Category Archives: Newsletters

This is the weekly newsletters for the Noble Pen Writer’s Group.

The Noble Pen for July 4, 2013 (Holiday edition)

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 11th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

In celebration of the 237th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we’ll not be meeting on July 4.

–/–

Send the moderator your list of references for authors that you would be willing to loan other members.  The Lending Library will be posted here.

–/–

Dylan renewed the noblepencr.org domain name for five years at a cost of $52.50. We collected some donations to cover part of that and will accept any further donations at the meeting.

Victories

Rachel had a breakthrough in her writing by finding a stronger voice for her main character.

Aimee has time to write more on her new work schedule.

Education

Are book titles protected by copyright?  Generally not.  The existence of another book that comes up in a Google search with your title doesn’t preclude your using it, and there are lots of books that share titles.  This article mentions that there are at least a dozen books named “Nemesis.”  To avoid confusion you probably shouldn’t name it something on the recent best seller lists,  famous like “War and Peace” and “Macbeth”, or a variation like “The Da Vinci Cipher”.

Your biggest limitation is probably trademarks on character names and series identifications.  See also here and the US Government site FAQ.  You can’t call your book  “Luke Skywalker Visits Des Moines”,  “Igloo Building for Dummies”, or “The Hardy Boys Mystery On Mars”.

Upcoming Schedule

July 4th

No meeting

July 11th

Nick
Shannon
Ciuin

July 18th

Tyree
Jed
Nick

July 25th

Rachel
Aimee
Jed

August 1st

Tyree
Rachel
Barbara

August 8th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for June 27, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 27th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

We’re collecting a list of good writing references you would be willing to loan to other members, giving title, author, and publisher.  Send your information to the moderator.

–/–

Dylan renewed the noblepencr.org domain name for five years at a cost of $52.50.  We collected some donations to cover part of that and will accept any further donations at the meeting.

Victories

Ciuin found a bunch of errors in the labeling of museum displays and, when relating this to local museum people, was asked to consult on labeling of an upcoming exhibit.

Tyree did research for one of his stories by asking a local pharmacist about prescriptions for heart patients.  There are experts all around who might help you with facts for a story.

Education

An author must do a lot of self-editing to hone their work to its best.  You may be tempted to not do it right, and commit some of the seven deadly sins of self-editing.

You might benefit from an mechanics editing checklist or  general editing checklist.  Jody Hedlund has a list tailored to fiction writers.  She and others say many people catch different problems on paper versus on the screen.  Natalie Sharpston agrees, and for either she has an excellent list.

When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest. ~Stephen King

The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its Writer. ~Zadie Smith

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads. ~Dr. Seuss

Edit your manuscript until your fingers bleed and you have memorized every last word. Then, when you are certain you are on the verge of insanity…edit one more time! ~C.K. Webb

Upcoming Schedule

June 27th

Tyree
Jed
Aimee

July 4th

No meeting

July 11th

Nick
Shannon
Ciuin

July 18th

Tyree
Jed
Nick

July 25th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for June 20, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 20th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Having received only a small response on the idea of building a lending library, we have a less ambitious proposal.  Send the moderator a list of good writing references you would be willing to loan to other members, giving title, author, and publisher.  If we get several listed, we’ll put the list somewhere on the web site.

–/–

After recent news, sales of Orwell’s 1984 have jumped to at least number 213 on Amazon’s best seller list.  And these authors seem to have lucked out on timing their book.

Victories

People seem to be busily writing, but had no special victories this week.

Education

It is important that characters have distinct “voices” or ways of talking so the reader can easily picture them as individual personalities and distinguish them from each other without relying entirely on the dialog tags.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself about how your characters speak.

Alicia Rasley offers some advice and exercises to help a writer develop character voice.

Here’s a good list of things to think about and some great suggestions.

A man’s style is his mind’s voice. Wooden minds, wooden voices. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Do the other kids make fun of you? For how you talk?”
“‘Sometimes.”
“‘So why don’t you do something about it? You could learn to talk differently, you know.”
“But this is my voice. How would you be able to tell when I was talking?”
~Lauren Oliver, Before I Fall

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning. ~Maya Angelou

There is no index of character so sure as the voice. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Upcoming Schedule

June 20th

Janice
Tyree
Nick

June 27th

Tyree
Jed
Aimee

July 4th

No meeting

July 11th

Nick
Shannon
Open slot

July 18th

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

The Noble Pen for June 13, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 13th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Welcome to Christine, who found the group.

The consensus is that we do not meet on July 4.

Someone suggested that the Noble Pen start a lending library, to be funded by contributions and contain writers’ resources such as an agent directory and the best advice books.  Please comment on the proposal.

Long-time author Jack Vance died at age 96.  He wrote in several genres, including mystery and what some people called science fiction.  His collected works comprised 45 volumes.  He disliked the term SF and said he was a “speculative anthropologist” because his stories were about people in strained or bizarre situations.

The Pulitzer prizes were announced in April.

F&SF Conventions

For those whose interests are not bounded by present and past possibilities, the next BIG convention in the midwest is CONvergence, July 4 – 7 in Bloomington, MN.  There will be, among other things, a steampunk/British invasion fashion expo, a judged or just-for-fun masquerade ball, and an impressive list of fantasy/sci fi authors, screenwriters, and playwrights (including Janice’s top favorite, Steven Brust).

A little farther out is OSFest, July 26 – 28 in Omaha, NE.

Around the country are many more, including FenCon  in Dallas/Ft. Worth, October 4-6, ConClave in Detroit October 11-13,  MileHiCon in Denver October 18-20th .

Closer to home, DemiCon is in November, and Iowa-ICon is in the spring.

Victories

Tyree got back to his apocalyptic novel and the words are flowing nicely.

Nick is writing and editing more lately.

Christine got a request for a full manuscript of her novel.

Education

We had a request for information about writing queries and finding agents.  The first rule in contacting an agent or publisher is to know what they are looking for, and to follow their individual submission guidelines.

Writer’s Digest sells one of the best-known resources, the Guide to Literary Agents that comes out each fall. (WD site) (Amazon) (wikipedia)  They also market more specialized guides for magazine writers (Writer’s Market),  screenwriters, poets, photographers, and other market segments.

AgentQuery offers some resources.

A resource often  mentioned is Query Tracker.  Check it out to see if you could benefit either from registering for its services or just from browsing its forum for information on agents, publishers, writing techniques, success stories, etc.  You could spend days on the site.

The web site Predators and Editors offers warnings about scams a writer may encounter in the publishing business.

An editor tells why a writer needs an agent.

An agent’s advice on writing a query letter.  Writer’s Digest published this list of Dos and Don’ts.

Agent Rachelle Gardner gives her own desired query format (which won’t match other agents), and offers 13 ways to impress an agent.

Here’s what might be a poor attempt at a query letter, that did NOT impress an agent.

Here are 10 things a writer should find out if offered representation, and 10 things they may need to answer.

A typical agent in New York gets 400 query letters a month. Of those, they might ask to read 3-4 manuscripts, and of those, they might ask to represent 1.  [ …]  Above all, a query letter is a sales pitch and it is the single most important page an unpublished writer will ever write. It’s the first impression and will either open the door or close it. It’s that important, so don’t mess it up.  Mine took 17 drafts and two weeks to write. ~Nicholas Sparks

Upcoming Schedule

June 13th

Jed
Tyree

June 20th

Janice
Tyree
Nick

June 27th

Tyree
Open slots

July 4th

No meeting

July 11th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for June 6, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 6th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

One of our upcoming meeting dates falls on July 4.  How many think we should meet?

NPR has an interview with Stephen King.

Victories

Shannon re-edited his sequel and took out 10k words.  The ones that are left are really good words.

Tyree did a lot of writing at the convention he attended.  He finds (as do many people) that he edits better if he uses both the screen and paper, as he sees different aspects of the writing.

Ciuin thinks the scene we just reviewed is the last addition needed for Petty Theft.  She came up 0.03 grade points short of the honor roll, the same number for the third time in a row.

Education

Is your plot too predictable?  There are only a limited number of plots in the world (although people disagree on how to subdivide them), so of course yours will resemble many others.  Noelle Sterne has some tips on keeping them from being too predictable.   Dorian Scott Cole has some suggestions to make yours more original.  Kara Lennox says to imagine many possible choices your character might make, pick an unlikely one, and make it seem reasonable.

If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Once you become predictable, no one’s interested anymore. ~Chet Atkins

Upcoming Schedule

June 6th

Aimee
Jed
Janice

June 13th

Jed
Tyree
Open slot

June 20th

Janice
Tyree ?
Open slot

June 27th

Open slots

July 4th

Will we meet?

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for May 30, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 30th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A unpublished novel by Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck  (1892-1973) was recently found in storage and is being published.  Keep you unpublished work — your grandchildren may be able to reap the reward after your other books succeed.

Victories

Ciuin survived the semester and aced all her papers including the final in the writing course.  An author to whom she had complained about Romani stereotypes has apologized and asked her to consult on the next book to get it right.

Bill actually wrote fiction for a few hours.

Education

Commas are often a sore subject for writers.  There are grammatical rules to dictate some of their uses, but they may also be used for effect, such as pauses .  Fortunately, the rules are somewhat flexible and you have leeway.  Unfortunately, the rules are somewhat flexible and you never are sure what is right or wrong or will fit an editor’s styling preferences.

Wikipedia summarizes the uses of the comma.  They may be used for lists, separation of dependent clauses, setting off non-essential interrupting phrases, setting off initial adverbs (like therefore, however, and so), between multiple adjectives, and several other ways.

An optional comma can be used to indicate where the writer wants the reader to pause in a sentence. This changes the emphasis of the parts of the sentence, and can help in parsing a complicated sentence or suggest which of multiple interpretations is intended.  It is not necessary to put a comma everywhere you pause, however.

A frequent problem is running two sentences (independent clauses) together into one using a comma instead of a conjunction.   Wikipedia and Tina Blue explain comma splice problems, but she also has some partly contrary examples showing how comma splices can be used artistically.  Wikipedia also

The Most Comma Mistakes shows us what we probably most need to watch out for.

Most writers paragraph for effect, punctuate on impulse, and let split infinitives and comma splices fall where they may.  Omnivorous reading substitutes for systematic study.  Syntactic nomenclature is a thing they learn only if, somehow trapped into teaching others the craft, they find themselves in need of terms to describe the errors of their students. ~Dwight Swain

I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out. ~Oscar Wilde

And finally, a slightly risque cartoon, the Comma Sutra.

Upcoming Schedule

May 30th

Jed
Tyree
Ciuin

June 6th

Aimee
Jed
Janice

June 13th

Jed
Open slots

June 20th

Open slots

June 27th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for May 23, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 23rd, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Publishers had a good sales year, and ebooks accounted for 20% of sales.

The Justice Department is still putting together a case on ebook price fixing, with Apple taking much of the heat.

Victories

Dylan’s submission to Harper Voyager is one of 900 that passed the first round out of 4600 submitted.

Tyree’s doctor says he will probably live a while longer.  He didn’t promise long enough to see Nyx’s century, however.

Education

A couple weeks ago we saw some articles about having a character change through the events of the plot.  There are many ways a character can change.  Nancy Kress discusses characters that do or do not change in personality, or in motivation.

Lillie Ammann talks about motivations a character might have.

Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.
~Les Brown

When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, ‘It’s in the script.’ If he says, ‘But what’s my motivation?, ‘ I say, ‘Your salary.’ ~Alfred Hitchcock

We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them. ~Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Upcoming Schedule

May 23rd

Janice
Jed
Rachel

May 30th

Jed
Tyree
Open slot

June 6th

Aimee
Open slots

June 13th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for May 16, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 16th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Please read the Member Guide on the web site and reply to the moderator or at the meeting with any suggested changes.

–//–

Dylan is preparing for a panel discussion and would like to be reminded of any sci-fi women characters in military situations.

–//–

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

Along with more literary matters, they report the gossip that Gandalf will officiate at the marriage of  Captain Jean Luc Picard to his fiancee.

