Next Noble Pen Meeting

September 18th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The Taurin Tales anthology is available for pre-order.  It contains work by Tyree and Dylan.

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Submissions are being taken until October 11 for 3-6k word stories for a new publication with a theme of “grimdark, sword & sorcery, alternate history, etc. Must include either an assassin, mercenary, or rogue (i.e., thief, cutthroat, brigand, highwayman, etc.).”  It pays.

Victories

Dylan finished writing the 3rd novel in his series, titled Sand and Bone, with a 54,000 word push in 10 days.  He received the copy edit results on Sand and Blood.

Nick performed a 30-page “exorcism” edit on his western.

Tyree wrote a 6700 word story for the steampunk publisher, submitted it, and had it accepted.

Cassie recovered from a crashed flash drive, but it was painful as it required combing through old submissions, re-editing them, and re-writing the most recent chapter from scratch.  You can never have too many backups.

Education

Adverbs have a bad reputation because there is often (but not always) a more effective way to word the thought.   A majority of adverbs end in -ly,  but not all, nor are all such words adverbs.  “Very” is an adverb that rarely adds anything to a sentence.

Instead of using an adverb, see if there is a clearer or more forceful way to say the same thing.   Be sure you have the best nouns, verbs, and adjectives you can find before resorting to adverbs. “She ran quickly” is not as effective as “she sprinted.”  Be sure any adverb you use adds something that isn’t obvious already (hey, no -ly).  “She sprinted quickly” is annoyingly redundant (hmm).

Sometimes, after those considerations, they are the right word to use.  She entered silently.   “I’ll help you,” the teacher said gently.  He had many headaches recently.

A summary sheet was passed out at a meeting last year.
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?

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

Upcoming Schedule

Sept 18
Dylan
Cassie
Aimee

Sept 25
Tyree
Ciuin
Cassie

Oct 2
Dylan
Ciuin
Tyree

Oct 9
Ciuin?
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill