Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 4th, 2015 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

In a group discussion, most agreed that when the author wants to ask specific questions about voice, plot, character development, etc. putting those questions in the submission file rather than the email will probably produce a better response.

Also, it would be advantageous for submissions on stories that haven’t been up recently to contain a brief summary of where we are in the story before the actual submission, just to get readers back on track.

Victories

Mark’s second commissioned article on gaming was submitted, edited, and quickly published.

Cassie wrote 1800 words toward Chapter 2 of the Avon contest.

Laura submitted her Chapter 2.

Ciuin wrote nearly 2K words on Vampire House, rewrote 4 chapters of Stories of Paris, and worked on cleanups and a plot hole in Petty Theft.  She was tempted to write another school paper just out of habit, but since the semester is over, it wouldn’t get her another A.

Education

A surprising number of stories fit well into the structure of The Hero’s Journey (wikipedia) and they aren’t all epic fantasies.   Vladimir Propp was one of the pioneers of the idea as applied to folk tales.  Elizabeth Sims discusses the structure and how a Sherlock Holmes story fits it.   Here’s another comparison using Star Wars and The Matrix.

Upcoming Schedule

Jun 4
Dylan
Ciuin

Jun 11
Eugenia
Cassie

Jun 18
Open slots

Jun 25
Tyree (?)
Aimee

Jul 2
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 28th, 2015 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Simon Pegg claims that much entertainment, especially the SF/F he stars in, is ruining our collective minds and taking the focus from real-world issues.  Others disagree.

Victories

Cassie’s chapter entry in the Avon contest was 4th in popular vote out of 80 entries and she received some comments including from Avon editors.  Laura’s entry was also in the top 10 and received 4 comments.  Voting is, thankfully, only part of the selection process because some of the competition appear to be recruiting everybody on Facebook to vote for them without reading the stories.

Ciuin got A’s on two more papers and has finished the semester.

We hear that Eugenia has been writing while on vacation.

Education

How long should a chapter be?  The answer seems to be “how long is a piece of string?” Various writers use widely varying chapter lengths.   The general advice is to make each chapter serve a distinct purpose and tell a distinct piece of the story, whether that is 1,000 or 15,000 words.  If you are worried about people with short intervals for reading, then a good rule of thumb is under 5,000.  Some claim the average novel chapter is under 3,000.

The first chapter is special, since it must hook the reader into continuing through the book.  Anne R. Allen offers a checklist for things the first chapter needs to do.

Upcoming Schedule

May 28
Aimee
Tyree (already distributed)

Jun 4
Dylan
Cassie

Jun 11
Open slots

Jun 18
Open slots

Jun 25
Open slots

Jul 2
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 21st, 2015 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Victories

Cassie wrote on a chapter for the Avon contest.

Laura started a chapter for that contest.

Mark’s commissioned article on role playing games appeared on line, and he was asked to do a followup article.

Ciuin started a new story, and has partnered with Eugenia to co-author a karma story.

Education

If you base your fiction on true events, you don’t want to offend anyone who may recognize themselves in the story.  Lorie Ann Grover offers some advice to stay out of trouble.     If you use real people you should have permission (casual mentions of celebrities excepted).  Be familiar with libel laws.

Even if you are inspired by true events, unless you are writing historical fiction you don’t have to stick to the facts if you can make it more interesting as well as avoiding trouble.  Sometimes it is hard to classify a work as fiction or non-fiction.

There is nothing so powerful as truth—and often nothing so strange. ~Daniel Webster

Upcoming Schedule

May 21
Cassie
Ciuin

May 28
Aimee
Tyree (already distributed)

Jun 4
Dylan
Cassie

Jun 11
Open slots

Jun 18
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 14th, 2015 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Cassie points out a writing contest for Historical Romance by Harper Collins/Avon.  They give you a prompt for each of 5 chapters of a novella.  Chapter winners receive signed books.  Grand prize winner gets an opportunity to publish.  Deadline for the first chapter is May 17.  The contest runs through July.

–//–

Be careful where you get the images for your cover.  A lawsuit claims a couple’s picture was used without their permission for a book they would have nothing to do with.  There are legal questions about whether Amazon and Apple have any responsibility.

Victories

Ciuin has an article in the current City Revealed magazine (pen name Lillian H. Grace).

Dylan has a story in Bloodbond magazine.

Bill spun his gears but didn’t figure out how to fix a plot discrepancy.

Education

There are several types of editing,  (and another discussion of differences) with a little overlap.  When a writer starts looking for an editor to prepare their work for submitting to an agent, traditional publisher, or for self-publishing, they need to consider which kinds of help they need.

Of course, if it is the traditional publishing route the company will do the final edits, but the writer may use an editor to get the manuscript in very good shape in order to improve the chances for acceptance.  If you self-publish, it’s all up to you.

A content, developmental (see wikipedia), or substantive editor looks at the big picture – does the story hang together, read easily, and hold interest?  Is the dialog ok, the POV consistent, the characters developed, the plot logical?  This is what we mostly concentrate on in Noble Pen reviews.

A line editor takes the middle ground – are the sentences well constructed and varied enough?  Is the vocabulary effective and not repetitive?  This is also a reasonable area for our comments if there is a pattern of problems, or markups if there is an occasional problem.

A copy editor looks at the details of punctuation, spelling, and grammar, and may offer suggestions to smooth out the last rough edges in sentence flow.  This is usually what Noble Pen readers should leave on the markup page and not spend time discussing.

This site offers some estimates of typical cost for professional editing services, and discusses the pros and cons.  You might conclude that in our group we are providing very valuable services for each other.

Upcoming Schedule

May 14
Ciuin
exercise

May 21
Cassie
Ciuin

May 28
Aimee
Tyree

Jun 4
Dylan
Open slot

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 7th, 2015 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Victories

Tyree’s move is done, he added three chapters to Yoelin, is writing on Nyx 4, and is writing a teen story set in space.  Sales at MiniCon were the second best of any convention.

Dylan has planned out his panels to present at WisCon.  (Wikipedia)

Cassie added 2K words to Until Death Do Us Part, and 5K to a sequel.

Ciuin aced another paper and wrote a 14-page paper in one day.

Eugenia received an ad from a vanity publisher, so her name must be out there as a writer.

Education

Many successful writers got there by using the services of an agent.   Wikipedia nicely summarizes their function, and this FAQ may be helpful.

Agents may differ from each other in their approach, attitudes, and the genres they represent to publishers.  Many directories, like Writer’s Market and this one, list agents to help aspiring authors query the ones best suited for their work.  Preditors and Editors can help you avoid some problems.  You can search for agents and learn a lot more from the examples posted on Query Tracker.  Here an agent answers less common questions.

Upcoming Schedule

May 7
Laura
Dylan

May 14
Ciuin
Tyree ?

May 21
Cassie
Open slot

May 28
Aimee
Open slot

Jun 4
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill