Next Noble Pen Meeting

Apr 19th, 2012 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

We are planning to have a discussion on comma splices at the next meeting.  If anyone wants to contribute tutorial material, let the moderator know.

The US Department of Justice is continuing their lawsuit over the claimed price-fixing of ebooks, saying Steve Jobs and others at his level were involved. (page 1,  page 2).

Victories

Dylan has passed the half-year mark in his quest to write a weekly serial that runs for a year.  It is about 6-8,000 words a week.  He rejected a commission to write something that was too distasteful.

Bill, in a rare move, spent several hours organizing the plot of his novella.

Ciuin was asked by a very respected leader to be the paid educational director for a new Romani group that is starting up, and will be writing history material for home-schooling.

Shannon has sold a few copies of his book.

Education

This article shares some good advice on writing dialog, as does this one.

Inner monolog, putting in a character’s thoughts, is a specialized form of dialog for which the rules perhaps aren’t as clear.  One published author makes a good point about how clumsy italicized inner monologue (or quote marks around thinking, for that matter) can be, and gives an outstanding example of how much better third person sounds while effectively conveying that the character is thinking.

The use and treatment of inner monologue are somewhat debated and you may not find agreement.  Publishers may have individual style guidelines.

This article doesn’t condemn inner monologue entirely, but says that it should be done sparingly and carefully because it treads a line.  The way people actually think is in fragments.  Grammatical sentences won’t sound like thinking and actual thinking won’t be easy to read.

Another consideration is the narrator distance.  If you are writing in omniscient third person, i.e. the narrator may know things the main character does not, then first person inner monologue will stand out as a point of view change.

If you are writing close third person, i.e. all from the character’s POV but told as third person, then a first-person inner thought will be only a subtle change.  Used sparingly, it can emphasize the thoughts without quotes or italics.

Upcoming Schedule

April 19th

Nick
Dylan
Educational

April 26th

Shannon
Dylan
Open slot

May 3rd

Tyree
Nick
Open slot

May 10th
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill