zusammenfassung e_o_i Discovery of the week: writing summaries is difficult! So I might as well file this under a word I have trouble pronouncing. (tsoo-ZA-m'n-fass-oong, German word for summary) The situation: Janet's online creative writing class was cancelled. Since I'd already paid, I asked her to read the first seven chapters of my novel and see if the flow was OK (about 4 hours of work for her, I estimated). And I also said I'd include a summary of the chapters to help her follow along. Less than halfway through the summary: is this worth it? It takes so frigging long! And later: yes, it's useful in sorting things out! I realized that I hadn't put the reason why the Winters had moved (it's because the father got a job preaching at a church in the West Island). Even later: but but but now I need more revisions. Chapter 6: remind the reader that Carol thinks the Nazis never took over Austria (on the basis that The Sound of Music isn't realistic). So she says this to Melodia when the other girl asks if her music-composer relative escaped the country... ...But Carol is thwarting my attempts to make her even understand Mel's question because she keeps talking about the Second Viennese School and how Miriam brought more of a playful attitude to musical experimentation. She's just so happy to find someone at the school who will listen to her. (So this is what it's like, having a hard time making a character do things. Authors have talked about this, and I, foolish newbie, didn't believe them.) 220519 ... epitome of incomprehensibility Hm. Not so much disbelieving them, exactly. More that I thought it didn't relate to me. Anyway, this bit of the summary I was proud of, mostly because I like the word "propensity": "[Carol] wakes up to see a replay of the airplanes crashing into the WTC towers, and she asks Mac a) if a third world war would delay the release of the LOTR movie and b) if he thinks Philip Glass, minimalist New York composer, is okay. Mac suggests that Carol’s propensity to prioritize music composers over the rest of humanity is misguided." 220519 what's it to you? who go blather from