Category Archives: Writing Tips

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Hayden Howard: Short Stories with Creative Wordplay

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In his fun short stories, John Hayden Howard used creative wordplay and unique characterization in 1940s to 1960s historical settings.

The Oxford Language Dictionary defines wordplay as “the witty exploitation of the meanings and ambiguities of words.” My own definition might be “describing settings and characters in an unusually creative way that make me laugh, or say a-hah!”

In John Hayden Howard‘s short story Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ (in REAWAKENED WORLDS: Vintage Dystopian and Sci-Fi by a Master Storyteller) note what I mean about his wordplay and characterization:

Kindle Quote from the story Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ, in the book Reawakened Worlds: Vintage Dystopian and Sci-Fi by a Master Storyteller, John Hayden Howard.

When I see words like speed graphics and box brownies, I get the gist of them while knowing I’ve a bit to learn about old-timey camera equipment. Since Hayden wrote this story between 1951-’52 (based on the address on his original manuscript, written in St. Augustine FL) and set the story in the 1940s, there was no need for him to explain what kind of equipment this was to his readers back then.

But for the curious 2020s crowd, this is what those historic cameras looked like:

Graflex Speed Graphic camera (Creative Commons)
Kodak Brownie camera

Also note the way Hayden describes the appearance of the reporters: “Country, with bowl-head haircuts, pants don’t break on their shoe-tops, one still with a price tag on his coat.” So much imagery there! Those words also reveal the opinions and personality of the main character, The Champ, telling his story in first person.

Also in this same story, Hayden drops breadcrumbs about time travelers. Pay close attention to those breadcrumbs, as they greatly impact what happens at the end of the story. Who, exactly, is the champ fighting?

Some strong yet subtle clues come in near the end of the story, for example: “You were my hero when I was a kid.” Don’t miss those clues! The last few lines of the story are especially subtle reveals. If you aren’t already familiar with Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, and Jack Johnson, see their biographies.

Here are hints though: these were the time periods in which these 3 boxers were champions—Joe Lewis (1934-1951), Jack Dempsey (1919-1926), and Jack Johnson (1908-1915). Galento fought Joe Lewis in 1931. There’s a fun Wikipedia article on Galento, who was said to have boxed a kangaroo and then a bear, as publicity stunts. And as you keep all these dates in mind, remember that the boxing match in Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ was set in the late 1940s. I wish I’d known all this before I read this story, as it makes it twice the fun.

I must be honest though that Hayden fooled me. When I realized all the previously mentioned boxers were real, I assumed Redhead must be too. I spent an hour searching the internet for a famous boxer named Taylor in 1951. I felt like a dummy later, realizing it was impossible, because Hayden wrote this story when he was only 26 years old. Meaning–all boxers he knew of had to be alive then or before that. Any future boxers would still be babies or not born yet. If this still puzzles you, or if you get it, tweet me @LaurieSargent. I’m just hoping not to introduce a story spoiler here if you intend to read Reawakened Worlds.

The story is especially fun to read in the print editions, as the ten rounds are laid out neatly, and the collectable hardcover is a delight to hold. Can you tell that I’m one of Hayden Howard’s greatest fans? Volume Two will be out in 2024 and hopefully a boxed set. Also, the audiobook is now in production, and I already like what the narrator is doing to make The Champ’s boxing match exciting.

I admit that I’m biased, but I never would have compiled and edited his works had I not loved his stories and creative characters. I must add too that I’m not the kind of person who likes to watch boxing, so this story drew me in specifically by the characters, historical references, and surprise ending.

Laurie

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New Book: I Still Matter

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Book cover image for I Still Matter: Finding Meaning in Your Life at Any Age, compiled by Harlan Rector and Edward Mickolus with contributor Laurie Winslow Sargent.
I Still Matter, by Harlan A. Rector and Edward F. Mickolus

I Still Matter is a new book that encourages gratefulness. It was compiled by Harlan Rector, movie trailer voice-over artist, and Edward Mickolus, 33 years in the CIA and a prolific author. I’m pleased to have a story of my own, The One, in I Still Matter.

Sometimes we as authors have a story itching to be told. It’s a marvelous thing when, simultaneously, someone compiling a book asks if we happen to have a story to contribute.

Harlan Rector and Edward Mickolus both have remarkable, yet widely different, histories. What they have in common is a love for good stories, leading them to co-create the I Matter three-book series, of which the most recent is: I Still Matter: Finding Meaning in Your Life at Any Age, published last month.

Harlan Rector and Edward Mickolus

When I first met Harlan at church, I was most impressed with his kind manner and the tenderness and care he shows his wife, who he’s been married to for 65 years. He is the epitome of gratefulness.

I had no idea at the time I’d met a famous voice-over artist. You can hear his recognizable voice in trailers for movies including Maleficent and Night at the Museum, and in a video game trailer for Harry Potter, PlayStation 2, Harry Potter. Harlan was the signature voice of The History Channel between 1995 and 1999.

