Next Noble Pen Meeting

September 1st, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A large new anthology calls itself the “ultimate collection” of science fiction, and includes famous authors from the early period to first English translations of lesser known authors.

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The first black author to win a Hugo for best novel talks about her struggle to finish the book and about diversity.  Diversity has been a hot topic for the Hugos.

Victories

Dylan’s Sand and Ash got a four-star review.

Shannon will participate in the Clinton, Iowa book festival.

Education

Last week we had information about types of editing.  So you got someone to edit your book, they made a lot of changes, and that fact doesn’t feel good.  Jessica Strawser talks about how to deal with those edits.   Kathie Spitz has similar advice.  The editor is probably right most of the time, but perhaps you will ignore a few changes.  Diane Jacob has advice, aimed more for freelance work where the editor has actual power and not just expert advice.

Some  of that advice applies to using critiques, although a single critique would carry less weight than a majority of critiquers’ opinions or an editor’s changes.

Upcoming Schedule

Sept 1
Stacie S.
Nick
Randy

Sept 8
Laura
Stacy H.
Dylan (if no one else)

Sept 15
Aime W.
Open slots

Sept 22
Open slots

Sept 29
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 25th, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Although it is generally a good idea for writers to understand the country and people they write about, this article says Mark Twain did not understand Germany when he wrote A Tramp Abroad.

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J. K. Rowling will release three small collections of Harry Potter short stories.

Victories

Ciuin got UNICEF to fix the grammar and another problem on their web site.

Dylan wrote 17,000 words this week.  His editor is working on Sand and Bone, and likes it.

Education

An editor is an editor, right?  No, there are several types of editing, with a little overlap  (another discussion of differences).  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.

If the author is attempting the traditional publishing route, they may use an editor to get the manuscript in very good shape to improve the chances for acceptance.  The company will do, or work with the author on, the final edits.  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, hold interest, and appeal to a market?  Is the dialog okay, 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? Are the verbs strong? Too many references to time (then, after a moment, later, etc.)  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, although slightly old, 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

August 25
Dylan
Shannon
Stacy H.

Sept 1
Stacie S.
Nick
Randy

Sept 8
Laura
Stacy H.
Open slot

Sept 15
Open slots

Sept 22
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 18th, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Pseudocide is a rather bizarre subject, which might come in handy for a story.  Read an interview with an author who looked into the details.

Victories

Stacy H. received two rejection letters, and one was personalized, showing that the agent found her work worthy of at least looking at.

Education

An unreliable narrator (wikipedia) is an uncommon and tricky literary technique where the narrator is either incompetent/unaware, delusional/insane, joking/bragging/exaggerating, or intentionally lying so that the reader cannot fully believe them.  The technique is most often used in first-person writing, but that may not be a firm requirement.   The writer must consider how upset the reader will be if the unreliability is revealed late in the story.

While most characters won’t see everything and understand it correctly, the unreliable narrator takes it much further.  Here are some stories with unreliable narrators.  Deb Caletti offers some advice about use of an unreliable narrator, as does Harvey Chapman.

Upcoming Schedule

August 18
Laura
Stacy H.
Aime W. (?)

August 25
Deke
Shannon
Stacy H. ?

Sept 1
Stacie S.
Nick
Open slot

Sept 8
Open slots

Sept 15
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 11th, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A man has filed a lawsuit because Pokemon Go is using coordinates that fall on his property to display the virtual characters, and he has unwelcome visitors. (article)(court document)  Be sure that the people in your fiction story live at fictional addresses.

Victories

Aime wrote the content for a campaign website.

Shannon had a good writing week with 4000 words.

Ciuin wrote 3000 words on a new story, edited on Chessmaster, and is editing Petty Theft to move forward toward publication.

Education

Although self-publishing and very small publishers have become more common, the traditional route through a large house may still offer the biggest rewards if you happen to succeed.   Some publishers may accept direct submissions, but others want them to come through an agent who has narrowed down the field for them.   Wikipedia nicely summarizes the agent’s function, and this FAQ may be helpful.

Agents may differ from each other in their approach, attitudes, and the genres they represent to publishers.  You need to learn what each agent wants before you query them. 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

August 11
Ciuin
Randy
Aime W.

August 18
Laura
Stacy H.
Aime W. (?)

August 25
Deacon Solomon
Open slots

Sept 1
Stacie S.
Nick
Open slot

Sept 8
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill