Monthly Archives: December 2018

The Noble Pen for Jan 3, 2019

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Jan 3rd, 2019 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Education

You can find many educational articles published in newsletters of the last few years, but this section of the newsletter has been suspended due to low readership.

Victories

Aime turned out a submission in very little time.

Ciuin finished the draft of Nightmares

Upcoming Schedule

Jan 3
Laura
Nick
Randy

Jan 10
Ciuin
Logan
Open slot

Jan 17
Open slots

Jan 24
Open slots

Jan 31
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for Dec 27, 2018

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Dec 27th, 2018 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Due to an apparent lack of readership, the newsletter will be much simpler for a while in order to save the editor’s time. I received no word from anyone after last week’s request to let me know it was read. You can find many educational articles published in newsletters of the last few years.

Victories

Logan has started reading James Clavell’s book Shogun with the goal of finishing the series of six books in a year.

Upcoming Schedule

Dec 27
Ciuin
Aime
Open Slot

Jan 3
Laura
Nick
Randy

Jan 10
Ciuin
Logan
Open slot

Jan 17
Open slots

Jan 24
Open Slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for Dec 20, 2018

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Dec 20th, 2018 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

There will be an event with many authors at the Des Moines Valley West Mall next summer with a sign-up deadline coming soon.  A very quick search didn’t find the info, but you may want to look up more on it.

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John Le Carre has published numerous spy novels, and sold millions of books.  He is 87 years old, and has a new one coming out in 2019.  There is hope for us geezers.

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Poll: If anyone in our group reads this, please send me an email.  I often wonder whether enough read it to make it worth the time to prepare, as too many people at meetings have been surprised by things previously announced here.

Victories

Aime has edited half of Scourge.  In her quest to read all of Vonnegut’s works, she finished the fourth book.

Ciuin got A’s on school papers, and will soon have most of a month break to use for writing.

Education

At a recent meeting there was mention of “Save the Cat,” a series of manuals put out by Blake Snyder.  The history is well-explained at wikipedia).  One of the elements is something to endear the hero to the audience when they are first seen, and his title comes from the scene in Alien where Sigourney Weaver saves a cat.

Snyder used the “Hero’s Journey” (wikipedia-monomyth)  and broke it down into a detailed formula for movie screenwriters, later rewritten for novelists (Amazon). Snyder’s breakdown is summarized here.

A surprising number of stories fit well into the structure of The Hero’s Journey and they aren’t all epic fantasies.   Vladimir Propp was one of the pioneers of the idea as applied to folk tales.  Elizabeth Sims discusses the structure and how a Sherlock Holmes story fits it.  Here’s another comparison using Star Wars and The Matrix.

The Hero’s Journey and Save The Cat are proven successful formulas, and you can see them in a great many novels and movies.  But do you want your writing to be formulaic?  Some people don’t find it so appealing.

Upcoming Schedule

Dec 20
Ciuin
Aime
Logan

Dec 27
Ciuin
Aime
Open Slot

Jan 3
Laura
Nick
Randy

Jan 10
Open slots

Jan 17
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for Dec 13, 2018

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Dec 13th, 2018 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

This week is our annual clash with a big party at the restaurant.  When you enter, look to your left for us in some corner.

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People who are interested in the differences in languages might want to read this book, which examines characteristics beyond vocabulary that differentiate twenty of the most-widely spoken.

Victories

Randy had a great book release party for Sins of Omission, and sold 46 books.

Nick finished the second book of his trilogy.

Stacie wrote thank-you letters to children’s librarians at two libraries because they are awesome.

Education

What’s in a name?  Writer’s Digest offers some rules for picking the names of your characters.  Debbie Young has fifteen ideas about picking names. The NY Times has some ideas, too.   Anne R. Allen suggests making them distinctive, but has some cautions to keep the names appropriate for the time and place.

And while we’re thinking of names, consider whether you need all those characters to be named and developed.  The delivery guy and the office assistant who don’t reappear don’t need names.

Each generation wants new symbols, new people, new names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors. ~Jim Morrison

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. ~John F. Kennedy

I call everyone ‘Darling’ because I can’t remember their names. ~Zsa Zsa Gabor

Upcoming Schedule

Dec 13
Randy
Logan
Stacie

Dec 20
Ciuin
Aime
Logan

Dec 27
Open slots

Jan 3
Laura
Nick
Randy

Jan 10
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill