Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 26th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Daniel Keyes, best known as the author of the classic story Flowers for Algernon, died at age 86.  The story is sometimes used as an example of how good science fiction tackles serious or tragic and emotional problems.

–//–

Apple has reached an out-of-court settlement of the e-book price-fixing case.  A longer version of the story.

Victories

Ciuin’ four-page article on interpreting Romany culture was published in a museum journal.

Nick wrote a 3000 word train spotting report.

Dylan wrote a 9000 word story.

Jed finished a new chapter of Castalia.

Education

Writers Digest posted an example of a successful query letter, with discussion of its merits.  Query Tracker has also been recommended as a great source of information and examples of query letters, and lists of agents to submit them to.

Upcoming Schedule

June 26th
Tyree
Jed
Ciuin

July 3rd
Nick
Jed
Ciuin

July 10th
Tyree
Laura
Ciuin

July 17th
Nick
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 19th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The sentiment expressed so far indicates people want to meet on July 3, the day before a holiday weekend. If you have an opinion on that, please express it at the next meeting.

Victories

Ciuin made good progress on editing Petty Theft, including successfully fitting the scenes to the historical timeline.

Education

Where do you write? Joe Pawlikowski has his opinions on good and bad places. Another view. Some famous authors took advantage of any place they happened to have time to think, and some of them favored slightly unusual places. One of our own group plots out his stories while he walks. Find what works best for you as a routine, whether it is a desk or a bathtub but don’t ignore the moments of opportunity.

The same place may not be optimum for writing and editing. For instance, I find I must write at the computer, but need to edit both there and lying in bed with a printout.

Upcoming Schedule

June 19th
Cassie
Nick
Ciuin

June 26th
Tyree
Jed
Ciuin

July 3rd
Nick
Jed
Open slot

July 10th
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 12th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The sentiment expressed so far indicates people want to meet on July 3, the day before a holiday weekend. If you have an opinion on that, please express it at the next meeting.

–//–

If you ever get famous as a writer, be sure to watch out for marketing rights associated with your books. Harper Lee, well known for her 1960 book To Kill a Mockingbird, has settled a dispute with a museum in her home county over merchandise associated with the title. Your newsletter editor took notice because he has visited that museum.

Victories

In a very eventful week:

Tyree sent off the completed Bombay Sapphire.

Dylan received the final printed version of Sand and Blood.

Ciuin had requests to buy copies of Petty Theft which is in late editing, and her other Romany story which is only started. She is making good progress on editing Petty Theft.

Cassie had an epiphany about what had improved in her writing and will go back to fix previous work with better showing of motivation through thoughts and emotions of her characters.

Bill wrote 2500 words on his SF story, although he still doesn’t know where it’s going.

Nick sent a train spotting report to his group.

Education

Every author may dream of having a book on the best-seller lists. The most famous of many such lists are the ones from the NY Times. Publishers Weekly has lists. NPR has one. Amazon has theirs and other organizations publish them.

Making such a list one week will greatly help following sales of that and future books. What goes on behind the scenes to come up with the lists and to get on them? As mentioned in that article, there are sometimes shenanigans, as authors pay dearly for that momentary acclaim that could bring long-term benefits.

Critics point out the defects in relying on best seller lists, and even call for eliminating such lists, which seems unlikely.

One author found that making a best-seller list did not bring financial rewards because her publisher went bankrupt before sending her any royalties.

Upcoming Schedule

June 12th
Aimee
Ciuin
Jed

June 19th
Cassie
Nick
Ciuin (would cede if asked)

June 26th
Tyree
Jed
Ciuin

July 3rd
People seem to want to meet before holiday. Opinion?
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 5th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The battle for the book market continues, as Amazon is accused of selectively delaying or dropping books to punish some publishers.  (Another report.)   Amazon defends their position.

Victories

Tyree got a new computer and has (mostly) figured out how to use it.  He can now open .doc files.  He was annoyed, and worried about privacy, by its default of saving everything to the cloud and got that changed.

Ciuin has broken down the revisions needed to Petty Theft into a manageable list.  She has organized all critiques of the beta submission for efficient implementation, and has decided to fix a timeline discrepancy to match the historical information.

Education

Writing groups have proven helpful to many writers.   Cassie pointed out a recent article in Writers Digest that surveys several, and they feature several more in an on-line supplement, each having its own character, operating methods, and even purposes.

You can also find some on-line places (here or here, for example) to give and get critiques.  Practicing the giving of good critiques and comparing your analysis to others can be helpful in improving your own writing.  You need to be careful to not “publish” your material by making too much of it available to the world at large.

Noble Pen has evolved to our current Member Guide, which we follow in general, but frequently not with precision, and it seems to be working most of the time.

Here’s another discussion of writing groups.  I like to think we fall in the “Circle of Friends” category described there, but we need to keep alert that we don’t drift into another category.

Upcoming Schedule

June 5th
Nick
Jed
Tyree

June 12th
Aimee
Ciuin
Jed

June 19th
Open slots

June 26th
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 29th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Dictionary makers respond to changes in the language.  In an aggressive move, Merriam-Webster added 150 words this year, more than usual.

Victories

Dylan is proud to announce the publication of Sand and Blood.

Cassie worked on the plan for the sequel to Blue Moon Baby.

Tyree planned the last scene for Bombay Sapphire and has ideas for sequels.

