The Noble Pen for August 18, 2016

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