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An introduction is in order:
I am best known as gg. At least on this site anyways. I was, for 33-years, a journalist, mostly in newspapers. I created Young Writers Project in 2003 as a newspaper feature to showcase best work by young people and to offer ideas for improving writing and improving the quality of teaching of writing. I turned YWP into an independent non-profit in 2006 and ran it until 2018 when I handed the organization over to the wonderful Susan Reid. I stepped down and, mostly, away because I am 680 years old and thought it time I pursue my own projects before my brain gets too muddled. So in the mornings (and sometimes all day) I work on a fiction and in the afternoons (mostly) I take pictures. I am working on the first of a series of digital stories (text, audio and images) for vtdigger.org about a young woman farmer who loves what she does. And, perhaps, that will be the theme – people who love what they're doing. My next will be a man who owns an orchard, then another dairy farmer – also very successful and very entrepreneurial – and then a farrier. I have been working on these for nearly a year in total.
After a flawed start on a novel (26,000 words) I deleted the entirety of it (it sucked) and dove into planning, researching, and writing backstories on all the characters (actually thinking it out before I write) until this fall when I hit upon my structure: a novel in short stories, each interconnected, with overlapping characters and the passage of some 70 years of time. Three of the stories have been presented by Vermont Stage Company in its Winter Tales program. (I'm sure you all are familiar with WT!) This year's story was the most exciting for me – the deepest and most complex and, interestingly the most surprising (for me anyway) because the idea emerged from a day of photography at the Tunbridge World's Fair. I spent 13 hours at the Fair and took some 600 photos, but this man stood out:
willie-2.jpg
He stood out because of his eyes – sad and happy at the same time. He also told me his son had died and he'd sold his farm off. In one sentence he told me that; it was the only thing he said to me other than consenting to have his picture taken. It haunted me all the way home and I dashed in and wrote the first draft of the story. I finished it on the 11th draft some one month later. You can read it and hear it here: https://geoffreygevalt.com/writing/willie Please read or listen to it. I'd be interested in knowing what you think and I believe, too, that it shows you my style of storytelling.
Because that's all writing is, after all, no matter the genre, telling a story.
I could tell you a lot of stories (and would, given half the chance) about the many writers I have learned from on this site over its 14-year-life or about my 33 years as a journalist or about growing up in a tiny farm town of 640 people. But you don't have time for all that. What is more important is to say that I am looking forward to working with each of you over the next two months as you create some knock-em-dead plays.
I take this project seriously, BUT I also want you to have fun. I want you to create characters, spin a yarn, dig deep into emotion, and, maybe I said this, have fun. All I ask is that you dive in with us. We have some special guests coming in to help and you will gain a lot – even if your play is not selected for presentation at this year's Vermont Young Playwrights Festival in May. Because writing is fun. And writing plays is a blast.
For the record, I can be reached via email or msg should you have a question, need a comment or have a problem. I'm not as good as I used to be about responding quickly. Chalk it up to age. Or to my doing other things. Forgive. And if you can't stand the wait, call me at 324-9537, Vermont area code.
Be well. Get your mind cooking. And I look forward.
I am best known as gg. At least on this site anyways. I was, for 33-years, a journalist, mostly in newspapers. I created Young Writers Project in 2003 as a newspaper feature to showcase best work by young people and to offer ideas for improving writing and improving the quality of teaching of writing. I turned YWP into an independent non-profit in 2006 and ran it until 2018 when I handed the organization over to the wonderful Susan Reid. I stepped down and, mostly, away because I am 680 years old and thought it time I pursue my own projects before my brain gets too muddled. So in the mornings (and sometimes all day) I work on a fiction and in the afternoons (mostly) I take pictures. I am working on the first of a series of digital stories (text, audio and images) for vtdigger.org about a young woman farmer who loves what she does. And, perhaps, that will be the theme – people who love what they're doing. My next will be a man who owns an orchard, then another dairy farmer – also very successful and very entrepreneurial – and then a farrier. I have been working on these for nearly a year in total.
After a flawed start on a novel (26,000 words) I deleted the entirety of it (it sucked) and dove into planning, researching, and writing backstories on all the characters (actually thinking it out before I write) until this fall when I hit upon my structure: a novel in short stories, each interconnected, with overlapping characters and the passage of some 70 years of time. Three of the stories have been presented by Vermont Stage Company in its Winter Tales program. (I'm sure you all are familiar with WT!) This year's story was the most exciting for me – the deepest and most complex and, interestingly the most surprising (for me anyway) because the idea emerged from a day of photography at the Tunbridge World's Fair. I spent 13 hours at the Fair and took some 600 photos, but this man stood out:
willie-2.jpg
He stood out because of his eyes – sad and happy at the same time. He also told me his son had died and he'd sold his farm off. In one sentence he told me that; it was the only thing he said to me other than consenting to have his picture taken. It haunted me all the way home and I dashed in and wrote the first draft of the story. I finished it on the 11th draft some one month later. You can read it and hear it here: https://geoffreygevalt.com/writing/willie Please read or listen to it. I'd be interested in knowing what you think and I believe, too, that it shows you my style of storytelling.
Because that's all writing is, after all, no matter the genre, telling a story.
I could tell you a lot of stories (and would, given half the chance) about the many writers I have learned from on this site over its 14-year-life or about my 33 years as a journalist or about growing up in a tiny farm town of 640 people. But you don't have time for all that. What is more important is to say that I am looking forward to working with each of you over the next two months as you create some knock-em-dead plays.
I take this project seriously, BUT I also want you to have fun. I want you to create characters, spin a yarn, dig deep into emotion, and, maybe I said this, have fun. All I ask is that you dive in with us. We have some special guests coming in to help and you will gain a lot – even if your play is not selected for presentation at this year's Vermont Young Playwrights Festival in May. Because writing is fun. And writing plays is a blast.
For the record, I can be reached via email or msg should you have a question, need a comment or have a problem. I'm not as good as I used to be about responding quickly. Chalk it up to age. Or to my doing other things. Forgive. And if you can't stand the wait, call me at 324-9537, Vermont area code.
Be well. Get your mind cooking. And I look forward.
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