Ciuin did some writing and is coming to terms with the revisions needed in Petty Theft.

Education

Do your characters have an easy time of it?  That’s not very interesting to readers, who usually expect to see tension and conflict before the resolution.  Brian Klems suggests ways to Push Your Characters to Their Limits.  Here he suggests some tools to spice up the tension.

One finds limits by pushing them. ~Herbert Simon

If you’ve ever found yourself pushed to the limits of your tolerance… you find yourself doing some things that, from the outside, can be seen as quite insane. ~Brandon Lee

The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless. ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Upcoming Schedule

May 29th
Tyree
Ciuin
Jed

June 5th
Nick
Jed
Tyree (if no one else wants it)

June 12th
Open slots

June 19th
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 22nd, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

An author collected comments about publishing first novels.  It takes quality, luck, and perseverance.

Victories

Tyree got a royalty check for his steampunk story.  It was more than enough to buy dinner.

Ciuin is out of school for the summer, so will have lots of time to write.  She was asked to draft material for people to refer to when writing to the United Nations to encourage inclusion of Romany in the Holocaust remembrance.

Aimee has done lots of story planning.

Education

Ralan was mentioned at the meeting for providing a list of markets for SF authors.

–//–

What do you do with numbers, times, and money in your story?  Dylan found this excellent summary of rules.  There may be some variation in style guides, but it is a good starting point.

Upcoming Schedule

May 22nd
Ciuin
Tyree
Cassie

May 29th
Tyree
Ciuin
Jed

June 5th
Nick
Open slots

June 12th
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 15th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The summer (northern hemisphere) edition of Science Fiction News is available.

Victories

Ciuin took an on-line vocational test and it said she should be a writer.  She has finished reading a book.

Shannon did his reading at DemiCon and sold books to 33% of his audience.

Tyree now has 17k words done on Bombay Sapphire, which is about 60% of the intended length.

Education

Zachary Petit has a list of 15 things a writer should never do.  Chuck Wendig has 25 things. These guys list 40 (despite their title).

Okay, enough negatives.  Karen Ball has 10 things you SHOULD do and Chuck has 25 things you should do.

Upcoming Schedule

May 15th
Aimee
Nick
Tyree

May 22nd
Ciuin
Open slots

May 29th
Tyree
Open slots

June 5th
Nick
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 8th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Tess Gerritsen, author of a book titled Gravity, sold movie rights to her book in 1999.  The recent hit movie of that name shares some settings and characteristics with that book (e.g.,  a woman doctor astronaut trying to get home from a space station), but the screenplay also has major differences (the cause of the disaster and other events).  She is suing Warner Brothers for breach of contract and a hefty sum because the movie does not say it was based on her book as required by her contract and she didn’t get a share. (A similar report)  It will be interesting to see how much effect her public quote, that the movie was so different it wasn’t based on her book, has on the case.  Authors, make sure your movie rights are clearly defined.

Victories

Tyree had good sales at two conventions.

Shannon will present a reading at DemiCon on Friday evening May 2.

Education

Mike Sager has twenty-five tips to make you a better writer.  He focuses on non-fiction writers, but most of his list also applies to fiction.  This is a modification of his list of fifty-one tips for reporters.

Upcoming Schedule

May 8th
Ciuin
Janice
Tyree ??

May 15th
Aimee
Nick
Tyree

May 22nd
Open slots

May 29th
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 1st, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A study in the UK found that going to the library regularly was among the activities that did as much for a person’s well-being as getting a raise.

Victories

Ciuin has written 1,000 words or more per day recently.  Unfortunately she lost the file for a good chapter.

Janice found a full-time job in the field she wanted, so with more regular hours will be better able to schedule writing time.

Aimee heard from her collaborator, so there is progress on their story.

Education

The ending of a story is the payoff, and the reader wants the payoff to be worth having read it all.  Larry Brooks talks about structuring the story for a killer ending.  Vicki Hinze discusses how to wrap it up.  Here’s Laura Miller’s take on what makes a great ending.  And some more tips on endings.

It’s important to get it right.  Remember, Hemingway wrote 39 endings to Farewell to Arms.

Nobody reads a (novel) to get to the middle.  They read it to get to the end.  If it’s a let down, they won’t buy anymore.  The first page sells that book.. The last page sells your next book. ~ Mickey Spillane

Upcoming Schedule

May 1st
Nick
Tyree
Janice (canceled)

May 8th
Ciuin
Janice
Open slot

May 15th
Aimee
Open slots

May 22nd
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

April 24th, 2014 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Former Noble Pen attendee Lynda Waddington is the newest member of the CR Gazette editorial staff.

Victories

Dylan’s latest book has doubled all previous sales of all his books.  He finished a 30k word commission.

Nick put out the railfan newsletter on schedule.  He also wrote a four-page train-spotting report.

Ciuin is doing non-school reading again.

Education

Writer’s Digest offers a free nine-page download on “Step-by-step guide to the Publishing Process” when you sign up for their email newsletter.  It covers a lot of how things work with a major publishing house.  Nathan Bransford offers his summary of the process.  Randy Ingermanson compares the process for different size publishers.  You might want to read some of the cautions on the Predators and Editors site.

Upcoming Schedule

Apr 24th
Ciuin
Janice
Barbara

May 1st
Nick
Tyree
Open slot

May 8th
Open slots

May 15th
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill