Next Noble Pen Meeting

December 19th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

We are considering a weekly posting to Facebook.  Would it be worthwhile, and if we do, what content should be posted?  Someone suggested it be a “summary” and link to the full text.  How would we summarize the disjointed sections of a typical newsletter?

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A survey finds that Americans still love their public libraries.

Victories

Dylan got a rejection on a short story.  He has, however, qualified for the final round of an unrelated short story contest and his current submission is up for voting.

Tyree wrote 7,000 words on Aoife’s Kiss.

Barbara’s homonym article has been accepted for publication in FrostFire Worlds magazine.

Ciuin wrote a nine page story about her broken arm.  She has promised to spend the next week getting Petty Theft ready for beta readers.

Aimee started co-writing anew story.

Cassie’s story has been accepted, subject to corrections, for the new paranormal romance magazine Trysts of Fate.

Education

Emma Coats assembled a list of 22 rules of storytelling as applied to Pixar movies.  The ideas are widely applicable to much writing, not just kids’ movies, and many others have discussed her list such as here,  or here.  Not everyone is enthralled with the list – see this analysis to see if you agree that slavish application leads to formulaic stories.

Storytelling is about two things; it’s about character and plot. ~George Lucas

Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. ~Hannah Arendt

The fact of storytelling hints at a fundamental human unease, hints at human imperfection. Where there is perfection there is no story to tell. ~Ben Okri

There’s no formula. ~J. K. Rowling

Upcoming Schedule

Dec 19th
Nick
Jed
Tyree

Dec 26th
No meeting.

Jan 2nd
Cassie
Nick
Jed

Jan 9th
More about commas
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill