The Noble Pen for December 20, 2012

Next Noble Pen Meeting

December 20th, 2012 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The NY Times released their list of 100 Notable Books of 2012.  And at the end of November with 1/12 of the year left to go, even.

Victories

Ciuin is on school break and has lots of time for writing and reading (and movies).  She finished reading a book this week and thereby has met her goal of 10 for the year.

Tyree is turning Sams Dot over to the White Cat people and will have more time for writing.

Education

Jennifer R. Hubbard writes about balancing supporting characters and their subplots against the main plot.  They can make a story more interesting, but can also get in the way.

Mary Lynn Mercer says you shouldn’t have too many subplots, and they should connect to the main story.  She has other good points to make.

Lee Masterson recommends using some subplots, and Kristin Bair O’Keefe gives seven specific things that subplots should do.

I think books with weak or translucent plots can survive if the character being drawn along the path is rich, interesting and multifaceted. The opposite is not true.  ~Michael Connelly

There’s that old adage about how there’s only seven plots in the world and Shakespeare’s done them all before.  ~Terri Windling

Upcoming Schedule

Dec 20th

Tyree
Janice
Nick

Dec 27th

Ciuin
Tyree
Open slot

Jan 3rd

Nick
Ciuin
Open slot

Jan 10th

Open slots

Jan 17th

Nick
Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill