Writing Corey in a Grocery Store

As you can tell from the time stamp, I didn’t exactly get to finishing my story last night. In fact, I didn’t even start it, but luckily today existed so I did it then.

As of now, “Geneva Gritz Goes to the Grocery Store” is unedited but complete. Corey discovers that she no longer likes Planter’s Peanuts and decided to give potatoes a try, so Geneva deals with it. That is basically all that happens, but I think that the story gives background for Corey that the collection insofar has otherwise lacked. In writing today, I decided that Corey is not ditzy, but instead is entirely enthralled by her own world. I hint at her elusiveness with comments which show she has a complicated life outside of the space contained within the stories. Corey is generally disconnected to Geneva, and she’s rather apathetic to the majority of her and Tinny’s endeavors with exception of this particular grocery trip. Also, in this story I decided that Corey was raised by intelligent slugs, so I think I’ll definitely have to play with that in the future (maybe she likes to slither around the floor or lay on the ground when it’s raining? Maybe she’s terrified of salt?).

For story purposes, I know I need to edit my ending (right now it is rather abrupt) and include more of Tinny (the ram) since he is such a central character in the rest of the stories. Also, I need to figure out what he eats, because before I had him dining on hemp from Whole Foods but now I realize that as a ram, Tinny would likely be eating from bales of hay or something like that. I don’t know because I am not a farmer, but I will certainly research more to figure it out.

I will also be editing the story to better fit an audiobook format and cater to blind children. Tomorrow I’ll post my research and comment on how it factored into my edits.

Signed,

The Writer

SLOTH

Who is Geneva Gritz and Why Do I Care About Her?

According to twelve year old me,

Geneva Gritz is a young girl, at the age of ten. She has curly strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. There is a gap between her two front teeth, and freckles dot her beneath the eyes.  She is short for her age at 4’ 3”. She has a pet ram named Tinny (short for Tin Can) and enjoys trying the impossible. She lives by herself in an abandoned warehouse with her best friend Corey (she’s a girl) and Tinny (the Ram). She gets all of her money from her Aunt, who is rich and couldn’t care less about her.

I began the Geneva Gritz chronicles with my mother while we waited in the urgent care center to either fix my broken arm or cure my scarlet fever—neither of us can really remember why we were there. We can remember, however, that it was taking forever, and Candy Crush just wasn’t cutting it. As to avoid death by bureaucracy lethargy, my mother opened the pages application of her iPad and started typing. I instinctively added details, and so Geneva Gritz was born.

The story was about Tinny (the ram) getting his horns stuck in a popcorn bowl. He too was waiting in the urgent care center with annoyance parallel to our. We used Geneva’s orphanhood and Tinny’s pageant career as context. Corey acted as the lax roommate. Geneva became fluent in Japanese.

My mother told me (and continues to tell me to this day—seriously, she said it last week) that my career is in Geneva Gritz. Because of this, I have jumped at any opportunity to write her. In high school, when the creative writing majors were assigned children’s comedies, I wrote of Geneva’s short-lived career in the shrimp and blimp industry. When we were asked for children’s books, I introduced Dame Judith Gritz, the dreadful aunt with too much money. Now, in a college-level children’s literature course, I figure I should flesh out my supporting character, Corey. I mean, what is she even doing?

Throughout the stories, Corey is ditzy or dumb or apathetic. She never knows what’s going on, but it’s always in a different way. In “Geneva Gritz Goes to the Grocery Store,” (the story I will be using for this project), I plan to solidify her character as a foil which demonstrates the brilliance that is Geneva. I also think Corey invited a lot of room for comedy, so I hope that will help.

Anyway, tonight I am writing. I might update after I’m done. I might not. I guess it will be a surprise.

Signed,
The Writer

SLOTH