Victories

Dylan lost a commission due to delays, but will now have more time for other writing.  He got 4th place in the first round of a writing contest and advances to the next round.

Education

The writer must balance between conflicting advice:

-Uncertainty is what makes tension.  Tension is what keeps the reader turning pages.  A shoot-out has no tension if we are sure the good guy won’t get hurt.  A romance has no tension if we know how the girl will end up with the prince.  A murder mystery usually isn’t mysterious if we know who did it and how.

-No “deus ex machina”, pulling a miracle out of nowhere to save the protagonist.  You can’t make up an ending that has no roots in the earlier pages.  Important events should be foreshadowed.   The Ellery Queen mysteries had a rule that the reader should always think at the end that they could have figured out the mystery, because all the necessary clues were there.

–Chekhov’s gun:  if there is a gun on the mantelpiece in an early scene, it must be used later in the story.   The reader shouldn’t have to remember and sort through too much irrelevant detail.

—–

So how do you put in all the information, and omit irrelevant information, without spoiling the uncertainty?  If everything is important, there isn’t much room for uncertainty.   Some writers advise a moderate amount of misdirection.

-Give the important event or fact an obvious, unimportant reason to be there.  Let the reader assume a lower relevance for events than they turn out to have.  Use details that just seem like scene-setting but turn out to be critical.

-Think like the stage magician, who keeps you focused on one had while the other does the tricky work.  Give the reader clearly vital information but distract them by immediately going into the battle, chase, or emotional confrontation.

-Let something obviously important turn out to have a different meaning than assumed.

-Don’t lie to the reader, or place too much emphasis on the red herring, or they will feel cheated.  Just lead them to lie to themselves.

See these articles:  misdirection,  another,  and this one.

Upcoming Schedule

May 16th

Jed
Tyree

May 23rd

Janice
Jed
Open slots

May 30th

Aimee
Tyree?
Open slot

June 6th

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

The Noble Pen for May 9, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 9th, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Welcome to Rachel and Barbara, who found the group.

Major publishers have loosened their policies on libraries lending e-books.

Victories

Nick sent a train spotting report to his associates and it was well-received.  He wrote more on his sci fi story.

Janice got feedback from a reader who finished and commented on her story.

Education

Many, if not most, good novels show the protagonist, and perhaps other characters, changing in some way as a result of the experiences of the plot.  Here’s a discussion of how to show your characters changing.  Another article discusses possible changes and this one evaluates several movies as examples to see how the characters changed.

Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward. ~Henry Ford

Nothing contributes to the entertainment of the reader more than the change of times and the vicissitudes of fortune.  ~Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE)

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature. ~Ernest Hemingway

Upcoming Schedule

May 9th

Jed
Tyree

May 16th

Jed
Tyree
Open slot

May 23rd

Janice
Open slots

May 30th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for May 2, 2013

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 2nd, 2013 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Wikipedia is moving American Women Novelists to a subcategory, leaving men as American Novelists, bringing charges of being sexist.

Victories

Tyree received a copy of the newly published steampunk anthology Gadgets that he contributed to.  He reports the convention in Nebraska was a good one.

Aimee got her old computer to work, and recovered all of her old writing files.

Education

Adverbs have a bad reputation among writers.   Often (but not always) instead of using the adverb, there is a clearer or more forceful way to say the same thing that will improve the reader’s experience.  Be sure you have the best nouns, verbs, and adjectives you can find before resorting to adverbs.   Be sure any adverb you use adds something that isn’t already obvious.  Sometimes, after those considerations, they are the right word to use.  Here are some references and commentaries on adverbs:

A summary sheet was passed out at the April 26 meeting.

Basic explanation of adjectives and adverbs

A list of 3732 adverbs (just in case you didn’t think they were numerous)

Use Carefully

What’s so Bad about Adverbs?

Adverbs are the tool of the lazy writer.  When you catch an adverb, kill it. ~Mark Twain

The road to Hell is paved with adverbs. ~Stephen King

Upcoming Schedule

May 2nd

Tyree
Laura
Janice

May 9th

Mark S.
Jed
Tyree ?

May 16th

Jed
Open slots

May 23rd

Open slots

May 30th

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill