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The Official Propaganda Organ of the Cincinnati Writers Project Scott Heile (aka Rough) & Tonya Mitchell (aka Draft) Welcome to the warm weather issue of Rough Draft. It's summertime and the livin' is easy. But what about the writing? For some of us, it's that time of year when school's out, vacations beckon and we'd rather spend time outdoors than edit a manuscript. Well, hats off to those of us who are keeping at it. Those of us who, like postmen, persevere. Rain or shine. Here's a glimpse of what's inside this issue:
Marcia Eckstein What makes you look forward to critique group? We all know the answer to this one. Who doesn't love those excellent souls who, when reading your manuscript, give it thought and care? Those people who critique the manuscript, not the writer. The brilliant ones who understand that listing strengths is as important as marking weakness and, in addition, can verbalize what they found meaningful. The ones who consistently answer the questions: What grabbed you? What stopped you cold? Those writers who treat you like a writer. The writer who prepares her manuscripts professionally and by implication treats group members as professionals, who sits quietly while the room puts her baby under a microscope, who knows why she's there, can ask the group a pointed question regarding her manuscript, can accept the critiques for what they are worth, and learn from them, is worth more than we will ever be able to repay. What makes you dread group? The woman who expects group to critique her piece, but doesn't find time to return the favor? The writer or critiquer who is more interested in showing off her cleverness than in the piece itself? The one who whines because others don't agree? The critiquer or writer who drones on and on, the only one in the room in love with her voice? Last, there is the brilliant one, misunderstood by the rest of the world, a martyr, a missed miracle whose only weakness is bad luck because anyone with half a brain would see how perfect her writing is. "Groups, by their very nature, are dynamic." All group--be they writers or otherwise--include negative and positive types. If we are honest, most of us exhibit negative traits at one time or another. They are as common, as insidious, as bothersome, as dirt. For dirt we use a broom, with humans the rules differ. There is good news. Groups, by their very nature, are dynamic. From month to month a group will change because members' circumstances change. If you dread the guy across the room because he argues with every word, maybe it's time to take a vacation from his manuscripts and to use the critiquing of same to take a powder. The social workers will tell you that feelings are what they are, it's how you act on them. To sit and argue is a waste of time. To clench your fists and curse the idiot under your breath is silly. After all, it's your blood pressure that's being affected. After a time (a very long time for some), the Dreaded One will begin to realize that you are paying more attention to other writers. In a lucid moment, she may even ask herself why. In a perfect world, she will change her behavior to suit your expectations. Let me know when this happens. In the meantime, keep calm and carry on knowing that this is a group and, as such, change is over the horizon. By all means follow the iron clad rule of any good marriage: you will not change them. Only they will change them. "The negative will eliminate itself once it figures out it's gaining no purchase in the fertile ground of your mind." Your brainpower and energy are too valuable to let something this insignificant prevent you from producing razor sharp critiques and impeccable manuscripts for group members who deserve it by returning your favor. As the song goes, accentuate the positive. The negative will eliminate itself once it figures out it's gaining no purchase in the fertile ground of your mind. There is allegedly--who knows what breeds some of these internet stories--an old Navaho legend that goes something like this. A young boy was listening at his grandfather's knee about the good wolf and the bad wolf in each of us. The good wolf is charity, love, kindness, respect, forgiveness, patience, etc. The bad wolf represents greed, envy, egotism, laziness, bad manners--you get the point. These two wolves, the grandfather warned, wage battle within us throughout our entire lives. Perplexed, the young boy asked, "But Grandfather, which wolf wins?" The grandfather answered, "The one you feed."
by Ryck Neube I've discussed this before, but here's something that has been plaguing members of our critique group for years. Usually I use more profanity when I discuss this. But I'll be kind with y'all. First of all, go to your Word Options, then to Proofing, and make sure your Grammar Check is turned on. Beware that it's flawed and capable of being horribly wrong, but it will draw your attention to punctuation blunders. The "he" in "he said" is only capitalized as a sentence opener. He said, "I protest this mockery." "I protest," he said. "This is a mockery, sir." "I protest," he said, "this mockery, hon." "I protest this mockery," he said. She asked, "Should I protest this, Grandma?" "Should I," she asked, "protest this for my grandma?" "Should I protest this?" she asked. "Geronimo!" it said, leaping from the plane. Note the frigging punctuation. Note what is capitalized and what isn't. This ain't rocket science. I suspect the confusion comes from that pesky pronoun I. Since it only appears capitalized, it seems natural that its fellow pronouns would also. Notice how "hon" and "sir" are not capitalized. Now, if your character's name actually was Honey, that "hon" would be capitalized. See how "Grandma" proper is capitalized, but "my grandma" is not. Once again, go back to the examples and note the punctuation. I keep encountering writers who think it's optional. It ain't. "Dialogue is not the way real people speak." Now, let's talk something harder than rocket science. Dialogue is not the way real people speak. Next time you are listening to folks chatter, take note at how poorly people communicate. How many "I, uh, ya knows" can you use before your reader gets bored? Instead, a writer's dialogue is there to inform your readers, to move the story along. But while you are eavesdropping on people, study their body language. Like apes, people do a lot of communicating with their bodies. A shrug at the right time can be as good as a page of blather. Close your eyes. Hear how your characters talk. They all sound alike, don't they? You hear them in your head, but on the page . . . they all sound alike. So what are you going to do? At this point, too many writers shrug and say, so what. Hey, (here you fill in the blank with a best-selling author) doesn't bother to do it. Why should I? Well, once you sell twenty million books, your editor and agent don't care. You're their walking ATM. What can you do? You can give each character their unique vocabulary, words or phrases only they use. Now, if you decide to go with dialect, remember that a writer's job one is to be reader friendly. Notice how few authors hit it as hard as Faulkner did back in the day. And notice how his earlier work didn't layer it on like the later work did. So until you are as skilled as a Nobel Prize winner use a light brush to apply your dialect. A little goes a long way. And do be consistent, once a character says "ain't" he's stuck saying it throughout your piece.
Debbie Groen, Editor-at-Home On April 8-9, I attended the Mad Anthony Writers Conference at Miami University's Hamilton Campus. The proceeds from this event establish a literacy program for the Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton. The conference was very informative, and I was impressed with the caliber of speakers and workshops. Friday's sessions were devoted to Murder & Mayhem and included a visit from the Newport Gangsters with tales of bootlegging and gambling in neighboring Kentucky. Fairfield Police Officer John Cresap and his German shepherd dog, Ketcher, demonstrated a K-9 Unit in action. Ketcher has found drugs in unusual places such as baby bottles and stuffed animals. Chief Anthony E. Dwyer of the Butler County Sheriff's Dept. presented "Anatomy of a Homicide" which followed a murder investigation from start to finish, complete with police file photos. Good, old-fashioned footwork nets the best results, and no clue is too small. Finding evidence is essential, and can turn up in unlikely places such as sweeper bags, drains, and even drywall. Chief Dwyer worked on several high profile homicide investigations that have been featured on "America's Most Wanted" and the Discovery Channel's "New Detective" Series. Author Hallie Ephron told us what's involved in "Writing the Killer Mystery". Author & playwright Sally Nemeth, who has written for "Law and Order", gave us the inside scoop on writing for TV. Lt. Scott Scrimizzi of the Hamilton-Fairfield SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) shared his experiences and treated us to a tour of the fully-equipped SWAT vehicle, which was very impressive. Saturday's twenty workshops were for writers of all genres. One of my choices was "Crafting Emotion of the Written Page" with author Nancy Pinard who is on the board of the Antioch Writers Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She pointed out how using all of your senses makes the scene come alive for the reader. Hallie Ephron gave the luncheon keynote address. She urged us to be persistent, regardless of the number of rejection letters we receive. She read some of her rejection letters, and pointed out that many great authors had been repeatedly rejected before they became published. The next Mad Anthony Writers Conference will be held April 13-14, 2012. To find out more, check out their website at Write Like Mad.
By Karen George This is the second year I attended the Hocking Hills Festival of Poetry and it will no doubt become an annual event for me. The festival, now in its tenth year, was held mid-April, two and a half hours from downtown Cincinnati at the Izaak Walton League Lodge on Lake Logan in Logan, Ohio. Alan Cohen, event organizer, asked for a donation of only $25 to attend the event, which began on Friday evening and ended Saturday. The Friday night event started with a half-hour variety of music, followed by three poets reading their work: Ellen Bass, Andres Rivera, and David Lee. Santa Cruz poet Ellen Bass's poems have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies, she's won prestigious awards, and teaches in the MFA writing program at Pacific University, as well as conference and workshops internationally. Her poems were personal, and yet universal, about such subjects as sex, love, birth, aging, and death--poems of ordinary lif--spoken with straightforward language and quiet intensity. The second featured poet was Andres Rivera, a young poet, hip-hop artist, and social justice activist who lives in South Central Los Angeles, where he is a Community Outreach Coordinator and Teaching Artist with Street Poets, which he described as a "poetry-based organization dedicated to the creative process as a force for individual and community transformation." His spoken poetry performance was riveting with his use of rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. Friday night concluded with David Lee, pig farmer and Utah's first Poet Laureate, who has published a dozen books of poetry, and recently retired as Chairman of the Department of Language and Literature at Southern Utah University. His poems were rambling, hilarious tales of local townsfolk and the rural life of the American West, told with an authentic voice of the characters that might inhabit those places. Saturday morning a two-hour workshop was led by Ellen Bass, revolving around various uses of place or setting in your poems. The rest of the afternoon you were free to read, write, meet with other poets, hike, nap or eat to your heart's content. That night's program was similar to Friday's, with the addition of two things: poetry performances by local students who competed in the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Competition, and the announcement of the Power of Poetry contest winners, followed by the first, second, and third place poets reading their winning entries. There was no fee to enter the poetry contest, but you had to be present to win the prizes of $100 for first place, $75 for second, and $50 for third. The poets were gracious and accessible and the atmosphere was casual: metal folding chairs in a large semi-circle, microphone in good working order, people coming and going as needed. But as Alan advised on his website, bring cushions along to make the sitting easier. Besides the poetry festival, Logan has hiking trails, and is close to such attractions as Old Man's Cave, Ash Cave, and Cedar Falls, part of Wayne National Forest. There are campgrounds, cabins, bed and breakfasts and hotels, as well as ample restaurants. For more information, visit the website, where you can sign up for their mailing list to receive emails about next year's events: http://www.powerofpoetry.org/homepage.htm
By Jenny Engleka We went to the zoo in Panama City this weekend. To the untrained eye (not that I'm an expert) this zoo might have seemed like a sad, sad place to house the animals. The cages were made of chain-link fence and were not the spacious real-estate the giraffes or the tigers at the Cincinnati Zoo enjoy. But the fact that all of the animals in the zoo were possibly rounded up within a five-mile radius, I think they (almost exclusively birds and monkeys) were glad to be out of harm's way. It only cost a $1 for adults, $.60 for kids, so I'm not going to complain. The best part for me was the sign posted in English and Spanish on the Crocodile exhibit. It stated: Those who throw objects at the crocodile will be asked to retrieve them.
Murmurs and asides overheard at Wednesday night's critique group: "I think we all write what we know. A writer should write what they know. Of course, I don't know what that says about Mary." And speaking of Mary. . . Mary FitzPatrick on High Fantasy: "I don't understand the appeal of inherited authority and the lack of flush johns and antibiotics." Found hanging on the cubicle wall of a co-worker: "I'm a wordsmith. Kinda like a blacksmith only without all the tools and fire and stuff." [Site Map] [Latest News] [History of CWP] [Writing Group Protocol] [Rough Draft] [Our Mission] [Officers] [Who's Published] [Join CWP] [Critique Groups] [Opportunities] [Writing Tips] [Links] Yep, we're under construction. But give us a break. We're writers not web monkeys. Stop back, or shoot us an email if you're interested in learning more. Last updated by Tgroh, October 12, 2011 |
