September 19, 2012

Next Meeting:  October 3, 2012

Okay, it's in the bank. We met last night and I thought it was both productive and fun. We even picked up a new member from that far-flung fictional land of Michigan. I keep telling them that it's not real, but they insist...

Lucio especially caught my attention with the second chapter of "Lady Ansa". Not only was it a good chapter, but he was very meticulous with noting feedback from the group. He took - and takes - a lot of notes. As an aside? I've noticed that everyone's writing is getting better. Even mine, I hope. Anyway, I thought he had a good chapter. Cat brought in three chapters from her story "The Legion" and the feedback was good. Nancy remarked on how many characters there were and then complemented her on keeping them all straight. Nicely done, Cat. And then there's Nancy. I

really need to emphasize this: she has a GREAT novel on her hands. Last night? She has been painting Cassandra's character throughout the entire story as being good, honest and straightforward. Then he mother lands on her. Fair? No. But Cass is trying to overcome all the obstacles put in front of her. Nancy? This is greatness. Dave brought the second offering of "Why It's Hot This Summer". Visual? Very. Intriguing? Extremely. I can't wait for an answer to the problem he's painted. Very interesting, Dave, and very well written. Don brought the conclusion to "In The Line Of Fire". I especially liked it because it leads to a much larger work in that time frame? 1937 Italy. Don? I hope you do it because the subject matter is so interesting - especially an editor for a publishing house. There are literally a million different scenarios he could take and write about. Don? I liked it. A lot.

Me? chapters 27 and 28 of Suffer The Children. I got a few congrats from the crowd and I suffered through them. Gang? It was fun, informative and twice a month isn't often enough for me.

See you next month on the 3rd.

September 5, 2012

Next meeting:  September 19, 2012 @ Goodwin's

Yes, as a matter of fact, we DID meet on the 5th.

Nancy is writing a killer novel and her last installment just proved it once again. You can't help but root for Cass as she weaves her way through life. Very good work here, Nancy. Cat brought in a deluxe installment from The Legion. She got a lecture from Don about some grammatical issues, but Cat stood her ground. The novel has three main characters and she is keeping them all straight. Don brought in the end of his story, In The Line Of Fire. While a few of us didn't like the ending where our hero simply falls asleep, it was a very solid story nonetheless. Good job, Don. Lucio brought in the first chapter of his new novel, Lady Ansa. I especially liked the way he limited his POV to one in that chapter. It made the story so much easier to track. This is one I'm going to want to read. Dave brought in a showstopper. Why It Is Hot This Summer. Is it REALLY the doorway to Hell? Visually, it was superb. Wow. Great writing, Dave.

And me? Chapters 25 and 26 of Suffer The Children. The worry is that the kids will be killed. Would I really do that? Stay tuned.

So, until the 19th, that's it from this side of the desk!

*Post by Jim Rozhon

***

Grammar - is it important?

I'm not sure where to start this, so I'll share my opinion first:  KNOW YOUR GRAMMAR!  LEARN TO SPELL!  WE HAVE THESE RULES FOR A REASON!

However...this is creative writing.  How much do we need to adhere to the rules?

I grew up having phonics and spelling pounded into my head.  Though I've never won a Spelling Bee (I never participated--it's a stage-fright thing), I consider myself a "good speller."  Grammar was treated the same way, and though I don't always follow the rules when I speak (you should hear the way I slur some words together), in my writing I usually follow THE RULES.  I know there are things I screw up regularly--I apparently have a problem with "dangling modifiers," and it took me hours to figure out what the heck that was.  And then there's the whole prepositions thing--you know what I speak of.

See what I did there?
 
I'm a bit of a stickler for spelling and grammar, and while most computer-based word processors have a good spell-checker, the grammar check is wanting, to say the least.  Since our computers won't do it for us, we obviously still need to learn proper grammar, but we also need to learn them for the reason explained in more than just my creative writing classes:  You need to know the rules so you know when and how to break them. 

Ultimately my opinion is that if you're going to mess around with grammar, you need to know what you're doing, but go ahead and do it--but don't do it just because "that other famous author" did it.  My opinion, the spelling and grammar should be perfect, except between the quotations marks.  Between those quotation marks, do whatever you want.

If your concern is its presentation to an agent or editor and their opinion on the "creative" part of your creative writing--you need to work with this person, and have a business relationship with that person.  Opinions are going to vary, and a given agent/editor may or may not ask for changes, either way, regarding grammar, spelling, and how exactly you should write that person's speech pattern--it's one thing to want to work with you and make your work better.  However if that editor or agent going to poop on your work and reject it just because you did that one weird thing that broke the rules, you probably don't want to work with that person anyway.

LR


Lastly, we'll leave you with a video of Andrew Stanton's TED talk, filmed in February 2012.  Andrew Stanton is the writer behind many of Pixar's movies--you may have heard of this little film called "Toy Story."