Next Noble Pen Meeting

November 3rd, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Whether William Shakespeare wrote all the works credited to him has long been a controversy, or at least a conspiracy theory.  Now some scholars are crediting Marlowe with co-authoring three plays.

Victories

Randy got two more rejections, bringing the response count to about half of his submissions.

Greg edited a lot, and applied most of the feedback from his last review.

Riley signed the paperwork for publication of a short story that was accepted a while back.  He edited and made good progress on his current story.

Education

A story where the main character knows what to do and does it easily makes for a boring read.  A dilemma is a choice where one must find the least-bad outcome. Dilemmas and obstacles are the meat of a story, and are what keep a reader going.  (Mentally) torture your characters.  Steven James discusses difficult decisions.  Here’s another discussion with examples.

Upcoming Schedule

Nov 3
Nick
Cassie
Andrea

Nov 10
Dakota
Greg
Open slot

Nov 17
Laura
Riley
Open slot

Nov 24
Thanksgiving – no meeting

Dec 1
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

October 27th, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Nationally known Cedar Rapids author Ed Gorman died October 14th at age 74.  He published over fifty books and seven short story collections in multiple genres, but was best know for crime, mystery, horror, and western works.

Victories

Randy sent 30 queries, and received 12 rejections.

Dylan rewrote 15k words (5 chapters) to avoid a plot hole.

Cassie wrote a scene for Fight to Bear, although she isn’t sure where it fits yet, and another 2k word chapter.  She heard chapter 1 of her audio book and likes it.

Andrea finished a good outline for the book she has been writing on, so better knows where it is headed.

Education

Critiquing other writers’ work may seem like you are doing them a favor, but most people find the experience actually improves their own writing as well.  Seeing problems in unfamiliar words sensitizes you to things you might pass over in your own work.

Here’s a list from Amy Sterling Casil of things to think about when preparing critique or editing your own work.  Victory Crayne has another good one.  Rich Hamper looks at it from both the critiquer and author points of view.

WritingForums is an on-line place for writers to chat, submit pieces for critique, and practice the art of critique.  Critique Circle is another.  However, posting to an on-line forum exposes your work to the world, which could have implications for future publication, so you might want to just read and practice critique there, or keep submissions short.

Upcoming Schedule

Oct 27
Riley
Laura
Randy

Nov 3
Nick
Cassie
Andrea

Nov 10
Dakota
Open slots

Nov 17
Open slots

Nov 24
Thanksgiving – no meeting

Dec 1
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

October 20th, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Our attendance is picking up.  We had nine people giving critique at the last meeting and except for life events we might have had six more.  Our relaxed meeting style has worked well for an average attendance, but as we get more people, we will need to follow more closely our operating procedures as given in the Member Guide.  Please read it again so we are all aware of it.

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Some may be interested in a talk on Tuesday Oct 18 at 7 pm at the Coe College library by an author of a book on the divided US at the beginning of World War II.

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Iowa ICON science fiction and fantasy convention will occur in Cedar Rapids on October 28-30.

Victories

Ciuin was consulted by the author of a story that included gypsies, and she convinced them to not make the story ethnic.  A client of her Writing Fairy service has a book published.

Cassie got the proof copy of her next book that officially releases Nov 1.  She is offering a free ebook to the first fifty takers and they are almost gone.  She is hoping most of them give a review.

Education

Characterization, either directly by description or indirectly by showing thoughts, words, and actions, is an important part of writing about people, real or fictional.  Characters need to be interesting, at least the main characters.  Paula Wynne discusses character quirks, habits, idiosyncrasies, etc. that may make characters distinctive and come to life for the reader.

Here’s an essay on why certain famous characters are memorable.

Just for fun, take this quiz to see which famous character you are most like.

Upcoming Schedule

Oct 20
Cassie
Greg
Dakota

Oct 27
Riley
Laura
Open slot

Nov 3
Nick
Cassie
Open slot

Nov 10
Open slots

Nov 17
Open slots

Nov 24
Thanksgiving – no meeting

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

October 13th, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

An Italian author who sought privacy has apparently been identified.  This commentary says many deplore the unwelcome exposure of the author, and notes that the mystery created by seeking privacy often draws more publicity.  Is there a clue for us in that?

It also says her novels seem to have drawn very little if anything from her own background, which is encouraging for those of us who don’t have a lot of exciting fodder for a novel in our personal history.

Victories

Cassie met with the narrator for her audio book.

Andrea got her story ready for critique.

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

Oct 13
Riley
Cassie
Stacy H.

Oct 20
Aime W.
Greg
Dakota

Oct 27
Riley
Laura
Open slot

Nov 3
Nick
Cassie
Open slot

Nov 10
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill