Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 5, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Finalists for the 2016 Hugo Awards (site link)  (wikipedia) for science fiction have been announced.  This award has become politically controversial because some feel women and minority authors and themes have been ignored and others argue that who the author is shouldn’t matter when picking good fiction.

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The Diary of Anne Frank is the subject of a copyright battle in Europe. The question is whether copyright dates from her life or that of the people who translated and edited/co-wrote it.  In the US it will remain protected for a long time yet.

Victories

Dylan finished a commission and it was accepted.  Sand and Ash needs only two editors and a cover to get it out.

Stacie has now finished six chapters.

Education

Many writers use a blog to attract attention and readers to their work.  Here is some blogging advice for writers.   There are arguments for and against the effectiveness.  Some say writers may benefit but may find better uses for their time as their careers develop.

Upcoming Schedule

May 5
Nick
Randy

May 12
Shannon
Dylan

May 19
Randy
Open slot

May 26
Aime
Stacie

May 33
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

April 28, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The summer (northern hemisphere) edition of Science Fiction News is available.

Victories

Dylan’s essay defending self publishing was included in a collective post rebutting a blog entry.

Education

A writer can stall, even when it isn’t writer’s block.  They can write, but just find it more difficult to put in the effort.  By now, the excitement of a new idea has worn thin and the problems of getting the details right seem huge.

One thing that may help is to review (or create) your outline to see if it still makes sense with what you’ve written and where you want the story to go.  If they don’t match up, then decide whether the written material or the outline make more sense and revise accordingly.

You may discover your characters don’t have the motivations to do what you thought they would do.  Or maybe the tension has evaporated.

Chuck Wendig has 25 tips that might get you unstuck.  Here’s Janice Hardy’s take.  Tracey Barnes Priestley has some advice.

Upcoming Schedule

April 28
Bill H.
Aime

May 5
Nick
Randy

May 12
Shannon
Dylan

May 19
Randy
Open slot

May 26
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

April 21, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The American Library Association updated its list of most challenged books.  Even the Bible makes the list.  Here’s a related discussion.

Victories

Cassie sold 18 books and made contacts with other writers at a book signing event in Cedar Falls.

Dylan got good feedback on a commission.

Education

When you are writing early drafts of a story, it is easy to be too critical.  Don’t let your inner editor take control and stop your progress, perhaps even causing writer’s block.  Just write.  You can edit later.

Daphne Gray-Grant offers tips to deal with your inner editor.

One technique for dealing with the nagging feeling that something isn’t right, but freeing your mind to continue, is to type a reminder that this sentence/paragraph needs to be reworked and then go on.  Noelle Sterne uses the all-caps word FIX, but I prefer something that won’t accidentally occur in your actual text, such as four question marks.

Another tool is a deadline.  Tell yourself you have to finish this chapter before going to bed, no matter whether it is good or bad.  Ciuin’s nagging service could help.

If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word. ~Margaret Atwood

Write drunk, edit sober. ~ Hemingway

Upcoming Schedule

April 21
Shannon
Dylan

April 28
Bill H.
Aime

May 5
Nick
Randy

May 12
Open slots

May 19
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

April 14, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Another copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio was recently discovered in a private library on a Scottish island.  There are a couple hundred known to exist, and bring well over a million dollars at auction.

Victories

Dylan got a 4-star review.  He finished a commission.

Ciuin got an A on a school paper.

Education

Maybe your story is a comedy or satire, or maybe not.  Regardless, you can inject some humor to give contrast to tension and add entertainment for the readers.  William H. Coles offers an essay on using humor. Various categorizations of humor may include ten or twenty types.

Leigh Anne Jasheway offers some fundamentals of humor.

Upcoming Schedule

April 14
Randy
Aime W.

April 21
Shannon
Dylan

April 28
Bill H.
Open slot

May 5
Open slots

May 12
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

April 7, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The Mark Lawrence Fantasy Blog off is accepting submissions of self-published books, due by May.  Dylan did well in (but didn’t win) a previous round.

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We heard a recommendation for ello.co, which is a social network that tends to have more of a concentration of creative people than FB.

Victories

Dylan finished serialization of Sand and Ash.

Ciuin has been editing Petty Theft and working on Chessmaster.  She has a client for her Writing Fairy nagging service.

Cassie, Aime, and Dylan were recorded in a series of interviews with Iowa authors that is intended for TV distribution.

Shannon was on a podcast for Unreliable Narrators.

Randy is retiring, so will have more time for writing and dancing.

Education

How long does it take to write a novel?  The answer varies greatly of course.  Here’s a good discussion of how much time, finding time, and making good use of the time.  Nanowrimo has demonstrated it can be done in a month, but nearly everyone finds that much more time is needed to clean up that month’s output.  Here’s one author’s detailed analysis of the meticulous records she kept as she wrote a novel in one year.

Upcoming Schedule

April 7
Nick
Ciuin

April 14
Randy
Aime W.

April 21
Shannon
Dylan

April 28
Bill H.
Open slot

May 5
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill