Next Noble Pen Meeting

October 30th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Amazon has a new deal with Simon & Schuster to sell both print and e-books, with S&S retaining significant control over pricing.  Their feud with Hachette continues.

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We are rapidly approaching November, which is National Novel Writing Month.  People are encouraged to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November.  The NaNoWriMo organization provides guidance and moral support, as explained in their FAQ.

Victories

Dylan finished a short story, and also tripled the content of his wiki for Sand and Blood and the Fedran world, by adding backstory and other details.

Jed’s novel Castalia was accepted for publication by Albin Lake.

Ciuin received A’s for two class essays.

Education

At the last meeting we had some discussion of women character names.  Mark offers this link to remind us of several that have changed up and down in popularity.  Here’s some advice on picking character names and this one discusses pitfalls.  A longer discussion contains some tips.

Finally, if you’re stuck try this character name generator that considers gender, ethnicity, and decade of birth.

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Author Brenda Novak lists her 10 key guidelines for creating a good story.  Starting in the right place is high on the list.  To catch the reader’s interest it should introduce excitement, mystery, or a challenge right away, with the backstory carefully slipped in as needed.  Her other points are worth studying, too.  Nancy Kress elaborates on the advice about starting the story.

Upcoming Schedule

Oct 30
Tyree
Dylan
Ciuin

Nov 6
Victor
Cassie
Tyree (?)

Nov 13
Dylan (?)
Eugenia (?)
Open slot

Nov 20
Open slots

Nov 27
Thanksgiving – no meeting

Dec 4
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill