Next Noble Pen Meeting

January 4th, 2018 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

At a recent meeting we discussed having more educational material at meetings. Ciuin will present a short session on January 4th, and Aime on January 18.  Do we want longer educational times?  Let us know your thoughts.

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Some publishers are now employing “sensitivity readers” to make sure their books don’t offend anyone.  Some defend it, but it’s a trend that not everyone is happy about, even calling it “thought police.”  Does such scrutiny impede the examination and therefore understanding of differences in our cultures?   While it is a good idea to make sure you get cultural depictions right, some question whether you must remove anything offensive, when that is part of the true background.  Could To Kill a Mockingbird or Huckleberry Finn be published for the first time today?

Victories

Most of us survived Christmas, although a few aren’t finished with family gatherings and some people are still unaccounted for.

Ciuin made progress on Chessmaster and has only three chapters to write.

Education

J. A. Konrath has a been blogging with advice for writers and commentary on what’s happening in publishing for a dozen years.  It has been so popular he published the collection as a 1400-page e-book.

Upcoming Schedule

January 4
Ciuin: 10-minute educational
Nick
Stacy H.
Uriah

January 11
Ciuin
Randy
Laura

January 18
Aime: 10-minute educational
Stacie S.
Aime
Ciuin

January 25
Jeremiah
Randy
Open slot

February 1
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

December 28th, 2017 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

At the last meeting we discussed having more educational material at meetings.  Ciuin will present a short session on January 4th, and we held January 18 open for a possible longer educational time.  Let us know your thoughts.

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Here’s an essay on why dystopia is popular with young people.

Ursula K. Le Guin is well known in science fiction and fantasy, but this article also discusses her broader range.

Victories

Ciuin wrote on Chessmaster.  She accepted the job of editing a minister’s daily inspirational message.

Aime read the second book in two weeks.  She got a royalty check for book sales that bought a very good dinner.

Stacie S. watched Terrible Writing Advice videos and was both entertained and educated by them.

Education

We have heard some recommendations for educational videos (Yes, YouTube has some of those, too).

Brandon Sanderson, early in his series, mentions the methods and benefits of writing groups. Some of his videos are rather slow, though.

Ellen Brock was recommended for some good YouTube tutorials.  Her early ones may belabor the obvious (according to one reviewer) but her later ones have more meat.

Trope Talk is another source, described as fast-paced, witty, and pop-culture based. (I wouldn’t know about the pop part.)

And of course, there is the above-mentioned sarcastic Terrible Writing Advice.  You should always try to do the opposite of this source.

Upcoming Schedule

December 28
Stacie S.
Randy
Jeremiah

January 4
Ciuin: 10-minute educational
Nick
Stacy H.
Uriah

January 11
Ciuin
Randy
Laura

January 18
Educational group discussion?
Open slots?

January 25
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

December 21st, 2017 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

As we approach the end of the year, “Best Books” lists appear.  Here are lists from the NY Times editors and from their critics.

Victories

We survived quite well with nine of us crowded into a corner table for the meeting, and the only casualty was a spilled container of bacon bits.

Randy figured out his genre is mystery, not detective.

Aime read a book in three days.

Ciuin’s beta reader who is a teacher passed her book around in the classes and will put it on the approved list for book reports.

Education

Author self-insertion (wikipedia) occurs when the author puts a lot of their own personality into their characters.  A little of this is natural and good; you write what you know.   The author’s habits, little quirks, favorite foods, drinks, movies, etc. will naturally appear in the characters.  They may put their nightmares into their stories, too.

It can be useful to not only use your good aspects, but to also remember things you aren’t proud of and give them to the characters, perhaps exaggerated.  You once came close to failing the breathalyzer so your character does fail it.  You once were so mad at a teacher you key-scratched his car so a character does it.

Carried to extreme, the character becomes an author surrogate, and can be problematic.  Some make their main character like they would want themselves to be and perhaps too perfect (I’ve been so accused).   This is sometimes known as a Mary Sue character (history link).  Nobody likes a character with no problems.

Some let their characters preach their beliefs to the extent it becomes a distraction from the story (James P. Hogan, I’m looking at you).  Or most of the characters can become too similar because they are all partly like the author.

Here’s a forum discussion of the pros, cons, and methods of putting part of yourself into the story.

Upcoming Schedule

December 21
Ciuin
Uriah
Aime

December 28
Stacie S.
Randy
Jeremiah

January 4
Nick
Stacy H.
Open slot

January 11
Open slots

January 18
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

December 14th, 2017 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

When you arrive for the Dec 14 meeting, expect to find our usual space full with an annual club party.  Look to your left as you enter and hope we have an adequate, if crowded, space.

Victories

Randy did rewrites.

Nick wrote train reports.

Education

Subplots (wikipedia) can add interest to a story so that it doesn’t seem like an obvious straight line from the inciting incident to the conclusion.  Subplots need to be balanced against the main plot, as too many, or ones that don’t connect to the main story may just get in the way.  Subplots can help develop the characters, assist with backstory, and add just enough complexity to keep the ending a mystery.

Lee Masterson recommends using some subplots, and Kristin Bair O’Keefe gives seven specific things that subplots should do.  Here’s some good advice on choosing subplots.

I think books with weak or translucent plots can survive if the character being drawn along the path is rich, interesting and multifaceted. The opposite is not true.  ~Michael Connelly

There’s that old adage about how there’s only seven plots in the world and Shakespeare’s done them all before.  ~Terri Windling

Upcoming Schedule

December 14 (annual squeeze-in, due to large party in usual space)
Randy
Ciuin
Stacie S.

December 21
Ciuin
Uriah
Aime

December 28
Stacie S.
Randy
Jeremiah

January 4
Nick
Stacy H.
Open slot

January 11
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

December 7th, 2017 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A poll shows that a majority of our regular attendees will be able to go to the Dec 21st meeting despite its proximity to the Christmas weekend.

Victories

Randy got another Amazon review and has sold twenty more books since the Gazette article, while he was on a research trip to France.  This research commits him to write the novel, after completing the Cletus Efferding books. 😉

Education

It’s all in how you look at it.  A good writer can describe the same thing in multiple ways, positive or negative, to suit the mood.  A good salesman can sell refrigerators to Eskimos.  Restaurant menus are loaded with positive words, often irrelevant ones. Tom Sawyer was able to favorably describe his fence painting chore.

Heinlein had a famous quote that goes something like, “Which would you rather have? A nice, thick, juicy, tender medium-rare grilled steak-or a scorched piece of bloody muscle tissue from the corpse of an immature castrated bull?’

Writer’s Digest ran a series called “Reject a Hit” where successful novels are described in negative terms.  Some of the articles are amusing, but also say something about how literary expectations have changed over time.  A Christmas Carol is rejected, as are Romeo and Juliet (he didn’t even check her pulse), Frankenstein (no tie-in market for dolls),  Harry Potter (too long, and dorky character), and my favorite: Cat in the Hat (“kids allow a stranger into house.”  The postscript rhyme is great.)

This Wizard of Oz synopsis by Rick Polito of the Marin Independent Journal is famous: “Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.”

Someone once described Frankenstein as:  Scientific advancement proves unpopular with general public, scientist regrets helping the handicapped.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is: Deformed character is humiliated and exiled, then exploited by old man.

Dr. Who: Homeless eccentric transports young women away in phone booth.

Green Eggs and Ham: Deranged stalker forces unnatural food upon terrified children, brainwashes them into acceptance.

You might want to see if you can recognize these other accurate but warpedd viewpoints on famous movies.

“Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story. Good description is a learned skill,one of the prime reasons you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not just a question of how-to, you see; it’s a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.” ~Stephen King, On Writing

“Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.” ~Winston Churchill

Upcoming Schedule

December 7
Nick
Stacy H.
Aime

December 14 (annual squeeze-in, due to large party in usual space)
Randy
Ciuin
Stacie S.

December 21
Ciuin
Uriah
Stacie S.

December 28
Aime
Randy
Jeremiah

January 4
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill