Next Noble Pen Meeting

February 27th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Successful novelist James Patterson is giving one million dollars to about a hundred independent bookstores, up to $15,000 apiece.  He thinks they are endangered and are important in making our literary culture available.  He also helps college students buy books at independent stores.

Victories

All our victorious battles were non-literary this week.

Education

Genre fiction books, according to Wikipedia, are plot-driven works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre.  A lot of books fall into a “standard” classification in genre fiction, such as Crime, Fantasy, Western, Romance, or Horror, etc., but not all do.  It is possible to have a mixed or cross-genre book such as a sci-fi thriller, historical drama, romantic mystery, or even science fiction western.

To sell a book that mixes genres, it needs to meet most of the expectations of both.  Michelle Richmond offers some advice on mixing genres.  Here’s another article on cross-genre books.

Upcoming Schedule

Feb 27th
Tyree
Cassie
Dylan (end of S&L)

Mar 6th
Nick
Tyree ?
Open slot

Mar 13th
Open slots

Mar 20th
Open slots

Mar 27th
Janice
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill