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