Next Noble Pen Meeting

Dec 22nd, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

After missing a meeting in November, the group seemed to say “We’re not letting any more steenkin’ holidays interfere with the meeting schedule, so we have reviews scheduled as listed below.

Victories

Nick got paid for his railfan pieces that are to be published in a book.

Tyree went on a writing binge and wrote 8,000 words on the Breathless Stars story.

Ciuin had a lot to celebrate.  She got her old laptop to work again and recovered all of the files she had been missing.   Classes are over and next semester she won’t have a night class, so she will be able to join us.  And she wanted to meet an author so much that she actually flew to Berkeley to a conference (those who have heard her talk about flying realize how motivated she must have been).  This author, on her must-meet list, is head of the Romani in the US.  He had heard of her work.   She now has an autographed book and contact information.

Education

“The plot thins!”
“Don’t you mean the plot thickens?”
“You haven’t read this plot.” ~ Peanuts cartoon

Here’s some advice on how to plan your novel so the plot doesn’t thin.  This article says you can write the synopsis first, and essentially it is the outline.   You may want to use these eight suggestions to outline your plot.

Good books don’t give up all their secrets at once. ~ Stephen King

Upcoming Schedule

December 22th

Tyree
Bob
Dylan

December 29th

Shannon
Tyree
Ronda

January 5th

Kate
Aimee
Shannon
January 12th

Nick
Ciuin
open slot

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Dec 15th, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

No news is good news.

Victories

Kris found four readers for Oblivion.  One liked it so well they read it and returned a critique of 4 chapters within 2 1/2 hours.  She also supplied artwork for Shannon’s  story Call of the Beast.

Education

At the last meeting we discussed Eight-Point Arc defined by Nigel Watts, and the outline we used can be downloaded.  I think we agreed that it is not the only way a story can be structured, but most tend to follow it to some extent and it is a good planning tool.

Chila offers a link on close third-person writing and a better one that applies to more genres than the writer focuses on.

Anecdotes don’t make good stories. Generally I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about. ~ Alice Munro

Upcoming Schedule

December 15th

Shannon
Dylan
Nick

December 22th

Tyree
Bob
Dylan

December 29th

Shannon
Tyree
Ronda

January 5th

Kate
Aimee
Shannon

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Dec 8th, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A poll showed enough interest to have a meeting on the Thursday before Christmas, although not all the regulars can attend.  Still, there may be folks who don’t have their usual commitments then and might show up.  Shannon will moderate.

Victories

Shannon got a rejection letter on Fangs.

Dylan donated the writing of a commissioned story to a good cause.  He also found his four  last-round beta readers for FOTS and gave them the revised print.

Ciuin, although not at our meeting to report it, has been scheduled to present a session on Romani: Women of the World at the Beyond Rubies women’s conference in the spring.

Education

Chila passed on this link to help some of us who are not familiar with the Slipstream genre.

Patricia C. Wrede of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America offers an extensive list of questions to help fiction writers build their story’s world.  Even Wikipedia has some suggestions on methods, although a bit dry to read.

Here is another collection of articles, including some setting or world building comments that are more generally applicable than just to F&SF.  This one in particular discusses a wide range of genres.

World building isn’t the whole point of good writing, however.  Shannon suggests this page of satire on over-planned but under-inspired novel writing.

Upcoming Schedule

December 8th

Kate
Shanna
Shannon

December 15th

Shannon
Dylan
Nick

December 22th

Tyree
Bob
Dylan

December 29th

Shannon
Tyree?
Open slot

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Dec 1st, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Most employers are giving their people the day of November 24 off, if not an entire long weekend, to work on their writing.  We wouldn’t want to interrupt that opportunity, so we”ll meet next on December 1st.

We also need to consider whether we will meet on Dec 22nd, which will be a busy time for most.  A preliminary poll indicated enough interest to have the meeting, but this needs to be confirmed at the Dec 1st meeting.  Check your schedules so we can decide this.

Victories

Nick started a new science fiction novel.   I’m guessing its title will be Romance on the Train to Andromeda.

Dylan received a rejection.   Even worse, it was a generic one.  All winning streaks must eventually end.

Education

Shannon suggests this page on How to Read Like an Editor.  It points out that while all of the things we usually discuss are important, the ultimate goal is to write something that entertains.  Perhaps we don’t mention that enough.

It’s like a comedy of errors that Shakespeare is considered one of the great geniuses in the history of the written word, when his primary objective was to entertain. ~Ken Davenport

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)

The problem with quotes on the internet is that it is difficult to verify their authenticity. ~Abraham Lincoln

Upcoming Schedule

November 24 th

Thanksgiving

December 1st

Nick
Shannon
Tyree

December 8th

Kate
Shanna
Shannon

December 15th

Shannon
Dylan
Nick

December 22th

Possible meeting – consider your schedule

December 29th

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Nov 17th, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

There have been suggestions that our critiques take too many tangents that go on too long.  That’s not surprising with creative minds full of interrelated facts.

The moderator will try to pay more attention to this.  Please help keep us on topic, and discuss the tangential stuff before and after critiques.

Victories

Shannon finished the draft of End of the Internet, by writing 3,000 words in one day.

Dylan is up to 20,000 words of submissions to a humorous almanac, a sizable fraction of the total.  They think he’s funnier than he thought he was.

Education

Most of our group is working on fiction, but there are many other ways to be a writer, as Mr. Johansen lists for us.

Fiction writers may benefit from the Snowflake Method.  You can follow his advice without buying his software.

“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. ~Chuck Palahniuk

Upcoming Schedule

November 17 th

Kris
Nick
Chila

November 24 th

Thanksgiving

December 1st

Nick
Shannon
Jen

December 8th

Tyree
Shanna
Shannon

December 15th

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Nov 10th, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

If you don’t get emails of the week’s review submissions by, say, Tuesday of any week then check your spam/junk folder.  That turned out to be some people’s problem recently.  If it isn’t there, an email query to the author may be in order to find out if the material has been sent.

You can also contact the moderator at the address this newsletter is mailed from, or through the web page at http://noblepencr.org

Victories

Tyree had an enjoyable time and made good sales at ICON.

Shannon has been invited to write an article for Paranormal magazine.   He has recent experience in recording the voices of ghosts.

Dylan has a volunteer editor for his serial.  He found two more beta readers for FOTS while he was at ICON.

Education

Dylan recommended an article on how to set the mood of a story.

As soon as I hear a sound, it always suggests a mood to me ~ Brian Eno

If you’re not in the mood, you can’t do that stuff right.~ J.D. Salinger

Upcoming Schedule

November 10 th

Kate
Shannon
Tyree

November 17 th

Kris
Nick
Chila

November 24 th

Thanksgiving

December 1st

Nick
Shannon
Jen

December 8th

Tyree
Shanna
Shannon

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Nov 3rd, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A significant collection of books as pdf files, including science fiction by major older authors, can be found at http://gpnp.net/backshelves.gpnp.net/index.html.   The website claims they are all legal files, which is a bit surprising.   Whether you have an electronic reader or just a computer, you may want to browse this collection.

If you don’t get emails of the week’s review submissions by, say, Tuesday of any week then check your spam/junk folder.  That turned out to be some people’s problem last week.  If it isn’t there, an email query to the author may be in order to find out if the material has been sent.

You can also contact the moderator at the address this newsletter is mailed from, or through the web page at http://noblepencr.org

Victories

Shannon participated in a ghost hunt using audio recorders and other spooky technology.  It may be research for the kind of things he writes, but he’s going to have trouble convincing the IRS it’s a tax deductible expense against writing profits.

Dylan has been invited to submit one of twenty four stories in a themed anthology.

Education

Tense Shift can confuse a reader about when something happened, is happening, or will happen.  Here’s a very short tutorial on the problem, with some examples.  One article claims there are as many as 30 tenses in English, but you mostly need to know about six.  I’d start by mastering past and present tenses, and then expand to the others in that six.  See this much fuller discussion of the six major tenses.  Another article also gives some good examples.

Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.~ Henri Bergson (1859–1941)

You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future. ~Isak Dinesen

The future ain’t what it used to be. ~Yogi Berra

Upcoming Schedule

November 3 rd

Nick
Dylan
Tyree

November 10 th

Kate
Shannon
Tyree

November 17 th

Kris
Nick
Chila

November 24 th

Thanksgiving

December 1st

Open slots

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Oct 27th, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

There seems to be some problem with email distribution.  Check your spam or junk folder to see if good stuff is going there.

If you don’t get a newsletter email by a reasonable time each week, look at the web site for the latest posting.  This week I’ll send a notice from multiple email addresses in hopes that at least one gets through to everybody.  That’s why some of you may get multiple notices.

ICON 36 (official site) is fast approaching.  This is a significant gathering for writers and fans of science fiction, fantasy, and associated genres.  They offer daily admission or memberships.

Victories

Shannon has a tentative acceptance for “Call of the Beast”, his story about fiendish telemarketers.  He also sent a query for Fangs to an anonymous covert agent through a web site invitation.  That sounds more like a modus operandi for espionage stories.

Dylan read his entire FOTS novel aloud and found that to be very helpful in identifying places that need editing.  And he still has a voice after all that.  He also wrote 30,000 words for his serial story.

Kris is working on refining Oblivion again, getting it ready for beta readers, after dealing with a major life upheaval.

Education

Tyree points out a good resource for settings.  The Time-Life books  on forests, mountains, plains, jungles, etc. (available at libraries and garage sales) offer very good pictures and text that can inspire an author to add needed descriptive detail to a story.

Here is some good advice on making your settings and descriptions seem real.

And more Setting and Description tips from another source.

Some tips for deciding which scenes are important to a story.  Too many scenes that don’t move the plot along will lose the reader’s interest.

Upcoming Schedule

October 27 th

Shannon
Bob
Chila

November 3 rd

Nick
Dylan
Tyree

November 10 th

Kate
Shannon
Tyree

November 17 th

Kris
Nick
Open slot

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Oct 20th, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Early science fiction and adventure writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950), is to be honored by a US postage stamp in 2012.   It will show a sketch of his profile beside an image of Tarzan hanging from a vine.  It should have shown him superimposed on a picture of Mars, otherwise known as Barsoom.

He got his start during a period of under-employment when he read some stories and said “I can write a better story than that.”  He went on to produce 70 novels and several legendary characters.

I write to escape; to escape poverty. ~Edgar Rice Burroughs

In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people, they have no lawyers. ~Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars

Victories

Nick found another beta reader for SSS, his romantic drama.

Dylan’s story he posted last week drew 40 feedback comments, which inspired him to turn the story into a series.

Education

For those who don’t know the history of Dr. Who, which is a program frequently discussed by some of our members, here is a video by the Fine brothers that sums up the entire 47 year history of the program in 6 minutes.

A brief discussion of when to show and when to tell says that pacing sometimes dictates that you tell, but mostly you should show.

A blog about bad trends in Young Adult Romance, tearing apart a particularly bad example that teaches bad attitudes.  Don’t read if you think discussion of bad treatment of women might upset you.

Upcoming Schedule

October 20 th

Tyree
Shannon
Nick

October 27 th

Shannon
Bob
Chila

November 3 rd

Nick
Dylan ?
Open slot

November 10 th

Kate
Shannon
Open slot

Keep Writing,

Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

Oct 13th, 2011  7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Welcome to Jen, who joined us this past week and brings a background in marketing and web design to her writing.

Welcome to Chila  (pronounced like Sheila) who is editor-in-chief of a local small publisher and interested in branching out to writing fiction.

Victories

Shanna got an A on a paper for Composition class.  Her next paper will be about life in England.

Bob figures he is 90% complete with a short story.  Of course we know that 90% of the work is done in 90% of the time, and the other 10 % takes another 90% of the time.

Dylan posted a short story and got lots of feedback.  It’s nice to know you aren’t sending things into a vacuum.

Education

Many sources say that you should not be too critical of your first attempts to get something on paper (or on hard disk), but then edit it mercilessly.

Every writer I know has trouble writing.  ~Joseph Heller

The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes.  ~Agatha Christie

Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.  The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.  ~Sylvia Plath

The wastebasket is a writer’s best friend.  ~Isaac Bashevis Singer

I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.  ~James Michener

Upcoming Schedule

October 13 th

Shannon
Aimee
Dylan

October 20 th

Tyree
Shannon
Nick

October 27 th

Shannon
Bob
Chila

November 3 rd

Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill