Next Noble Pen Meeting

Aug 1st, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Barnes & Noble is discontinuing their color Nook after 2013, and plan to work with other vendors for hardware.  The company has recently been losing a lot of money.   Some pundits think the discontinuance is an indication of a bleak future for the chain.

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The Drabbler is accepting submissions for 100-word stories about alien sports.  They typically pick 20 or 25 out of 200 submissions, so your odds are reasonably good if you are good.  Submit to http://albanlake.com.  See guidelines.

Victories

Jed finished reading Moby Dick.  He’s making great progress on his reading list.

Aimee read Fahrenheit 451.

The new edition of The Drabbler published Tyree’s quiz about alien cuisine and eating habits across the galaxy.

Education

What are you taking for granted, and leaving out of your writing, that could help define the world your characters live in?

Perhaps food?  Its scarcity, richness, or strangeness could add a lot.

Clothing? (another link)  “Joe looked up from lacing his boots” versus  “Joe smoothed the velcro flap of his slippers” paint very different pictures.  Does he wear a suit, sweater, sweatshirt?  How long is her skirt?  Does she wear a hat?

Weather?  Maybe not “a dark and stormy night”, but does the character pick up his umbrella before leaving, put on sunscreen before going out, use insect repellent, go fetch his overcoat, get lulled to sleep by the sound of rain?

Most of these things can be slipped into small actions between dialog or commented on by the characters to save having paragraphs of explicit description.

Upcoming Schedule

August 1st

Tyree
Nick
Barbara

August 8th

Rachel
Tyree
Barbara

August 15th

Nick
Ciuin
Open slot

August 22nd

Open slots

August 29th

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 25th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame is very angry at the law firm through which word leaked that a novel by “Robert Galbraith” was really hers.  First edition copies signed with the pseudonym have become expensive collector items.  The new novel, which had received only moderate reviews, is now likely to be a best seller.   Many people would be glad to have her problem.

Victories

Dylan made a cover for Sand and Blood, which he posted on his blog.

Ciuin’s editor for Petty Theft had her switch around some scenes and re-smooth it, and is recommending a few agents.  She has also been (involuntarily) researching crisis management.

Tyree was pleased that one of his light-hearted quotes helped someone relax and do well in a test.

Jed has been planning to go back to college and has picked his major; he plans to become an actuary.  Actually.  Or maybe in probability, since he’ll have to study a lot of statistics.

Education

An author needs to re-read their manuscript many times.  Zachary Petit comments on what Patricia Gussin says you should pay most attention to on each read.  Note that the first step is to cut everything that isn’t important.  Here’s another six-step list for editing.   Joel Pierson has his list.  One pass could concentrate on improving dialog.

And this is all before sending out queries.  If it is accepted for publication, it will be gone over again, and maybe again.

It wasn’t always so.  This article says that in past times authors and editors did less revising.

Put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it. ~Colette (Casual Chance, 1964)

This book fills a much-needed gap. ~Moses Hadas [Think about that wording carefully.]

He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know. ~Abraham Lincoln

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. ~Elmore Leonard

Upcoming Schedule

July 25th

Rachel
Aimee
Jed

August 1st

Tyree
Nick
Barbara

August 8th

Rachel
Tyree
Barbara

August 15th

Nick
Ciuin
Open slot

August 22nd

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 18th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A court ruled against Apple in the ebook pricing case.  One commentator thinks that isn’t as important as the trend of renting instead of selling ebooks.  Think NetFlix for books.

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Maybe you don’t have to play chess and sudoku to keep your brain working – a new study says that reading and writing reduce the progression of dementia.   Of course, it may already be too late for some writers who are already demented.

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Google won a court appeal, which now says the Writers Guild and other organizations can’t collectively sue Google over infringement.  The new decision lets Google continue to display portions of copyrighted books.

Victories

Tyree says, “Hey, dudes, I’ve been very successful with research for the current story.”

Shannon has also done research, including asking a NASA scientist.  She couldn’t tell him much about vampires that he didn’t already know, so he’s writing about adventures in space instead.  She says don’t travel economy class.

Jed finished reading Thomas More’s Utopia, a best seller from 1516, English edition 1551.  And I thought I was a little behind on my reading list.

Janice attended CONvergence and found it both extremely interesting and educational.

Dylan successfully participated in WisCON panels.  He also got 3rd place in a writing competition (again) and will participate in another round.

Education

Readers need to feel a story has hope for a happy ending to keep them reading.  Even if it isn’t delivered, or is a mixed outcome, they want to feel the characters’ situations will be resolved.  Tragedy is not as popular as melodrama.  Literary fiction will less often deliver a “happily ever after” ending where the characters hopes are met, but usually does wrap up most of the threads.

Charlie Jane Anders tells of ten kinds of ending she likes.

Heather Sharfeddin argues that having only happy endings in fiction is not good for our society.

The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means. ~Oscar Wilde

Thy only authentic ending is the one provided here: John and Mary die. ~Margaret Atwood

There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story. ~ Frank Herbert

Upcoming Schedule

July 18th

Tyree
Ciuin
Nick

July 25th

Rachel
Aimee
Jed

August 1st

Tyree
Nick
Barbara

August 8th

Rachel
Tyree
Barbara

August 15th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 11th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Send the moderator your list of references for authors that you would be willing to loan other members. The Lending Library is posted here.

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Dylan renewed the noblepencr.org domain name for five years at a cost of $52.50. We collected some donations to cover part of that and will accept any further donations at the meeting.

Victories

I know some of us had victories, but they will have to be reported in the next newsletter.

Education

How many agents should you query?  This article says a few at a time, because the response or lack thereof can tell you whether you need to change the query letter, synopsis, or first chapters that have been submitted.

Tips on query letters.  Writing a synopsis is difficult, but here are a few tips.

Upcoming Schedule

July 11th

Nick
Shannon
Jed (swapped with Ciuin)

July 18th

Tyree
Ciuin
Nick

July 25th

Rachel
Aimee
Jed

August 1st

Tyree
Rachel
Barbara

August 8th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill