Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 31st, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Amazon reported a big loss for the recent quarter.  They have been involved with price wars and disputes with other companies.

Victories

Ciuin and her grandsons are reading the same books and she will get book reports.

Cassie has done plotting and research for another novella/novel.

Tyree started Bombay Sapphire II and did research on a 1962 war to use in the story.

Education

Some authors just sit down and write.  They may think too much planning will limit their creativity.  This article discusses how to work without an outline. Generally the writers who do the least planning also do the most revision.

Others carefully outline.  Many use a crude outline or just a list of major events and character motivations.   One big advantage to some sort of outline is that it can give your story structure, so it doesn’t read like it “just grew.”  Another advantage may be found in consistency of the timeline.  Sometimes drawing  parallel timelines for the characters and the MacGuffin helps avoid anachronisms.

Here’s an article about approaches to outlining a novel, and another that discusses both chapter-by-chapter and character-based outlines.  You can write the synopsis first, and essentially it is a brief outline.   You may want to use these eight suggestions to outline your plot.

Upcoming Schedule

July 31st
Ciuin
Cassie
Tyree

August 7
Ciuin
Tyree (?)
Laura

August 14
Ciuin
Open slots

August 21
Aimee
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill