Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 30th, 2012 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

All the news before it happens!  Jane Hu assembled a timeline of the future from various published works.  Of course, there were those 1950’s future images that had everybody commuting by personal aircraft, too.  Another future is predicted here that focuses on a lot of our worries.

It’s hard to make predictions – especially about the future. ~ George W. Bush, Robert Storm Petersen, and others.

The future ain’t what it used to be. ~ Yogi Berra

The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create. ~Leonard I. Sweet

Victories

Dylan wrote 35,000 words in one day on his serial.  His story “Regrettable Decisions” got a helpful rejection and an invitation to resubmit.

Education

Dylan brought in a sheet which explains how styles work in modern word processors.  Shannon brought a 1-page handout of statements by Robert J. Sawyer about copy editing and grammar.  I’m guessing they would share with others who missed out if requested.

The English Language, a User’s Guide, by Jack Lynch at Rutgers, offers advice on a wide variety of topics.  His disregard for absolute rules is interesting.

Hell, there are no rules here – we’re trying to accomplish something. ~ Thomas Edison

If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.  ~Katharine Hepburn

It’s not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them. ~T.S. Eliot

Upcoming Schedule

Aug 30th

Tyree
Dylan

Sept 6th

Nick
Tyree?
Open slot

Sept 13th

Dylan
Tyree?
Open slot

Sept 20th

Nick
Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 23rd, 2012 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Signup for upcoming review slots has been light, I suppose due to everyone’s summer activities.  Here’s a good chance to dust off some of your work and see what people think of it.

Victories

Tyree sold another interplanetary adventure story for 13-14 year old boys.

Ciuin wrote a friendly protest letter for sending to groups about portrayal of Romany, and it was endorsed by two of the top Romany leaders.  She will be going to Austin to meet with them about writing history curriculum.

Dylan received a response to his submission of a romance after 8 months saying they still plan to evaluate it.  This is his fourth response on submissions.

Education

Charlie Jane Anders discusses seven types of story opening.

An interesting blog contrasts ACTION openings with ACTIVE openings.

“Arathald” uses the terms differently but shares a similar idea in a forum:

Note that “action” doesn’t mean a fight scene or a car chase, it just means that something is happening. Maybe your character’s mother is crying, or his boss tells him he’s fired, or her credit card is declined at the fashion mall.

When I start like this, it makes it really easy to get into a story, instead of trying to figure out how to set it all up. This is also a great way to draw your readers in. Why is his mother crying? Did he really deserve to get fired, or is his boss just a jerk? How is she going to respond to her card getting declined, and how is she going to pay for that dress that she needs for the party? As mundane as these situations sound, they have a strong element of conflict, and that’s what you need to have a compelling opening and story.

Upcoming Schedule

Aug 23rd

Jean
Tyree
Dylan – Education on Style Sheets for Formatting

Aug 30th

Tyree?
Open slots

Sept 6th

Nick
Open slots

Sept 13th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 16th, 2012 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

While we write of vampires, otherworldly societies, and how to get out of a basement, some people take on really, really, deep subjects like Why Does the World Exist?  But at least we answer the questions we raise.

There are two kinds of writer: those that make you think, and those that make you wonder. ~Brian Aldiss

Victories

Tyree had a story accepted by a publication for kids.

Stacie is re-inspired about writing, is meeting with a mentor, and finished a re-write of her Jebediah story.

Aimee came up with a new story idea in the middle of the night at a B&B.

Bill qualified, by time and participation, to post material for review on the Creative Writing Forums and received several forthright reviews on the first 1k words of his story.  They found the writing technically solid but the story introduction less than captivating, to put it mildly.  The Noble Pen group is a bunch of softies by comparison.

Education

The author of Writer’s Diet offers a free on-line tool for evaluating your writing, but not its content.  While not as extensive as the Pro Writing Aid mentioned here in June, another view if often useful.

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret. ~ Matthew Arnold

Upcoming Schedule

Aug 16th

Nick (double slot)
Ciuin

Aug 23rd

Shannon
Dylan – Education on Style Sheets for Formatting
Tyree

Aug 30th

Tyree?
Open slots

Sept 6th

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 9th, 2012 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

An effort underway aims to digitize and make freely available Shakespeare’s First Folio collection.  Perhaps by 2016 in time for the 400th anniversary of his death.

Victories

Shannon started Camp NaNoWriMo, which will occupy him for the rest of August.  It is an extension of the original National Novel Writing Month in which people are encouraged to write 50,000 words in the month of November.  Their emphasis is to get useful material down as fast as possible, shutting down the self-critical part of your brain for a while and saving that for revisions.

Chila survived a mishap, although her car didn’t.

Education

Author Jeffrey A. Carver offers a set of articles that make a complete course in writing.  It’s science fiction oriented but most of the lessons apply to other genres.  He spends more words on the art of creating human characters than on creating aliens.

– * –

In brief, I spend half my time trying to learn the secrets of other writers – to apply them to the expression of my own thoughts.~ Shirley Ann Grau

It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way. ~Ernest Hemingway

Upcoming Schedule

Aug 9th

Shannon
Ciuin
Jean

Aug 16th

Nick
Ciuin
Tyree

Aug 23rd

Shannon
Dylan – Education on Style Sheets for Formatting
Open slot

Aug 30th

Tyree?
Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill