Monday, September 21, 2020

Thaddeus Rutkowski’s “Dinner Prep” is #196 in the never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION

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**** Thaddeus Rutkowski’s “Dinner Prep” is #196 in the never-
ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote that specific excerpt.  All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece


Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? The title of this short fiction is “Dinner Prep.” The name is pretty straightforward—I didn’t consider others. The story is about making dinner for my wife, daughter and myself. “Dinner Prep” sounds more up-to-date than “Dinner Preparation” and snappier than “Making Dinner.” I’m sure many chefs use the phrase “dinner prep” or “meal prep,” but as you’ll see in the story, I am no chef.

 


What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? I wrote this piece of fiction in one sitting. According to my computer files, the first draft was done February 22, 2020, and the second draft was done April 3, 2020. The two versions are very similar: The second has only five more words than the first. 

         

          I revised the story because the editor (Ellen Parker via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ellentparker)  of FRiGG magazine (www.friggmagazine.com)  had asked me to submit new work. I didn’t see much to change when I looked at the story a second time.


Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? My desk looks rather plain and cluttered—it’s made of a door panel laid over two file cabinets. The desk is in a corner room—also our living room—so there is a lot of light. I feel guilty about this arrangement, since my wife’s desk is not in the corner room, and our daughter’s desk (when she is with us—she is away at college now) is likewise not in the corner room. 


What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? Another look at my files tells me I completed the first draft early in the morning and the second draft in midafternoon. I work best in the morning and lose steam as the day goes on. I do work in the evenings, but it is minor work, or work that I must do. I work best in silence, but that is not a given in downtown Manhattan. Music is good when I’m not working too hard. A cup of coffee is always on my desk.

 

Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as reference. This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer. I’m attaching the entire story, “Dinner Prep,” which is about 700 words long. I believe the story is easier to read/grasp than an excerpt from a book. 


DINNER PREP


I’m thinking about how to make a dish from rice and mixed vegetables. I’ve forgotten how to make a dish from these ingredients, but I want to switch what I eat and become healthier. I usually am not vegetarian, but my daughter usually is, and I am cooking for all of us—mother, daughter, and myself. However, I don’t know how to get past step one: making the rice. 

“How much water should I use?” I ask. “How much rice?”

“Look at the directions,” I am told by my wife and daughter.

I see: Measure twice as much water as rice. Boil, then simmer, with the lid on. I apportion the water, then the rice. I add a spoonful of butter and turn on the burner, not to high heat, more like medium. I look for a lid, but the one I find doesn’t fit. Even so, it doesn’t fall off the pot, so I let it balance there. 

I hope the water is the only thing that will simmer. Any one of us could flip our lid—well, not my wife, she wouldn’t do that. She is the calm one—my daughter and I can talk to her in a reasonable way.

I am so wrapped up in making the rice that I ignore the mixed vegetables. I start the chopping, careful not to slice a finger. I have the idea that professional chefs have scars on their fingers from many wayward blades. I’m no chef; I want to keep my fingers as they are: intact. I end up with colorful piles of crudités. I oil a pan (I used to have a wok, but it left my life long ago. Maybe it was not my wok) and shovel in the vegetables.

My next task is to set the table. I am tempted to lay the napkins out flat, but I know my dinner companions want their napkins folded along the diagonal. There must be something aesthetically pleasing about the triangular shape of a diagonal fold, something more attractive than what you get with a horizontal fold. Personally, I don’t see the difference: The napkins are going to be messed up anyway.

I have to jump from the table setting back to the sizzling mixture. I stir the vegetables as they fry. I whisk the simmering rice, then return to the vegetables. The heat is too high. I am getting char-broiled green and white pieces, when I want them slightly browned. I almost forget to add the sesame seasoning and the soy. 

Busy at the stove, I neglect the table. There is the matter of drinking glasses, and not just any glasses—the personal glass for each drinker. I find the correct vessels and look for ice. I’m lucky: There is ice, but not much. It’s time to freeze more water. I wonder how long it will take water to solidify in this particular freezer. We have a cold icebox, but the temperature setting is probably not all the way down to coldest. I don’t know the setting, because I don’t know where the thermostat is. I have not seen or touched the control knob in years, and I’m not about to look for it now. I slide in the ice tray and wait. However, I cannot focus on waiting for ice to freeze; that is like waiting for water to boil. 

The next step is to bring the chairs to the table. Our table is too large for the space it occupies, so one chair (a rocker) has to be slid in, another chair needs to be unfolded, and a third chair must be carried (by me) over the back of the couch. While carrying the chair, I need to watch for the head of my daughter, who might be sitting in the unfolded chair. If I miss her head, I have to be careful not to bump the table. A sharp blow might cause the tabletop to come loose from its support, and the flap might collapse to its original, downward position, and everything on it might fall to the floor. But I carry the chair successfully, and we begin our meal of rice and stir-fried vegetables. 

Our daughter looks at my plate and says, “You are eating too much.” 

 

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? Here is the emotional situation: The man of the house has to figure out how to please the women of the house (who outnumber him), but he’s never going to truly succeed. The story follows the narrator’s effort to make dinner for my wife and daughter and recounts the mistakes he makes along the way. The narrator (the husband and father) exaggerates the steps, the missteps, and the anxious moments. At the end, the dinner is presumably ready to enjoy, but we don’t know this, because the piece ends before anyone actually sits down to eat. To write the story, I imagined a dinner that I might have trouble making—I have not cooked stir-fried vegetables in recent years.

Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked-up rough drafts of this excerpt. There were no deletions, and, as I said, only a few words were added to the revision. Here are the added words:  

 

“Look at the directions,” I am told by my wife and daughter.

 

The editor had asked who was speaking in this sentence, and I clarified.

          Thaddeus Rutkowski is the author of seven books, most recently TRICKS OF LIGHT, a poetry collection.  His novel HAYWIRE won the Asian American Writers Workshop members’ choice award and his memoir GUEST AND CHECK won an Electronic Literature award for multicultural fiction.  He teaches at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.  He received a fiction writing fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts.  He lives in Manhattan with his wife Randi Hoffman.

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Historical Literary Fiction
“The Ash, the Well and the Blue Bell”
http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/108-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ash-well.html 

#109 12 16 2019 Amalia Carosella’s
Historical/Contemporary/Duel Timeline/ Women’s
Fiction
“DAUGHTER OF A THOUSAND YEARS”
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/109-inside-emotion-of-fiction-daughter_17.html

#110 12 19 2019 Laura Bickle’s
Weird Western/Contemporary Fantasy
“DARK ALCHEMY”
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/110-inside-emotion-of-fiction-dark.html

#111 12 27 2019 Brian Pinkerton’s
Science Fiction Thriller
“THE GEMINI EXPERIMENT”

#112  12 28 2019 Sandra de Helen’s
Lesbian Thriller
“TILL DARKNESS COMES”

#113 12 29 2019 Jo Wilde’s
Vampire Thriller
“THE CROSSING”

#114 12 30 2019 Sam Richard’s
Short Story Collection of Weird and Transgressive
Horror
“To Wallow In Ash and Sorrows”

#115 12 31 2019 Duncan B Barlow’s
Literary Fiction Novel
“A DOG BETWEEN US”

#116 01 02 2020 Allison Landa’s
Young Adult Novel
“BAD HAIR”

#117 01 03 2020 Pablo Medina’s
Literary Satire Novel
“THE CUBAN COMEDY”

#118 01 06 2020 William Trent Pancoast’s
Historical/Literary Novel
“THE ROAD TO MATEWAN”

#119 01 07 2020 Jane Bernstein’s
Contemporary Novel
“The Face Tells the Secret”

#120 01 09 2020 Terry Kroenung’s
Young Adult, Historical and Fantasy
“Brimstone And Lily”

#121 01 12 2020 Melissa Yi’s
Fiction Thriller
“GRAVEYARD SHIFT”

#122 01 15 2020 Marcie R. Rendon’s
Crime Thriller
“GIRL GONE MISSING”

#123 01 16 2020 Tori Eldridge’s
Multi Genre Novel
“THE NINJA DAUGHTER”

#124 01 17 2020 Kristen Joy Wilks’s
Christian Romantic Comedy
“YELLOWSTONE YONDERING”

#125 01 20 2020 Susan C. Shea’s
Cozy Mystery
“DRESSED FOR DEATH IN BURGUNDY”


#126  01 22 2020 Phong Nguyen’s
Improvisational Fiction
“ROUNDABOUT”

#127 01 23 2020 Kate Thornton’s
Mystery Short Story In Its Entirety
“Ai Witness”

#128 01 24 2020 Phil McCarron’s
Semi Fictional Essays
“The Great Facepalm: The Farce of 21st Century
Normality”

#129  01 27 2020 Kenneth Weene’s
Historicized Literary Fiction
“Red And White”

#130 01 28 2020 Graham Storrs’s
Science Fiction Thriller
“TimeSplash”


#131 02 08 2020 Angela Slatter’s
Short Story “Terrible As An Army With Banners”
From her Short Story Collection THE BITTERWOOD BIBLE AND OTHER RECOUNTINGS

#132 02 11 2020 Joan Joachim’s
Romance
Just One Kiss

#133 02 16 2020 Kelsey Clifton’s
Science Fiction
A DAY OUT OF TIME

#134 02 17 2020 Soraya M Lane’s
Women Historical Fiction
THE GIRLS OF PEARL HARBOR

#135 03 07 2020
Linked Fiction
BLEACHERS Fifty-Four Linked Fictions
By Joseph Mills

#136 03 15 2020
Science Fiction Romance
BLUE VISION
By Marie Lavender

#137 03 17 2020
Crime Fiction
12 Bullets
by O’Neil De Noux

#138 03 18 2020
Flash Fiction Piece
Radical
by Kelle Grace Gaddis 

#139 03 20 2020
Mystery
HERE BE MONSTERS
By Jamie Sheffield


#140 03 21 2020
Character Driven Novel
UNBROKEN
By Jamie Lisa Forbes

#141 03 23 2020 
Literary Murder Mystery
COLD COUNTRY
By Russell Rowland

#142 04 01 2020 
Sci-Fi/Paranormal
SWEET SLEEP
By Kim Cormack

#143 04 02 2020 
Western Noir Short Story
“Night Rounds”
by James Reasoner

#144 04 03 2020 
Southern Fiction
LITTLE TEA
By Claire Fullerton

#145 04 04 2020
Mainstream novel with elements of crime, mystery, and magic
THE FORGETTING FLOWER
by Karen Hugg 

#146 04 07 2020 
Historical Fiction
MEDICIS DAUGHTER
by Sophie Perinot

#147 04 08 2020
Dark Urban Fantasy with elements of Paranormal Romance
COVEN BORN
by Stephanie Reisner aka AUDREY BRICE

#148 04 13 2020
Mystery With A Fantasy Twist
DEATH LIVES IN THE WATER
By Shoshana Edwards 

#149 04 14 2020
Historical Fiction
ASHES
by Sharon Glogal Friedman 

#150 04 19 2020
Vampire Horror Novelette 
Blood Thrasher:  The Devil’s in the Metal
by Adam Messer

#151 04 25 2020
Historical Fiction
Charis in the World of Wonders
by Marly Youmans

#152 04 29 2020
Historical Fiction
The Master of Verona
by David Blixt

#153 04 30 2020
General Fiction (Family)
Bread Bags & Bullies:  Surviving the 80s
by Steven Manchester 

#154 05 01 2020
Adventure-Thriller/Horror
Into The Ashes
by Lee Murray

#155 05 06 2020
Coming of Age/Crime Novel
All Things Left In The Wild
by James Wade

#156 05 10 2020
Paranormal Mystery
Southern Bound
by Stuart Jaffe

#157 05 13 2020
Mystery/Crime Novel
Yardbird
By Mark Slade

#158 05 15 2020 
Horror/Crime Novel
Hotel Nowhere
By David E Adkins 

#159 05 16 2020
Satire/Crime Novel
THE LYING BASTARD
by Clint Margrave

#160 05 19 2020
Southern Gothic Fiction
REVIVING THE HAWTHORN SISTERS
by Emily Carpenter

#161 05 21 2020
Women’s Domestic Life Fiction
MERCY HOUSE
by Alena Dillon 

#162 05 26 2020
Screenplay/Film
BEAST MODE
by Drew Fortune and Spain Willingham

#163 05 31 2020
Coming of Age/ Psychological Thriller
MY SISTER & OTHER LIARS
by Ruth Dugdall

#164 06 01 2020 
Psychological Thriller
IN HARM’S WAY
by Owen Mullen

#165 06 02 2020 
Small Town Short Story Collection
SNAPSHOT “Old Lady”
by Eliot Parker

#166 06 04 2020
Noir Crime Novel
SKIN OF TATTOOS
by Christina Hoag

#167 06 06 2020
Coming of Age/Historical
THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR
by Ellen Marie Wiseman

#168 06 08 2020
World War Two Historical Fiction
THE PRISONER’S WIFE
by Maggie Brookes

#169 06 09 2020
Novella 
(about the 1960s, 
Rolling Stones in their exile,
genocide, it’s survivors, and
people from places that no longer exist.)
BLUE COAST MYSTERY:  ALMOST SOLVED
by Nick Sweeney

#170 06 11 2020
Family Life/Coming of Age Novel
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL
by Robert Dugoni

#171 06 26 2020
Women’s Divorce Fiction
QUEEN OF THE OWLS
by Barbara Linn Probst

#172 07 01 2020
Short Story “The Belindas” from the Short Story Collection LOVE WAR STORIES 
By Ivelisse Rodriguez

#173 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
07 04 2020
Organized Crime Thriller
BLUES IN THE DARK
by Raymond Benson

#174 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
07 08 2020
Contemporary Literature & Fiction
THE ESCAPE OF MALCOLM POE
by Allison Burnett

#175 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
07 09 2020
Horror Novella
TERMINUS STATION
by Jeff Lyons

#176 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
07 12 2020
20th Century Historical Romance
“The Bootlegger’s Wife”
by Denise Devine

#177 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
07 24 2020
Literary Fiction Novel
“What Drives Men”
by Susan Tepper 

#178 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
07 27 2020
Short story
“Tidings of Comfort and Joyce”
by Kimberly Kurth Gray
 
#179 Inside the Emotion of Fiction 
07 28 2020
Historical Fiction
“Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey”
by Kathleen Rooney

#180 Inside the Emotion of Fiction 
08 04 2020
Screenplay
“BUNNY”
by Shaun Hughes 

#181 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
08 09 2020
Short Story 
“Wrong Road” from the Short Story Collection George’s Mother and Other Weird Stories
by Susan Berliner 

#182 Inside the Emotion of Fiction 
08 11 2020
Thriller Mystery
“Death in the Time of Ice”
by Kaye George

#183 Inside the Emotion of Fiction 
08 13 2020
Screenplay
“Igor and Frankie”
by Jim Picariello

#184 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
08 14 2020
Short Story 
Short Story “Breaking on the Wheel” from the Short Story Collection No Call Too Small. 
by Oscar Martens 

#185 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
08 20 2020
Romance
A Secret, a Safari, a Second Chance
by Liz Fielding

#186 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
08 26 2020
Mystery and Psychological Fiction 
Falling Woman
by Richard Farrell

#187 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
09 03 2020
Children’s Picture Book
MAC AND CHEESE AND THE PERSONAL SPACE INVADER 
By Jolene Gutierrez

#188 Inside the Emotion of Fiction 
09 07 2020
Screenplay
JUDE COLE
By Janelle Marie Evans

#189 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
09 09 2020
Historical Christian Romance
UNTIL JUNE
by Barbara M Britton

#190 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
09 10 2020
Screenplay
THROUGH THE SILENCE
by Elaine Roberts-Kercheff

#191 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
09 16 2020
1960s Historical Fiction
California Dreamin’ Teens Interrupted 2
by KC Sprayberry 

#192 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
09 17 2020
Screenplay
DAUGHTERS LOST TO THE DESERT
by April Snachez

#193 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
09 18 2020
Contemporary Literature and Fiction
THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY
by Clifford Garstang

#194 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
09 19 2020
Crime Fiction
THE ACE OF DIAMONDS
by ES Gibson

#195 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
09 20 2020
Historical Fiction
Katherine-Tudor Duchess
by Tony Riches

#196 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
09 21 2020
Short Fiction
“Dinner Prep”
by Thaddeus Rutkowski