1950s housewife, Irene Pickett, wants to save a failing museum and make a mark in her community, while proving to her family that women can do more in the world than keep house. She bands with three other women in a series of misguided and bumbling attempts to save the museum and showcase the history of their rural, forgotten town.
Second Assignment: The Antagonist
Odilia Delgado is a tough, determined, sometimes ruthless woman, eager to make a name for herself in a man's world in 1950. She wants to be the first woman in a prestigious men's organization in the town. Her brother, a prominent state senator, has always overshadowed her. But being his sister gets her into a lot of doors and she latches on to the museum to create a legacy for herself, and take credit for saving the place. But her ideas for saving the place are not working and Irene battles with her over plans. Odilia is willing to do anything to save the museum, including throwing Irene under the bus, trickery and self-promotion. Despite building a friendship with Irene and the other two 'queens" she sacrifices their friendship for the sake of glory.
Third Assignment: Breakout Titles
1. The Four Queens of the Museum
2. The Four Queens
3. The Museum Queens
Fourth Assignment: Comp Titles
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe- for the tone and humor of a small town, folksy nature and fun camaraderie among women.
Beware the Mermaids - Female friendships, a common purpose among a group of women who battle an outside force.
Call the Midwife - A series of stories about women united in a common cause.
Fifth Assignment: Hookline, conflict and core wound
Irene,a smart and smart-aleck farmer’s wife with big dreams, teams up with three other women in a series of misguided and bungled efforts to save a failing, rural, California museum in the 1950s.
Irene was a crackerjack reporter during WWII in her hometown, but when the men returned, she had to give up her job. She is unhappy with not having something to work towards so she latches on to a board position at a floundering local museum. She is not content just keeping house and needs a bigger purpose in life. She wants to be seen. She bands with three other women to save the museum. But one of the women, Odilia, has her own ideas of how to fix the museum and is using it to elevate her position in the community, regardless of who she hurts in the process. Irene's children and her mother are resentful of the time she spends at the museum, constantly badgering her to focus on her family duties. Irene, insecure and unsure, wants recognition for herself and for the forgotten history of her town.
Sixth Assignment: Inner conflict and secondary conflict
Inner conflict: Irene has always felt disjointed as a 1950s housewife; she never fits in with the other "perfect" mothers. She wants more than just to can pickles and wants her kids and her own mother to see she is doing something important for her community. She feels unseen and unheard, just like her town's history is unseen and unheard. But Odilia's domineering presence intimidates her and she feels weak and unsuccessful. She both admires and fears Odilia and struggles to find strength to counter Odilia's destructive ways.
Hypothetical scene - The manager of the museum drinks too much and spills some of the town's juiciest secrets in front of a large crowd. The other members of the museum board are guided by Odilia to fire the manager. They forget to even talk to Irene, even though she is on the board. She feels slighted and ignored.
Secondary conflict: Irene's daughter, Pauline, becomes enamored with her friend's mother, the lovely Joyce, who is an ex-fashion model. Pauline idolizes Joyce, viewing Irene as dowdy and insignificant. Irene struggles to teach her daughter the importance of setting goals and achieving them, and in valuing women for something other than beauty. She longs to be seen by her children as a person, not just a mom machine.
Hypothetical - Irene discovers that Pauline has not invited her to the mother/daughter tea at school but has been talking about it with Joyce. Her daughter tells her she thought Irene would be too busy at the museum to attend the tea. Irene feels guilty and sad that her daughter thought so little of her because of her focus on the museum.
Assignment seven: Setting
The setting for the novel is the fictional Walker, CA, a small rural city in the Central Valley of California. Dry, dusty, hot as hell, full of hard working people who are smart and ambitious, good-natured and honest. They are homespun and the town is full of 1950s atmosphere (dungarees, pick-up trucks, tractors, taffeta dresses, oil wells pumping, ladies at the beauty shop under the dryer, cotton pickers in the field) and the town is filled with a variety of characters who serve as foils to Irene's goals. The Walker County Museum is a 21-acres section of land that is filled with old houses (1800s) and buildings that have been moved to the location, in a Jamestown-type of museum. It is set in the middle of Walker's downtown. A large clock tower is the key landmark at the museum. The buildings and artifacts are full of stories of Walker pioneers who tamed the land, farmed, drilled for oil, built a city. A quirky group of people come in and out of the museum, some good, some bad, some funny.
New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
in New York Write to Pitch 2023 and 2024
Posted
First Assignment: Story Statement
1950s housewife, Irene Pickett, wants to save a failing museum and make a mark in her community, while proving to her family that women can do more in the world than keep house. She bands with three other women in a series of misguided and bumbling attempts to save the museum and showcase the history of their rural, forgotten town.
Second Assignment: The Antagonist
Odilia Delgado is a tough, determined, sometimes ruthless woman, eager to make a name for herself in a man's world in 1950. She wants to be the first woman in a prestigious men's organization in the town. Her brother, a prominent state senator, has always overshadowed her. But being his sister gets her into a lot of doors and she latches on to the museum to create a legacy for herself, and take credit for saving the place. But her ideas for saving the place are not working and Irene battles with her over plans. Odilia is willing to do anything to save the museum, including throwing Irene under the bus, trickery and self-promotion. Despite building a friendship with Irene and the other two 'queens" she sacrifices their friendship for the sake of glory.
Third Assignment: Breakout Titles
1. The Four Queens of the Museum
2. The Four Queens
3. The Museum Queens
Fourth Assignment: Comp Titles
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe- for the tone and humor of a small town, folksy nature and fun camaraderie among women.
Beware the Mermaids - Female friendships, a common purpose among a group of women who battle an outside force.
Call the Midwife - A series of stories about women united in a common cause.
Fifth Assignment: Hookline, conflict and core wound
Irene, a smart and smart-aleck farmer’s wife with big dreams, teams up with three other women in a series of misguided and bungled efforts to save a failing, rural, California museum in the 1950s.
Irene was a crackerjack reporter during WWII in her hometown, but when the men returned, she had to give up her job. She is unhappy with not having something to work towards so she latches on to a board position at a floundering local museum. She is not content just keeping house and needs a bigger purpose in life. She wants to be seen. She bands with three other women to save the museum. But one of the women, Odilia, has her own ideas of how to fix the museum and is using it to elevate her position in the community, regardless of who she hurts in the process. Irene's children and her mother are resentful of the time she spends at the museum, constantly badgering her to focus on her family duties. Irene, insecure and unsure, wants recognition for herself and for the forgotten history of her town.
Sixth Assignment: Inner conflict and secondary conflict
Inner conflict: Irene has always felt disjointed as a 1950s housewife; she never fits in with the other "perfect" mothers. She wants more than just to can pickles and wants her kids and her own mother to see she is doing something important for her community. She feels unseen and unheard, just like her town's history is unseen and unheard. But Odilia's domineering presence intimidates her and she feels weak and unsuccessful. She both admires and fears Odilia and struggles to find strength to counter Odilia's destructive ways.
Hypothetical scene - The manager of the museum drinks too much and spills some of the town's juiciest secrets in front of a large crowd. The other members of the museum board are guided by Odilia to fire the manager. They forget to even talk to Irene, even though she is on the board. She feels slighted and ignored.
Secondary conflict: Irene's daughter, Pauline, becomes enamored with her friend's mother, the lovely Joyce, who is an ex-fashion model. Pauline idolizes Joyce, viewing Irene as dowdy and insignificant. Irene struggles to teach her daughter the importance of setting goals and achieving them, and in valuing women for something other than beauty. She longs to be seen by her children as a person, not just a mom machine.
Hypothetical - Irene discovers that Pauline has not invited her to the mother/daughter tea at school but has been talking about it with Joyce. Her daughter tells her she thought Irene would be too busy at the museum to attend the tea. Irene feels guilty and sad that her daughter thought so little of her because of her focus on the museum.
Assignment seven: Setting
The setting for the novel is the fictional Walker, CA, a small rural city in the Central Valley of California. Dry, dusty, hot as hell, full of hard working people who are smart and ambitious, good-natured and honest. They are homespun and the town is full of 1950s atmosphere (dungarees, pick-up trucks, tractors, taffeta dresses, oil wells pumping, ladies at the beauty shop under the dryer, cotton pickers in the field) and the town is filled with a variety of characters who serve as foils to Irene's goals. The Walker County Museum is a 21-acres section of land that is filled with old houses (1800s) and buildings that have been moved to the location, in a Jamestown-type of museum. It is set in the middle of Walker's downtown. A large clock tower is the key landmark at the museum. The buildings and artifacts are full of stories of Walker pioneers who tamed the land, farmed, drilled for oil, built a city. A quirky group of people come in and out of the museum, some good, some bad, some funny.