Saturday, May 25, 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors 5/26/13

Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged 18-yr-old Latino leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.

While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices." So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.

All the previous excerpts are collected here.

Last week, Sandy and Razor made a narrow escape from the gang. I’m skipping the part where Razor tries to stop something pretty bad from happening to people he knows but he’s unable to. He and Sandy are both deeply affected by the awful events, Razor more so. I’m skipping it because it’s pivotal and I have to save some stuff for the novel itself!

The guys make it back to Sandy’s car. They take a few minutes to collect themselves then Sandy asks Razor what his real name is. Razor hesitates—that’s not something he tells just anybody—but says his name is Neal. Sandy expected something Hispanic and Neal explains that he’s named after his grandfather who was Anglo (white). Sandy observes,
“So, wait, all that time you picked on me for being white, and you’re part white yourself. That’s not fair.”

“Nothin’s fair, what happened tonight ain’t fair. I always been in the barrios so I ain’t Anglo, I’m Latino—people like you spit on people like me.”

“Not all of us are bad.” He stuck a hand out and said cheerfully, “Neal, I’m Sandy. Good to meet you.”

“Liar.”

“I met kind of a scary guy called Razor, but I think I’ll get along with you better.”
Tag along at Weekend Writing Warriors as we blog hop all over the world, reading fabulous snippets from works in progress, works just published and some just about to be. It's interesting to read comments and see who had the same impression as you and who read the snippet a different way. Personally, I not only love the kind things people say about my own story, but the 8 sentence limit forces me to think about what needs to be said and what doesn't. That's very valuable for a writer!

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Comments gratefully accepted :-D

13 comments:

  1. I like that final line you used- it's both meaningful and funny.
    ~Summer
    My Blog

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  2. I guess she is pushing him for a new life, new name, new personality game. :)

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  3. Summer is right. The last line is a doozy. Great job!

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  4. Neal! Who would have guessed that! Great element of surprise there, Marcia. Yes, that last line says so much. Loving this story and can't wait to read the next excerpt. Bravo!

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  5. Well done. Guess we'll call him Neal from now on.

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  6. Great last line there.

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  7. Great last comment from Sandy :-) perhaps Neal met his match :-) Well done.

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  8. I like Sandy's attitude but I can certainly see why Neal feels nothing's fair. Another excellent excerpt!

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  9. I like it. He's slowly breaking down Razor's wall to find Neal. Nicely done! Great dialogue as usual. :)

    History Sleuth's Milk Carton Murders

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  10. This is a delightful exchange. Yep, Neal being part white was a neat edition, and Sandy's overly friendly--bordering ditzy response is perfect. :-) Nice selection for this week, Marcia. :-)

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  11. That last line is just awesome. And who would have expected Razor to have such a... normal, Anglo name. It isn't even that it's an Anglo name - it just somehow sounds more like a science geek than a gang member.

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  12. awwww you guys are the best! Thanks so much, I deeply appreciate your comments.

    And I apologize for not making the rounds yet, but I promise I will!!

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