He’s also been a caricature artist, and producer of a radio series and a musical. In movies, he’s the voice of The System in the short sci-fi film, EVT (Winner Best Film, St. Louis 48 Hour Film Project 2014) and narrator for the 1990 TV Movie and documentary, What’s Up, Doc? A Salute to Bugs Bunny (1990). You can hear more voice-overs at his website, HarlanRector.com. I instantly recognized his voice in commercials advertising Quaker Oats, Chevy, etc. His voice-over for Folgers coffee reminds me of “the best part of waking up”. It’s a strange sensation to know someone’s voice before ever meeting them!

Edward worked in the Central Intelligence Agency for 33 years (in analytical, operational, management positions), receiving CIA Career Intelligence and the Clandestine Service Medals. He’s the author of 40 non-fiction books and 100+ articles and reviews, including titles on topics related to international terrorism. Fellow writers will appreciate his title Spycraft for Thriller Writers: How to Write Spy Novels, TV Shows and Movies Accurately and Not Be Laughed at by Real-Life Spies. But he has a funny side too, contributing humor to 14 publications.

I Still Matter (and you do too!)

Their latest book, I Still Matter, is an anthology of stories from 35 authors about how people influence us for good, and how we can make a difference in others’ lives and inspire them.

My own story in it, “The One”, is about a miracle that connected me with a reader of my own parenting books on the other side of the world, in the Philippines. We have mutually encouraged each other for eighteen years since. I’ve had the chance to see–through Facebook–her children grow from preschoolers to college graduates. That story was a good fit for this I Matter book, showing how people can impact our lives in unusual ways. I feel not only gratefulness for the miracle that inspired that story, but also for my opportunity to connect with Harlan and Edward. They enrich my own life as I hear their unusual life stories.

Who has impacted you and how? Tell them, if you can. They may need to hear that today. You can also leave a comment below about someone who has affected you mightily.

Most likely there are many people grateful for you, too.

Laurie

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1848: An Abolitionist Bill for Secession

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Little-known History ~ Abolitionist voters in Massachusetts, 17 years before the 13th amendment, proposed a bill: denounce slavery or secede from the Union.

When I found this document accidentally during a family ancestry search, I felt heartened. In these days of racial discord, it’s nice to see evidence of people who always thought slavery a horror and fought hard to destroy it. I’d never heard before of any bills proposing a state secede unless slavery was abolished, have you?

Sadly, the bill did not pass. Yet it inspires me to see seven names connected with my family tree (Nickerson, Doane, and Robbins). Grandpa’s middle name was Robbins; his mother’s parents were Robbins and Nickerson. Perhaps some of your own ancestors are in this list of signers.

I know we can just as easily find dark histories buried in our family trees, but we can at least be proud of these brave people who signed this in 1848. And surely to get to the point of creating a bill, they must have been fighting slavery long before.

Taking a closer look in the document itself, with eight parts, I-VIII, we see slavery declared:

“a covenant with the death, and an agreement with hell”.

The proposed bill decried that as long as the Commonwealth consented to slavery, the government would be “morally and politically responsible for all the cruelties and horrors of the slave system.” The bill also requested, in near-poetic and faith-filled words:

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Calculating Characters in Family History

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In writing history – family history or a historical biography— using a little math humanizes characters so we can see them as former living, breathing human beings.

An ancestry chart can provide nuts and bolts about people: birth dates, death dates, marriage dates.  But how can those dates tell a story?

While researching one interesting true character in my own tree for a history magazine article, I learned the following about a guy named John. Read (but feel free to skim) this next paragraph. I guarantee it’s boring, but a fresher approach follows:

John Martin Gose (1825-1919) married Hannah Jane McQuown (1831-1925) in 1854. They moved from Missouri to the Washington Territory in 1864 with five children, Thomas Phelps (b. 1855), Dora (b. 1856), Mack (b.1859), John (b. 1861) and Christopher (b.1863). They arrived in Walla Walla in 1865. A sixth child, Oscar (b. 1865 or 1866) was born there.

With no additional information other than those dates and locations, can we discern more about what this family was like and make their story more interesting?

1 calculator + 1 family tree = more compelling stories.

Doing a little math with the dates provided, this picture emerges:

24-year-old John and his wife Hannah, 22, began their year-long journey on the Oregon Trail with five children all under ten years old. In their covered wagon were Phelps (9), Dora (8), Mack (5), John (3) and Christopher, a nursing baby. After arrival in Walla Walla, Hannah had another child, Oscar — she’d been expecting him either during the during the arduous journey or shortly after arriving in the new settlement. Years later, when the children were teens, tragedy struck. To the devastation of John, Hannah, and the siblings, Oscar died when he was only 12 years old. 

Although I was able to confirm that yes, they traveled the Oregon Trail, dates and locations alone strongly suggested that initially. All other details in the previous paragraph came from my simply subtracting birth dates from death dates, then imagining what that must have been like for them. Who knew math could tell a story?

Does this give you an impulse to look at your own ancestral tree in a new way? Eager to find stories about your own family history? Whip out your calculator too! Let me know what stories you discover.

If you think that’s a fun way to learn about your ancestors, you may like this post, too: A 1915 Yearbook Shows Teen Life 105 Years Ago