Next Noble Pen Meeting

Mar 1st, 2012 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

No news is good news.

Victories

Lynda is writing a freelance piece that is to appear in the CR Gazette.

Ciuin was asked to do a 900 word essay for the Higher Education and Learning website on student cramming.  She doesn’t have a firm deadline, so she can’t cram for this one.   She submitted a question for discussion on a forum and generated a huge response, with her posts being overwhelmingly the highest rated on the forum.

Aimee found time to write another chapter.

Dylan has a story that is accepted for publication in an anthology of 24 stories,  subject to his cutting it down by 1,000 words.  He also found out that he only came in second in the last contest he wrote for.  Maybe the first place author was more famous.

Education

It’s been a while since anyone mentioned 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.

Upcoming Schedule

March 1st

Nick
Ciuin
Tyree

March 8th

Shannon
Aimee
Dylan

March 15th

Shannon
Open slots

March 22nd

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Feb 23rd, 2012 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The next meeting will be a little different.

Ciuin has requested that we read aloud her short play to help find the rough spots and to estimate playing time.

Then, if time permits, we will read aloud what we each have written from the following writing prompt, and discuss how the approaches differ and which ones might work well.

Each person should write a paragraph or a few paragraphs, preferably not much more than half a page, that could be the beginning of a story using the given characters and situation.  I chose generic characters rather than ones already created (sorry, Bob).

An elderly man, frail but mentally sharp, who seems to be in unfamiliar territory, is sitting at a bar near a young loudmouth who is bragging about how he is not afraid of something that has the neighborhood scared.  The bartender is a good-natured and middle-aged woman who would rather the loudmouth didn’t start anything.

Victories

Shannon did a final (fast) edit on Call of the Beast, which is being renamed Minion of Evil, and turned it in for publication.

Ciuin received a call from her hero, who had been impressed by her writing, to talk about important matters that may lead to a future dream job for her.  The bad news is that her editor for Petty Theft has had eye surgery and won’t be working for perhaps months.

Education

In keeping with our writing exercise for the week, here’s a pep talk on starting your story or getting un-stuck if you can’t seem to proceed.  This page has a bunch of links on how to name and develop characters.

Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin. The talent of a writer is his ability to give them their separate names, identities, personalities and have them relate to other characters living with them.  ~Mel Brooks

Upcoming Schedule

February 23rd

Dylan
Ciuin (review and read aloud)
(Time permitting) All read their writing exercise
(see News above for details)

March 1st

Nick
Shannon
Tyree

March 8th

Open slots

March 15th

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Feb 16th, 2012 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

With review slots still open for Feb 23rd, this would be a good time for someone to come up with an educational exercise in place of one of the reviews. Let me know if you have ideas you would like to present, or a topic you would especially like someone else to present.

Victories

Shannon submitted Fangs for Nothing to Sam’s Dot publishing.

Dylan submitted an entry to a story contest.

Tyree found 2 or 3 year old poem he had done and submitted it to Mad Magazine.

Education

A midpoint reversal or midpoint climax is often used to keep a story exciting.  It is an event that reverses the protagonist’s fortunes, or makes it impossible for him to turn back from his quest.  It may be the point where the clock he must beat starts ticking.   Here’s a discussion of midpoint reversal (if you want to read the entire series of articles use the dropdown menu in the gray bar).   Another article brings up the no-turning-back aspect.

“Come on, come on! And there’ll be no turning back! You were only killing time and it can kill you right back. Come on, come on! It’s time to burn up the fuse. You got nothing to do and even less to lose. ~ Jim Steinman

I better make the plot good. I wanted to make it grip people on the first page and have a big turning point in the middle, as there is, and construct the whole thing like a roller coaster ride. ~ Mark Haddon

Upcoming Schedule

February 16th

Tyree
Ciuin
Aimee

February 23rd

Dylan
Open slots

March 1st

Nick
Shannon
Tyree

March 8th

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Feb 9th, 2012 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Victories

Shanna got an A on the first paper in her composition class.

Dylan submitted two short stories, one of romance and another about werewolves, to anthologies.

Education

I think we usually do a decent job of critique at our meetings.  Just in case someone wants to brush up on ideas and methods, here’s a thorough checklist for critique (scroll down to the numbered sections).

Another take on critique has some similarities, and ends with a good point to keep in mind: You are the author and in charge of the story,  so you can choose which ideas from the critique you want to use.

Association with my pupils has kept me young in my work. Criticism of their work has kept my own point of view clear. ~ William Merritt Chase

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots. ! Frank Howard Clark

Be kind and considerate with your criticism… It’s just as hard to write a bad book as it is to write a good book. ~ Malcolm Cowley

Upcoming Schedule

February 9th

Shannon
Aimee
Shanna (story already mailed)

February 16th

Tyree
Ciuin
Open slot

February 23rd

Dylan
Open slots

March 1st

Nick (returning after vacation)
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Feb 2nd, 2012 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

See what’s selling in fiction at Publisher’s Weekly.

A panel discussion by authors is enthusiastic about self-published digital books.

Victories

Dylan got another commission for a 15 k-word story.

Ciuin’s four-page rebuttal convinced her professor to discontinue use of a misleading article in classes.

Education

Some reasons why manuscripts get rejected.  And a very brief list of reasons from Lukeman’s book The First Five Pages.

Don’t let anyone, or any rejection, keep you from what you want. ~ Ashley Tisdale

I could write an entertaining novel about rejection slips, but I fear it would be overly long.~Louise Brown

Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work. ~ James Lee Burke

Upcoming Schedule

February 2nd

Shannon
Tyree
Ciuin

February 9nd

Shannon
Aimee
Shanna

February 16th

Tyree
Ciuin
Opne slot

February 23rd

Open slots

March 1st

Nick (returning after vacation)

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Jan 26th, 2012 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A number of our usual attendees are currently too busy with other life events to come to meetings.  This is a good time to get in line for review slots.

Kate is leaving to join the US Coast Guard.  Really.  I couldn’t make that up.  (Well, Shannon could have but didn’t.)  She is still interested in doing reviews and sharing her writing from a distance.  At least when her arms aren’t too sore to type from doing pushups and polishing the boats.  Let her know if you want to be on her distribution list.

Victories

Shannon sold a non-fiction article to ParABnormal Digest magazine, on electronic voice phenomena as seen by ghost hunters.

Ciuin was asked to speak at a symposium in Montreal in October, expenses paid, as a result of the president of the Romani in Canada reading her blog.

Dylan won first place in a writing contest, finished two commissions, and got two more commissions to work on.

Education

Shannon suggests this good article on copy editing versus content editing as well as other subcategories.

The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished. ~George Bernard Shaw

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good. ~Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.~ H.G. Wells

Upcoming Schedule

January 26th

Tyree
Dylan
Ciuin

February 2nd

Shannon
Tyree
Ciuin

February 9nd

Shannon
Aimee
open slot

February 16th

Open slots

February 23rd

Open slots

March 1st

Nick (returning after vacation)

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Jan 19th, 2012 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Winter finally arrived a few weeks late, and we called off the January 12th meeting while they cleared the roads.

For rescheduling, anybody who had review slots two weeks in a row loses one of them to make room to move things out.   The people who lost slots get first crack at new openings.  Confused? See the schedule below.

That gives us four reviews to do on the 19th.  I think we can handle it if we are disciplined about the time.  We’ve already had time to read the first three submissions so preparation should be easy.

Tony reports that he again is teaching a class next semester in addition to a full-time job, so probably won’t be able to rejoin us for a while.

Victories

Tony had a writing victory.  He has a flash fiction piece in the first issue of a new magazine that is available on-line or in print form.  You can download it free after registering at
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/324163
and then re-clicking the same link.

Education

The one-sentence hook is a good tool for generating interest in your story and may also help you formulate it.

