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This week: Thankful Edited by: NickiD89  
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| Like many of you, I've considered myself a writer my whole life. But in 2007, I shifted out of hobbyist mode, started writing for an audience, and embarked on the exciting journey towards publication. As I continue on that path and delve ever deeper into the craft, I feed an insatiable appetite for creative writing theory. I seek out how-to books and workshop experiences to augment and amplify whatever talent I possess. For those of you like me, here's a little theory to appease your hunger. |
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I come from a big, Italian family. I have 18 first cousins, 30 second cousins, and counting. Today, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, every household in my extended family is baking the same cherished family recipe, Rome N.Y. Pumpkin Bread. The earthy aromas of cinnamon and nutmeg mingle with sweet baking pumpkin and waft through my house, just like it perfumes my parents' house, my four sisters' houses, and the houses of all my aunts and uncles and all my grown cousins. And in every house, the children gathered the ingredients from the pantry, and measured and stirred, as their parents followed the recipe. One day, those children will carry on the tradition in their own homes, with their future children.
And the story behind the recipe will be passed on to the next generation.
...Well, legend may be a better word than story. You know how families operate. The adults tell a story, but because there are impressionable children in the room, some facts from the "For Mature Audiences Only" category may be...omitted. Now that I'm a grown-up, I have become privy to some of those buried facts from the story of the origins of the pumpkin bread recipe. But I wrote down the version I grew up hearing as a child, the story I've passed on to my children.
THE FAMILY LEGEND OF THE OLD ROME N.Y. PUMPKIN BREAD RECIPE
In Upstate New York, people don't plan events around the weather. Instead, they plan their events and then plan on the weather being bad. The locals say there are four seasons in Upstate New York: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction Season -- the latter being the shortest season of all. So when the christening date of the newest member of the family was set around Thanksgiving time, no one bothered checking the weekend weather report. Several carloads of family members set out for the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Rome, N.Y., unconcerned about the gently falling snow.
By the time they arrived at the church, snow had blanketed the ground. After the ceremony, there was a lot of arm-grabbing and steadying of each other as they skated to the cars, then slowly made their way to the newly christened child's home, where a big Italian dinner celebration was planned. The snow was falling relentlessly -- and harder now. By the time dinner was over, the cars parked in the driveway looked like snow drifts, and it had been hours since anyone had seen a snowplow pass through. It was evident to all, no one was leaving that night.
Although the sleeping arrangements in the little house were cramped, it was cozy and warm, and there was a lot of whispering and laughter long into the night. Early the next morning as she was giving her newborn a feeding, Aunt Char wondered what she was going to offer everyone for breakfast. When she put the baby down, she threw together an old pumpkin bread recipe she already had. The aroma of the baking bread roused the sleeping guests, drawing them to the kitchen. The bread was such a hit that all the women present wrote the recipe down, naming it simply Rome N.Y. Recipe. The mugs of hot coffee and warm, fresh-from-the-oven pumpkin bread shared with family, with the pristine winter wonderland outside the kitchen window, is a memory I sometimes think is my own. I was there, but I was just one year old at the time.
A family legend is a funny thing. I know my family, and I think there were a lot of details left out of this account. Forty years is long enough for a story to take on a life of its own. But, this is the lore I was told when I was young, and it is the way I tell it to my kids.
Old Rome N.Y. Pumpkin Bread Recipe
(One Loaf )
1¾ c. flour
1½ c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
1 c. pumpkin
½ c. oil
1/3 c. water
2 eggs
1/3 c. chopped walnuts
Throw it all together and pour into greased and floured bread pan. Bake in 350°F oven for 1 hour (or until knife in center comes out clean).
This holiday season, I hope you preserve your family traditions in the form of stories. It's easy and fun to do. And they make wonderful Christmas gifts!
Question For Next Time: Want to give it a try? Write down a memory from any holiday, in at least 500 words, and post the bitem link here in the comments or in an email to me NickiD89 and I'll send you a merit badge, and feature your holiday story in my next Drama Newsletter on December 25th!
Thanks for reading!
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Question For Next Time: Want to give it a try? Write down a memory from any holiday, in at least 500 words, and post the bitem link here in the comments or in an email to me NickiD89 and I'll send you a merit badge, and feature your holiday story in my next Drama Newsletter on December 25th!
Last Month's Question: What POV narration options do you prefer to write in? Which ones do you most enjoy reading in? Here's what readers said:
Joshiahis  -- Preferred POV: Third Person Limited. I want to show/see the world through a flawed character's eyes. That shiftless brigand looks a lot more heroic to the small-time pickpocket when he gets a cut of the take. I've learned (through very, very... very bad writing) that this seems to be the best way to connect to a reader. Thank you for picking one of my stories for the newsletter!
You're so welcome, and thanks for the comment!
Elle - on hiatus  -- In terms of favourite POV, I prefer reading in third person limited. I'm not really a fan of reading first person narrative, but I have written it, mostly for short stories. Mostly I write in third person limited as it's the one I'm most familiar with.
I'm with you!
Quick-Quill  -- You've read my mind. I too like the style perfected by Mary Higgins Clark, chapters of characters moving toward a similar point in time. GWDT and the other 2 books were ones I loved and I too felt a disconnection. It was on purpose I think, to show the Govenment's treatment of women, but there too it was a miss in any other culture than his own. In spite of all that it was a great story. I see it as one book broken into three parts. I have a novel I was working on that I wrote in character chapters. It was interesting but not difficult to write if you keep the timing on track that's the secret.
Yes! The timing of events is hard to maintain when you incorporate different character perspectives.
Joy  -- Great NL, Nicki. 
I am not comfortable with the omniscient POV, either.
Third person limited or first person work for me the best, too. In a longer work, if I can give a chapter to each head in first person, not more than three btw, I found it works quite well to give a more rounded view of the story.
Three POVs sharing chapter narrations is a workable number, I think. I'm impressed with authors that can bring more POVs into a story and do it well.
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  -- To be honest, I don't really have a preference for POV- First, Second, Third, Close or Omnipresent. However, as someone who really enjoys reading/writing/adding to interactives, it annoys me to see a branch that was once a Second person POV (you) change to that of a Third, or First, POV in the next addition. Even worse than that though, see something that had plenty of good additions become ruined by gobbledygook things- as if the next guy didn't read the previous things, or follow the rules, or use spell-check for that matter. 
Interesting point! I agree that a story begun in one narrative option should maintain that choice throughout, including interactive stories.
blunderbuss -- Hi Nicki
Thank you for the newsletter. I wasn't even aware of slipping into omniscient narration until a wonderful reviewer on WDC helped me out with a short story he was reviewing for me.
I can't say I really noticed it when I read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" - but I was not in a stage of enlightenment at that point! I found all the very detailed information about the government's administration (or lack of it) regarding social work and workers in that book was a bit of a plod, to be honest.
I now carefully keep to one POV in each scene for stories. In novels I often extend that to one POV per chapter. The latter helps to build tension, too.
I love writing in the first person, but keep reading that only a small percentage of stories and novels are written that way now. However, there's nothing like the first person, in my opinion, to fully immerse yourself in a character. It does have obvious drawbacks - limitation by the solitary viewpoint. You just have to be extra clever in how you include necessary information for the plot!
First person narration is wildly popular in the Young Adult genre. I marvel at authors that can pull it off well. Thanks for the comment!
Voxxylady  -- I prefer to read close third POV and I write in very close third, nearly stream-of-consciousness, for my novels and my shorts. The only omniscient POV books that haven't annoyed me are Mark Twain's. He did it very well. Most are a not-quite-skilled-enough attempt at omniscient that just turns into head hopping. I'm reading Taylor Caldwell's A Prologue To Love now and it's wonderful except for that aspect. I agree. I would rather get closer to the characters.
I love to read stream-of-consciousness pieces! I think I'll write one of my own, next time I start a new project. Thanks for the inspirational comment!
See you all back here on December 30, 2013. Until then, have a great month!
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Drama: November 27, 2013 Issue [#6015]
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