You might be amused by this little story. Imagine the scene: back in May, I was holed up in my basement apartment in Harrisburg, Pa., writing a short story for the Mark Twain Writing Competition. We had to start with Twain’s first two chapters of “A Murder, A Mystery and a Marriage,” and finish the story using the elements suggested in the title.
In the second draft, I had created a courtship scene between two of the characters, and I wanted a few lines of classical wooing thrown in. Now, I’ve written a lot of stories and a few novels, but this brought me up short. My knowledge in the classical poetry line is limited to little ditties about an old man from Nantucket, and poems like
Iron is iron
and steel is steel
What’s a kiss
without a feel?
Something about this told me it was not prime wooing material. Some assistance was needed
::cue horns, a la Korngold::
The SDMB to the rescue! In the thread “The Most Romantic Lines in Literature,” I found two examples that fit my story very prettily. Number Six offered Lord Byron’s “She walks in beauty like the night” and Dry gave the “In delay there lies no plenty” speech from “Twelfth Night.” They were perfect. They were lovely lines, they were appropriate for a man to use in wooing a woman, and they were short, an important need for a story that was limited to 5,000 words
So, Number Six and Dry, I would like to thank you very much for your contributions. They added an element of learning that I couldn’t have found anyplace else. The very least I could do is acknowledge your help publicly, and besides, it might amuse you to see what effect your contributions had.
PS: The story placed second out of 500 entires. The story can be found at http://www.buffalolib.org.