Fixed Up -- Or Is It?

The property manager here at the trailer park has finally gotten around to cleaning up the storm damage. (It finally quit raining long enough for the ground to dry enough to support heavy equipment.)

In my opinion, the man went a little overboard in some areas.

First of all, he took down and took out all the old dead and dying trees on his side if the already-replaced storm-damaged fence.

He removed falling-down 'structures' and slanting-sideways sheds. (The kids all always wanting to make these rickety traps into clubhouses and such.)

Then he removed where the tree fell across the other trees very near the electrical (and possibly other) wires.

Then the craziness started. Where he took out the dead trees, he dug up the ground, All the grass and weeds growing right up to the fence have been removed, scraped from the earth itself, leaving a broad expanse of dry brown dirt.





He removed the entire copse of trees the divided one hillside from the other, where the children play. The trees that held the hill up, I think. Erosion and gravity and the compensation of green growing roots reaching deep and holding it all together.

after the storm

where are the trees

invitation to erosion.

I dread the coming rains, starting with the "brief, but heavy" storms that pop up with summer humidity. The winds that pick up balls and dirt ahead f the downpours. The winds that sometimes come with sunrise and sunset.
I hope that our trailer are far enough away from the resulting quagmires and landslides. (Safe enough from landslides; not so sure about the quagmire between the ends of the trailers and the new fence,)

(And what are the property owners on the other side of that fence going to think and do when the mud runs over into their property?)

What if the resultant mud crosses over to the highway?
What if the mud chokes the lake?
What if a dog or cat or child gets stuck in the soup, sledding down the mudslide?

Only time will tell. Perhaps the brief but heavies will wait until new weeds are grown in. Perhaps there will be no wild winds. Perhaps parents will be able to prevent ALL their children from ALL their mischief.

Stranger things have happened.
Haven't they?

Reading "It". and Writing.

I am reading "It" by Stephen King.

Yes, I know I'm thirty years or so later than the rest of the world, but this is the first time the book has made its way to me. That's how I do most of my reading. The books come to me. Sometimes it takes thirty years.

It's a difficult read. Numerous characters, each with a back story, as well as the current story. Keeping the reader engaged on all levels. Each character fits into the story the way a jigsaw puzzle fits together. You cant leave one out or make two into one -- the picture will not be complete; will not be what it is supposed to be. Each back story fits into each character in the same way; with/for the same reasons. Putting it all together, connecting sky to trees to earth, is an epic job.

It's done well. This reader is engaged with all phases of the story (and story telling.) I just wish it would move a little faster!

Someone once said of one of my stories, that it would work better as a movie or program. I wasn't sure what she meant at the time, but reading this novel has enlightened me. I now know what she meant.
This novel would work much better as a visual (or even audio) program. The characters can and do and will carry the story.
But the story must be told, with words, and words can be bulky.

"Show, don't tell" is (cliched) advice given to writers, but the fact is you cant do storytelling without the telling. You have to tell the words that show the actions. Or the settings, or the motives. You get more than a handful (literally) of characters in on the action, and the telling of their roles slows down the general forward thrust of the story.

My forementioned story has many of the same components as this one. Many characters . Back stories. Back stories unknown to the others. Yes, it may well work better as an acted-out story, rather than a told one.

But someone has to tell the actors, don't they?

I am heartened by this discovery. That my story (different genre; different style; different audience) has so many same attributes as a story told by a master storyteller. My story has faults that are shared by a story told by the King.

I couldn't ask for much more than that.