I’m writing a book.  I’ve got the page numbers done. ~  Stephen Wright

Ideas only come to me for short stories.  With longer fiction, it is a character (or characters) coming to visit, and I am then obliged to collaborate with him/her/it/them in creating the story. ~ Roger Zelazny

Upcoming Schedule

January 19th

Nick
Ciuin
Shannon
Kate

January 26th

Tyree
Ronda (?)
Ciuin

February 2nd

Shannon
Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Jan 12th, 2012  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

E-readers continue to grow in popularity.  One source says that 1.3 million were sold during the Christmas season, and one in 40 adults in the UK got one as a present.  There are half as many book shops in the UK as in 2005.

This isn’t news, but several things went past me this week that reminded me of Nick’s story.
Moat contractors
What’s in your moat?
Tourists cross moat. (a real image to go with his story)

And for lovers of the offbeat, this week would be the 100th birthday of  Charles Addams, who created the Addams family and thousands of cartoons.  He was honored with a Google doodle on the 6th.

Victories

Ciuin will have a working laptop again as soon as the shop finishes installing a new keyboard, so she will be able to start writing again.  It’s just in time because her head is about to explode with pent up chapters.

Kate read her story aloud to her parents, and learned a lot about what to improve in the story.    She had to stop after two chapters because she came down with laryngitis.   An artist must suffer for their art.

Education

There are a number of web sites with something like this random plot generator or this one. As it says on one site, random plots aren’t guaranteed to make sense.  Still, one might inspire you to come up with something better.

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any. ~Orson Scott Card

If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.~Edgar Rice Burroughs

Upcoming Schedule

January 12th

Nick
Ciuin
Shannon

January 19th

Nick
Tyree
Kate

January 26th

Tyree
Ronda
Ciuin

February 2nd

Shannon
Open slos

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Jan 5th, 2012  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

The Tor web site talks about a lot of recent and upcoming releases in various genres.

As does Barnes and Noble.

There’s a book on how to use use all of the features of your Kindle.  It’s a paperback.

Victories

Education

Ronda suggests the resources available from Purdue Online Writing Lab.  It’s worth browsing around their site, or using the site search to find topics in older postings, for things like Common Pitfalls,   How to Use the Apostrophe, style guides for your non-fiction writing, and Active and Passive Voice.

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.~ Robert Benchley

First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him! ~Ray Bradbury

Upcoming Schedule

January 5th

Kate
Aimee
Shannon

January 12th

Nick
Ciuin
Shannon

January 19th
Nick
Tyree
open slot

January 26th
Tyree
Ronda
open slot

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Dec 29th, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under the mistletoe.

News

In a monumental vacuum of coordination, Bill didn’t tell Shannon whether or not he would send the weekly newsletter.  The result was each of them sending a newsletter.  This page attempts to combine both, so it is longer than usual.

An unusual miniature manuscript by Charlotte Bronte sold for an amazing sum of 690,000 British Pounds, somewhat over a million dollars US.   It has 4,000 words on 19 pages, each page less than 1/4 the size of index card.   Can you put 900 words on an index card?

Could your next  computer be watching you, like HAL?

Ridley Scott has a scifi movie coming out next summer.  Everybody denies it is a prequel to Alien.

Read about a move to put more interactive content in fiction books on e-readers.

Victories

Education

Another article on e-book pricing. http://gigaom.com/2011/12/15/publishers-still-missing-the-point-on-e-book-prices/

Since some of us have been struggling with grammar lately, I looked for a quick guide to solve some common problems. http://ollinmorales.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/8-common-grammar-mistakes-you-dont-know-youre-making-and-how-to-fix-them/

And, as always, if you’re looking for a good place to look up a grammar issue, try Grammar Girl http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

Well, maybe not education but at least food for thought.  Last week the material was about planning.  Sometimes you need to get started without a plan, and then go back to straighten out the plan.

Writing comes more easily if you have something to say.  ~Sholem Asch

Write down the thoughts of the moment.  Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.  ~Francis Bacon

Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn’t wait to get to work in the morning:  I wanted to know what I was going to say.  ~Sharon O’Brien

Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.  ~Hannah Arendt

Upcoming Schedule

December 29th

Shannon
Tyree
Ronda

January 5th

Kate
Aimee
Shannon

January 12th

Nick
Ciuin
Shannon

January 19th

Nick
Tyree
open slot

Keep Writing,
Shannon and Bill