Monthly Archives: May 2013

The Noble Pen for June 6, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 6th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

One of our upcoming meeting dates falls on July 4.  How many think we should meet?

NPR has an interview with Stephen King.

Victories

Shannon re-edited his sequel and took out 10k words.  The ones that are left are really good words.

Tyree did a lot of writing at the convention he attended.  He finds (as do many people) that he edits better if he uses both the screen and paper, as he sees different aspects of the writing.

Ciuin thinks the scene we just reviewed is the last addition needed for Petty Theft.  She came up 0.03 grade points short of the honor roll, the same number for the third time in a row.

Education

Is your plot too predictable?  There are only a limited number of plots in the world (although people disagree on how to subdivide them), so of course yours will resemble many others.  Noelle Sterne has some tips on keeping them from being too predictable.   Dorian Scott Cole has some suggestions to make yours more original.  Kara Lennox says to imagine many possible choices your character might make, pick an unlikely one, and make it seem reasonable.

If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Once you become predictable, no one’s interested anymore. ~Chet Atkins

Upcoming Schedule

June 6th

Aimee
Jed
Janice

June 13th

Jed
Tyree
Open slot

June 20th

Janice
Tyree ?
Open slot

June 27th

Open slots

July 4th

Will we meet?

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for May 30, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 30th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A unpublished novel by Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck  (1892-1973) was recently found in storage and is being published.  Keep you unpublished work — your grandchildren may be able to reap the reward after your other books succeed.

Victories

Ciuin survived the semester and aced all her papers including the final in the writing course.  An author to whom she had complained about Romani stereotypes has apologized and asked her to consult on the next book to get it right.

Bill actually wrote fiction for a few hours.

Education

Commas are often a sore subject for writers.  There are grammatical rules to dictate some of their uses, but they may also be used for effect, such as pauses .  Fortunately, the rules are somewhat flexible and you have leeway.  Unfortunately, the rules are somewhat flexible and you never are sure what is right or wrong or will fit an editor’s styling preferences.

Wikipedia summarizes the uses of the comma.  They may be used for lists, separation of dependent clauses, setting off non-essential interrupting phrases, setting off initial adverbs (like therefore, however, and so), between multiple adjectives, and several other ways.

An optional comma can be used to indicate where the writer wants the reader to pause in a sentence. This changes the emphasis of the parts of the sentence, and can help in parsing a complicated sentence or suggest which of multiple interpretations is intended.  It is not necessary to put a comma everywhere you pause, however.

A frequent problem is running two sentences (independent clauses) together into one using a comma instead of a conjunction.   Wikipedia and Tina Blue explain comma splice problems, but she also has some partly contrary examples showing how comma splices can be used artistically.  Wikipedia also

The Most Comma Mistakes shows us what we probably most need to watch out for.

Most writers paragraph for effect, punctuate on impulse, and let split infinitives and comma splices fall where they may.  Omnivorous reading substitutes for systematic study.  Syntactic nomenclature is a thing they learn only if, somehow trapped into teaching others the craft, they find themselves in need of terms to describe the errors of their students. ~Dwight Swain

I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out. ~Oscar Wilde

And finally, a slightly risque cartoon, the Comma Sutra.

Upcoming Schedule

May 30th

Jed
Tyree
Ciuin

June 6th

Aimee
Jed
Janice

June 13th

Jed
Open slots

June 20th

Open slots

June 27th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for May 23, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 23rd, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Publishers had a good sales year, and ebooks accounted for 20% of sales.

The Justice Department is still putting together a case on ebook price fixing, with Apple taking much of the heat.

Victories

Dylan’s submission to Harper Voyager is one of 900 that passed the first round out of 4600 submitted.

Tyree’s doctor says he will probably live a while longer.  He didn’t promise long enough to see Nyx’s century, however.

Education

A couple weeks ago we saw some articles about having a character change through the events of the plot.  There are many ways a character can change.  Nancy Kress discusses characters that do or do not change in personality, or in motivation.

Lillie Ammann talks about motivations a character might have.

Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.
~Les Brown

When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, ‘It’s in the script.’ If he says, ‘But what’s my motivation?, ‘ I say, ‘Your salary.’ ~Alfred Hitchcock

We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them. ~Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Upcoming Schedule

May 23rd

Janice
Jed
Rachel

May 30th

Jed
Tyree
Open slot

June 6th

Aimee
Open slots

June 13th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for May 16, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 16th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Please read the Member Guide on the web site and reply to the moderator or at the meeting with any suggested changes.

–//–

Dylan is preparing for a panel discussion and would like to be reminded of any sci-fi women characters in military situations.

–//–

The summer (northern hemisphere) edition of Science Fiction News is available.

Along with more literary matters, they report the gossip that Gandalf will officiate at the marriage of  Captain Jean Luc Picard to his fiancee.

Victories

Dylan lost a commission due to delays, but will now have more time for other writing.  He got 4th place in the first round of a writing contest and advances to the next round.

Education

The writer must balance between conflicting advice:

-Uncertainty is what makes tension.  Tension is what keeps the reader turning pages.  A shoot-out has no tension if we are sure the good guy won’t get hurt.  A romance has no tension if we know how the girl will end up with the prince.  A murder mystery usually isn’t mysterious if we know who did it and how.

-No “deus ex machina”, pulling a miracle out of nowhere to save the protagonist.  You can’t make up an ending that has no roots in the earlier pages.  Important events should be foreshadowed.   The Ellery Queen mysteries had a rule that the reader should always think at the end that they could have figured out the mystery, because all the necessary clues were there.

–Chekhov’s gun:  if there is a gun on the mantelpiece in an early scene, it must be used later in the story.   The reader shouldn’t have to remember and sort through too much irrelevant detail.

—–

So how do you put in all the information, and omit irrelevant information, without spoiling the uncertainty?  If everything is important, there isn’t much room for uncertainty.   Some writers advise a moderate amount of misdirection.

-Give the important event or fact an obvious, unimportant reason to be there.  Let the reader assume a lower relevance for events than they turn out to have.  Use details that just seem like scene-setting but turn out to be critical.

-Think like the stage magician, who keeps you focused on one had while the other does the tricky work.  Give the reader clearly vital information but distract them by immediately going into the battle, chase, or emotional confrontation.

-Let something obviously important turn out to have a different meaning than assumed.

-Don’t lie to the reader, or place too much emphasis on the red herring, or they will feel cheated.  Just lead them to lie to themselves.

See these articles:  misdirection,  another,  and this one.

Upcoming Schedule

May 16th

Jed
Tyree

May 23rd

Janice
Jed
Open slots

May 30th

Aimee
Tyree?
Open slot

June 6th

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

The Noble Pen for May 9, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 9th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Welcome to Rachel and Barbara, who found the group.

Major publishers have loosened their policies on libraries lending e-books.

Victories

Nick sent a train spotting report to his associates and it was well-received.  He wrote more on his sci fi story.

Janice got feedback from a reader who finished and commented on her story.

Education

Many, if not most, good novels show the protagonist, and perhaps other characters, changing in some way as a result of the experiences of the plot.  Here’s a discussion of how to show your characters changing.  Another article discusses possible changes and this one evaluates several movies as examples to see how the characters changed.

Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward. ~Henry Ford

Nothing contributes to the entertainment of the reader more than the change of times and the vicissitudes of fortune.  ~Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE)

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature. ~Ernest Hemingway

Upcoming Schedule

May 9th

Jed
Tyree

May 16th

Jed
Tyree
Open slot

May 23rd

Janice
Open slots

May 30th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill