My daily update will be late... Sorry, but...

 {chuckles} My daily update will be late. There is a reason for this... 

I've been watching a lot of writing advice videos recently, and I just realized a problem with the story I've been working on, "Snow in Hawai'i." Whether I read parts of it to folks, or just talk about the story, folks get excited. They talk about loving the relationships in the story and want to see it turned into a picture book for children...

...and that's where I hit a problem. It's not kids who get excited about the story. Kids aren't getting invested in the story. It's grandparents, great-grandparents, and grand- and great-grand- aunts and uncles. That partly shows who I'm around. My creative writing class is strictly for older people. When I enquired before my 55th birthday, they said I had to wait until I was 55 when I registered. The session where I turned 55 a week or two after registration closed, I was too young. I also talk about it at church, where our congregation is largely older. Even there, it's not our "young people under 50" who are getting excited and joining the conversations, let alone our few actual kids. Most of the folks who are getting interested in and even excited about my story are older than me, and I'm 57.

And... I'm concerned. If I really want to make this story appeal to children - and cut it down to a good length for a picture book - I'll have to tighten the focus on the kids, cutting out at least one conversation pretty much entirely, and cutting others drastically back. Which... I'm afraid will lessen the excitement and the investment I see in the folks who currently love the story.

That can't be right, can it? When you find an honest and strong interest in a story, you don't cut that audience off and go court an audience which can't be bothered with it. That... that doesn't scan. It doesn't make sense at all.

Help?

Tsunami research

Well, it’s been almost two month since I learned my friend had died. I’m finally beginning to feel like writing again. Yes, it took me that long. I lost one of my best sounding boards, one of my most reliable beta readers… and that only covers the help she gave me with writing. There’s so much about her that I miss even more... {bite lips}

{STEADYING SIGH}

Anyway, I want to get back to writing. I know which story wants to get written. It involves the Widow Mere, her children, and a tsunami. So now I’m researching tsunami. Living in Hilo, I’m around tsunami stories a lot. Dad even has one; he outran the April Fool’s Tsunami (April 1, 1946) as a teenager right here in Hilo.  (I remember my friend saying she thought you couldn’t outrun a tsunami when I mentioned that in an email. Well, you can’t if you give it a fair start, but Dad wasn’t stupid enough to do that. He had at least a mile’s head start, and didn’t even hang around long enough to figure out how much more he might or might not have had. {Smile})

Unfortunately Dad’s story will only go so far with my story. He’s given me permission to base a story line on his experiences, but they only fit one of the six storylines I need. So I’m looking further afield. So far, I’ve found:

 

NONFICTION:

Dudley, Walter C. and Min Lee. 1998. Tsunami! 2d ed. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

FICTION:

Buck, Pearl S. 1986. The Big Wave. New York: HarperTrophy.

Fredericks, Anthony D. 2007. The Tsunami Quilt. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press.

Salisbury, Graham. 2007. Night of the Howling Dogs. New York: Random House.

No, it’s not a long list. At least I own all except the Pearl Buck, and I’ve ordered that through the public library.

Unfortunately, the Fredericks and Salisbury aren’t applicable like Dad’s story, and Walt Dudley’s co-author summarized things a bit too succinctly. (Walt’s a former co-worker of Dad’s, hence the nickname. I think he’d be shocked if I used his full first name, and not in a good way. {wink, GRIN}

Remembering how much help I got when I asked for recommendations of books with handicapped heroines, I thought I’d ask if anyone knew of some good books, TV shows, movies, etc. involving tsunami. I figure it’s worth a try. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin