Next Noble Pen Meeting

Dec 3rd, 2015 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

You never know what will make a book have a resurgence of popularity.  After the recent Paris attacks, the mention  in a popular interview of a 1964 Hemingway book about celebrating life in Paris has caused the French edition to sell out.

Victories

As there was no meeting last week, we won’t have a full list of victories until Thursday, but both authors have already delivered their submissions for review and that’s a victory on a holiday week.

Education

How do you clean up a draft of a story?  I’m sure there are many approaches, but this article discusses some of the considerations.    Here’s another view of the process.  And yet another.

Upcoming Schedule

Dec 3
Nick
Robyn

Dec 10
Randy
Aime W.

Dec 17
Dylan
Charlie

Dec 24
Christmas Eve – no meeting

Dec 31
New Year’s Eve – no meeting

Jan 7
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Nov 26, 2015 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

As many employers, including our restaurant, are giving people the day off to work on their writing, we will not meet on Nov 26.  The next submissions will be due on November 30th for the December 3rd meeting.

Victories

Cassie’s book is in proof print.

Benjamin completed two freelance projects that led to more jobs.

Dylan got a story commission.

Erin’s blog is on line, with a revision of her recent submission to the group.

Education

Homophones that are heterographs are a recurring problem for many writers.  That’s what we get for using a language that has borrowed from many others and adapts readily to new usages. This article explains the difference between homophones, homonyms, and homographs.

You have to learn each and every set of homophones, as theiyr’re is no general rule to help.  Here’s  a guide to some common ones.

Upcoming Schedule

Nov 26
Thanksgiving – no meeting

Dec 3
Nick
Robyn

Dec 10
Randy
Aime W.

Dec 17
Dylan
Charlie

Dec 24
Christmas Eve – no meeting

Dec 31
New Year’s Eve – no meeting

Jan 7
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

November 19th, 2015 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A poem and a snippet of prose discovered on a paper stuck in an old book have been identified as being from Charlotte Bronte, and are being sold for $300,000.  How much is that per word?  If you get famous, your descendants will want you to have passed on every scrap of writing you have done.

Victories

Erin wrote her first blog entry.

Charlie started a story.

Robyn had a flash story accepted by a magazine.

Kelsey finished the draft of a short story.

Ciuin got a thank you and a fan mail from her City Revealed article.

Education

Every story needs to keep the reader wondering what will come next — why else would they finish reading it? In some stories that will be just uncertainty of the outcome, and in others it will be nerve-tingling suspense.  This blog discusses how to get and hold the reader’s attention.

A series of events that are logical but not everyday, ordinary occurrences can make a plot interesting. Lee Masterson offers some advice on arranging your plot to hold the reader.

After you get the reader wondering, suspense can be heightened by giving more detail to slow down the events in a creepy scene.

Upcoming Schedule

Nov 19
Erin
Kelsey

Nov 26
Thanksgiving – no meeting

Dec 3
Nick
Robyn

Dec 10
Randy
Aime W.

Dec 17
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

November 12th, 2015 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A judge for a writing award talks about the process.

Victories

Robyn wrote the draft of a flash fiction and revised another.

Dylan found an editor for a piece among his fans.

Education

Every writer needs to find methods that work for them, and those may differ from those of other successful writers.  You need to try lots of advice and see what helps you.  Jan Ellison offers some tips.  I particularly like her point that you need to get to the end of the story before you polish parts of it.  That approach is consistent with the Snowflake Method.  It’s hard to bring yourself to tear up a beautiful chapter when you find later that the plot needed to go a different direction.  There are many ways or levels of detail to outline, from a strict structure to a loose summary of the story.

Other people aren’t plotters, but write by the “seat of their pants”, to use a metaphor that came from pilots who stay oriented by their senses instead of by instruments.  They let the story develop as it seems to need to go.  Which are you, or can you take a middle road? John Irving says he always knows where he’s headed, though it would appear from this interview that he doesn’t necessarily know how he will get there.

Upcoming Schedule

Nov 12
Ciuin
Aime W. (2nd part)

Nov 19
Erin
Kelsey

Nov 26
Thanksgiving – no meeting

Dec 3
Nick
Robyn

Dec 10
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill