won’t share in mixed company — all because I shut my rational mind, which was telling me that the Bible verse had no meaning to this story, and I listened to my subconscious, which already had drawn the connections. I kept working, relaxed, did it.”
**
Our Place in History: Faith of Our Fathers
Ruminations on religion, the business of building a Methodist Church in 1901, and more.
Original title: The Two Churches
**
A Wakening
Started Dec. 18, 2003.
Completed first draft after many starts and stops on Jan. 25, 2004.
Still Want to insert interruptions from other folks, who come up to pay respects while wally’s there with mary anne; one woman asks if wally’s her beau, and she says he is; one man asks why they call these things “wakes” wonders aloud if this ought not to be a “no wake zone” when Poghe’s preaching next door.
Completed 1-27-04
2374 words
**
The Fourth Horseman:
Begun in earnest on 8-19-03, 8 p.m., describing the parade and the accident, but had no idea who my narrator was.
Had a breakthrough at about 9:30, when I looked up the fourth horseman (my chosen title for the story) in my Bartletts and began reading. Before then, I had no idea what the plot would be. I began to see a preacher as character. Read the passage in the Bible, went back to Bartlett’s, copied quotes that applied to the story or appealed to me in some way ... took a break.
Continued 8-20-03, 9:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m.
It continues to develop, details, events, no plot yet through the night of 8-21 and morning of 8-22
The quote remains on the page after finishing the story: “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees.”
**
Depositions upon a Battlefield Death
Original title, "Depositions in a Civil Disturbance"
Also at one point, "The Uncivil War," also "The Battle of the Century"
Begun Monday, October 06, 2003, 10:19 p.m.
Last modified April 20, 2004, 10:40 p.m.
**
The End of a Century
Created 10:22 p.m., June 10,2003
Idea to wind up all threads in a structure recalling Wilder's "Our Town."
Last modified 12:04 a.m., May 29, 2004
**
It’s Always Midnight on Mars:
Started 3-9-04, based on a conversation with my son Nathan at Coram’s steak and egg off 23rd Street in Panama City one night last week in which I joked about editorial page editor Claude Duncan’s interjection into an editorial board talk about the use of CST vs. EST, in which he asked what time it was on Mars.
I said the title, then said it sounds like a Ray Bradbury story. I said I would write it. Now I am.
May have finished it tonight, 3-11-04, 11:20 p.m. Maybe.
