Next Noble Pen Meeting

September 4th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Novellas by Mrs. Tolstoy will be published, which reflect her side of a turbulent marriage.

—//–

Authors from other countries are also protesting Amazon’s tactics.

Victories

Dylan wrote 30,000 words this week.

Tyree wrote more on Bombay Sapphire II and Wolf, and started a pulp story with a new superhero.

Ciuin used a backup file after a messed-up edit.  Backups work!  Her human rights class professor will let her write all papers on gypsy issues.

Education

How long should a story be?  How long is a piece of string? They should be long enough to do the job without a lot of excess.  Always review your story to see if it contains padding that does not move the story along.  However, a long manuscript may not be publishable regardless of whether it is the right length for the story it tells.  If your writing is tight and still too long, you may have to modify the events of the story to fit a publishable range.

The Nebula Awards define lengths for short story, novelette, novella, and novel.  Definitions vary.  Other formats include drabble, usually defined as a story of exactly 100 words, and flash fiction, which is variously defined as less than 300 or 1000 words.

The average book sold through Amazon has 64,500 words.  Chuck Sambuchino offers a detailed guide that recommends 80-100 k words for most novels and memoirs, with sci-fi running slightly longer.  Westerns and books for younger readers tend to be shorter.  Here’s another guide , and a third, that mostly agree, and define lengths for other formats.  Wikipedia goes into the details of counting words, which you can digest for details after getting your story into the right length range for your market.

Upcoming Schedule

Sept 4
Tyree
Ciuin
Aimee

Sept 11
Tyree
Dylan
Ciuin

Sept 18
Dylan
Open slots

Sept 25
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 28th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A blog discusses whether the monthly unlimited e-book subscription services are worth it.

Victories

Dylan got a review of one of his novels from someone he didn’t know.  Previous reviews have all been family and friends.  He invented a font for the language of his novels.

Cassie started the 3rd draft revisions of Dreams in Red, and now has 20 k words on Blue Moon Baby.

Ciuin received an offer from a well-known artist to do the cover of Petty Theft.

Education

A good article lists seven essential elements of a good novel.  First among those is readability.  Another article lists five elements, and mentions that dialog must be easy to read.  This blog lists sixteen, and clarity is first.

Upcoming Schedule

August 28
Tyree
Ciuin (double slot)

Sept 4
Tyree
Ciuin
Aimee

Sept 11
Open slots

Sept 18
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 21st, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Amazon is aiming to become more dominant in college book sales, with a new partnership that lets students order on line and pick up locally.

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An author of Dystopian young-adult books talks about the genre and says although the books and films have been popular recently, she thinks their run is ending.

Victories

Tyree submitted and sold another story to the anthology that is in preparation.

Nick has re-edited eight of eleven chapters of his western.  He sent a report on a long train-spotting trip.

Dylan’s giveaway of Sand and Blood on Goodreads resulted in people in two states and Australia receiving copies.   Another 500 added it to their “to read” file so a few may actually buy it.  He is hoping for some reviews to be posted.

Education

While many authors do fine with an ordinary word processing program, others find help in writer’s software with more power, such as discussed here.  A summary compares several writing software programs.  Another review (as of 2012) includes some not in the other list.  Neither list rates free programs, of which there are many.   A few people write their own program.

These programs, costing $30 to $130 (list price), integrate the functions of outlining or storyboarding, note taking, character sheets, and writing to a much greater degree than word processors like MS Word and WordPerfect.  Some go beyond spelling and thesaurus to offer a full dictionary and even name lists from which to choose characters.  They still do not write the story for you, nor give a reader’s critique.

Come to think of it, there are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and the Internet is nothing like Shakespeare.  ~(modified from) Blair Houghton

Upcoming Schedule

August 21
Aimee
Ciuin
Cassie

August 28
Tyree
Ciuin (double slot)

Sept 4
Tyree
Ciuin (?)
Open slot

Sept 11
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 14th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Alban Lake Publishing has a Drabble contest running until the end of August.  Submit a story of exactly 100 words plus title that follows the current theme.

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A court found the Arthur Conan Doyle estate had no basis for trying to require a license fee for an anthology of works about him, and re-confirmed that the Sherlock Holmes character is in the public domain.

However, Mickey Mouse is still protected by copyright for at least a few more years and by trademark for as long as Disney wants.

Victories

Dylan finished a commission piece and it was accepted and paid for.  He has a Goodreads raffle offering copies of Sand and Blood, trying to gain reviews for it, and at this writing 244 people have entered a request.

Ciuin implemented a plan for backups.

Cassie overhauled a chapter of Blue Moon Baby and finished it.

Education

How do you end your story?  It’s important to get it right.  As I’ve said in prior articles, Hemingway wrote 39 endings to Farewell to Arms before picking one.

This article has some suggestions for a satisfying ending.  The struggle that has provided tension should be resolved, although it doesn’t always have to be a happy ending.

The elements of the climax and ending should have been foreshadowed so the reader does not cry “Deus ex Machina!”, yet that information should not give away the ending.   Ideally the reader will not expect the ending but will find it to be completely natural when looking back at the events leading up to it.

There may need to be a post-climax dénouement, such as where the detective explains how she put the evidence together or the newlyweds drive off into the sunset, but that should generally be short and to the point, and possibly tying back to the opening scene.  After the tension is gone the reader will become impatient with a long explanation.

Nobody reads a (novel) to get to the middle.  They read it to get to the end.  ~ Mickey Spillane

It ain’t over until it’s over. ~Yogi Berra

Upcoming Schedule

August 14
Ciuin (double)
Tyree

August 21
Aimee
Ciuin
Cassie

August 28
Tyree
Ciuin
Open slot

Sept 4
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 7th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Welcome to Anthony who found the group, and Manuel who came back after several years.

Victories

Dylan submitted Sand and Blood to a super-critical reviewer, who reports how many minutes it took him to find three major things wrong with a story.   At Dylan’s work a high manager mentioned his book to a meeting of company VIPs.

Tyree has Bombay Sapphire 2 about 10% done, with 3,000 words added this week, in addition to his work on Wolf.

Barbara and Matt further developed a character in their novel.

Education

Word repetition is a too-common, although not major, flaw in most people’s first drafts.  A little attention and substitutions can quickly make improvements.  This article offers some examples of rephrasing, as does this one.  

A search will find many tools to point out repetition, sucy as this one.

Do not fall into the trap of simply choosing the next word in a thesaurus, because synonyms all have nuances and you want the right shade of meaning.

If you re-read your work, you can find on re-reading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by re-reading and editing. ~William Safire

Upcoming Schedule

August 7
Ciuin
Tyree
Laura

August 14
Ciuin (could take double)
Tyree (would cede)
Open slots

August 21
Aimee
Ciuin
Open slots

August 28
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 31st, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Amazon reported a big loss for the recent quarter.  They have been involved with price wars and disputes with other companies.

Victories

Ciuin and her grandsons are reading the same books and she will get book reports.

Cassie has done plotting and research for another novella/novel.

Tyree started Bombay Sapphire II and did research on a 1962 war to use in the story.

Education

Some authors just sit down and write.  They may think too much planning will limit their creativity.  This article discusses how to work without an outline. Generally the writers who do the least planning also do the most revision.

Others carefully outline.  Many use a crude outline or just a list of major events and character motivations.   One big advantage to some sort of outline is that it can give your story structure, so it doesn’t read like it “just grew.”  Another advantage may be found in consistency of the timeline.  Sometimes drawing  parallel timelines for the characters and the MacGuffin helps avoid anachronisms.

Here’s an article about approaches to outlining a novel, and another that discusses both chapter-by-chapter and character-based outlines.  You can write the synopsis first, and essentially it is a brief outline.   You may want to use these eight suggestions to outline your plot.

Upcoming Schedule

July 31st
Ciuin
Cassie
Tyree

August 7
Ciuin
Tyree (?)
Laura

August 14
Ciuin
Open slots

August 21
Aimee
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 24th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Amazon has launched a service offering all you can read for one monthly fee.

Victories

Jed wrote 12,000 words in a week, thus finishing his story before moving out of town.

Barbara beta-read two pieces and returned comments to the authors.

Tyree started Bombay Sapphire 2.

Cassie made a detailed outline for the next ten chapters of Blue Moon Baby.

Education

Most authors use mail or email to pitch their stories to agents or publishers.  Adrienne Crezo describes an event at a writing conference where many agents met many authors in person.  The success rate in this report seemed to be above the average of mailed queries.

You can find lots of advice on crafting your pitch and being prepared.   You should have both a thirty-second “elevator speech” (see also here) and a three-minute more complete explanation.

Upcoming Schedule

July 24th
Laura
Ciuin
Jed

July 31st
Ciuin
Cassie (?)
Tyree

August 7
Open slots

August 14
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 17th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

News Corporation has bought Harlequin, and is adding it to their Harper Collins division.

–//–

An essay considers how multinational the readership for books may be.

Victories

Dylan submitted a story for publication.

Education

The “blurb” testimonials usually seen on the back covers of books are a common marketing device, intended to convince the reader that this is a book worth reading.   The word blurb was coined in 1907. A search for the terms blurb request will find many articles about getting people to help you by writing them.

Noelle Sterne has some thoughts about gathering testimonials.  Here’s another view, saying the blurbs are a small factor in readers choices but still worthwhile.  Best-selling authors get too many requests to comply unless you have some  connection to them.  More advice on requesting a blurb.

Upcoming Schedule

July 17th
Nick
Tyree
Jed

July 24th
Laura
Ciuin
Jed

July 31st
Ciuin
Jen
Tyree

August 7
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 10th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Watch your punctuation.  It could haunt your readers for a long time.  As I write this on Independence Day weekend, I noticed an article about a continuing dispute over a period in the Declaration of Independence.

Victories

Cassie finished two chapters, is working on the next, and has planned the following one.

Dylan submitted a short story and wrote 20 K words on another story.  A fan asked for a sequel and another said he had read everything he has published under that pen name.

Jed wrote three chapters.

Jen found the group, inspired to see what she could learn after getting a short story published in an anthology.

Education

Writers Digest has a good article on storytelling techniques.  While focused on science fiction and fantasy, there is a lot to be gained for other genres.  It is important to give the reader enough information to follow the story, without overloading them with too much disconnected data to remember.

An important method is giving information by implication.  If the characters know something, so they speak and act accordingly, then the reader can often pick up that information without being “told”.  I’m very fond of the example from Heinlein that I quoted a couple years ago, showing how a few lines of dialog paints the outline of the world the characters live in.  This technique helps a lot with finding words to leave out, while still giving the reader what they need.

The best artists know what to leave out. ~Charles de Lint

The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in. ~Henry Green

Upcoming Schedule

July 10th
Tyree
Cassie
Jed

July 17th
Nick
Tyree
Jed

July 24th
Laura
Ciuin
Jed

July 31st
Ciuin
Jen
Open slot

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 3rd, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Just because you get a contract doesn’t mean success.  Tony Horwitz tells a sad and cautionary tale of disappointment in the e-publishing world.

Victories

Ciuin’s father, who almost never reads her writing, read her article in the museum journal and liked it.

Tyree’s story Bombay Sapphire not only met acceptance, the publisher asked for a sequel.

Education

Laura offers a couple good links.   An article by Robbie Blair points out words that may “gum up your text” and be candidates for elimination or change.  Tameri has a longer list of words whose use is worth reconsidering.

Upcoming Schedule

July 3rd
Nick
Jed
Ciuin

July 10th
Tyree
Laura
Ciuin

July 17th
Nick
Tyree
Jed

July 24th
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill