Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 2nd, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Wikipedia is moving American Women Novelists to a subcategory, leaving men as American Novelists, bringing charges of being sexist.

Victories

Tyree received a copy of the newly published steampunk anthology Gadgets that he contributed to.  He reports the convention in Nebraska was a good one.

Aimee got her old computer to work, and recovered all of her old writing files.

Education

Adverbs have a bad reputation among writers.   Often (but not always) instead of using the adverb, there is a clearer or more forceful way to say the same thing that will improve the reader’s experience.  Be sure you have the best nouns, verbs, and adjectives you can find before resorting to adverbs.   Be sure any adverb you use adds something that isn’t already obvious.  Sometimes, after those considerations, they are the right word to use.  Here are some references and commentaries on adverbs:

A summary sheet was passed out at the April 26 meeting.

Basic explanation of adjectives and adverbs

A list of 3732 adverbs (just in case you didn’t think they were numerous)

Use Carefully

What’s so Bad about Adverbs?

Adverbs are the tool of the lazy writer.  When you catch an adverb, kill it. ~Mark Twain

The road to Hell is paved with adverbs. ~Stephen King

Upcoming Schedule

May 2nd

Tyree
Laura
Janice

May 9th

Mark S.
Jed
Tyree ?

May 16th

Jed
Open slots

May 23rd

Open slots

May 30th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

April 25th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The American Library Association recently announced their 2012 top-ten list of most challenged books in libraries and schools.  It is of some comfort that half of them include the comment “unsuited for age group”, but the other half apparently were things that those objecting did not want anyone to read.

Victories

Dylan was one of a limited number selected to participate in a multi-round flash fiction contest.

Janice was accepted into a masters program in Applied Behavior Analysis.  That’s really a lot of trouble to go to just to understand her protagonists better.

Education

Frustration is good.  No, not yours,  but your characters’ frustrations.  Not getting what they want is what makes a plot.  It leads to other emotional reactions, wise or foolish courses of action, and later events in your story.

Expectation is the mother of all frustration. ~Antonio Banderas

I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.
~Tony Robbins

Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes its built on catastrophe. ~Sumner Redstone

Upcoming Schedule

Apr 25th

Jed
Tyree
Ciuin

May 2nd

Tyree
Laura
Janice

May 9th

Mark S.
Open slots

May 16th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill