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The Official Propaganda Organ of the Cincinnati Writers Project Mary Fitzpatrick It is that time of year again. CWP dues are due. Paying dues is not mandatory, but your dues are the source of the seed money we use to publish our anthologies. If being a CWP member has helped you become a better writer, or if it has just kept you out of trouble on critique group nights, please help support the group by paying your $25.00 either at the Member’s party or by sending a check to the CWP PO Box. (CWP, PO Box 29367, Cincinnati, OH 45229.) It is also time for CWP elections. As things stand we have two elected offices, president and treasurer. Rough Draft Editor, and Web-guru are appointed offices. I’m willing to stay on as President for one more year. Although she and her husband may be moving back to India sometime next year because of his job, Saloni is willing to stay on as Treasure until or unless that happens. As of the time I’m writing this, no one has come forward to run for either office. If you are interested please let a member of the CWP board know. Both the voting for the CWP board members and paying of dues usually happens in October at the annual CWP member’s party. This year’s member’s party is tentatively scheduled for the first Saturday in November, which gives you a little more time to think about both. I had really wanted to have the details on this year’s party worked out in time for the Fall Rough Draft, but I’m still negotiating with the good folks at Jo-Beth. Keep your eyes peeled for specific member’s party details in the near future. And one last thing, we have around thirty unsold copies of our Anthology, Not From Around Here, Are You? . Right now they are camping out next to my writing desk in my dining room, all looking for permanent homes. I’d like to try and set up some reading events over the winter where we could get positive exposure for our group and sell some of the anthologies. If you know of a good venue for a book reading and/or if you are willing to help organize one, please let me know. Also, remember the gift giving season is not that far away and CWP anthologies make great stocking stuffers.
Op-ed by Tom Groh Novice writers, of which I am one, sometimes come to rely too heavily on literary devices. Beginners often fall back on clever word play and other syntactical gimmickery in lieu of fully realized characters, or a well-developed plot or theme. While Prologues don’t fall exactly into this category, they often do. We’ve been seeing a lot of prologues come through the Wednesday night critique group in the past few months, and though I am not an expert (that’s kinda what Op-ed means) I thought I’d weigh in on the topic. A prologue is introductory material set apart in time, space or viewpoint from the main part of the story which nuances and creates intrigue for the story to come. The good stuff of the prologue should exist outside the framework of the main story, but will provide essential details, information and insight into the main story that can’t be shown any other way. Or maybe, it can’t be shown in any better way. Yet--and this is important--a good prologue, while linked to the main story, needs to be able to stand alone. It should be filled with drama and tension all its own. Most of all, it should be entertaining while it casts an illuminating light on the story to come. One of the main troubles with prologues I’ve been seing is that the writing is often comprised mostly of backstory. These slow-moving, often backward-moving chunks of narrative fail to launch the reader into the drama of the story. While filling in backstory is one of the possible functions of the prologue, if you want folks to keep reading, it shouldn't be the only one. But I’m not anti-prologue, honest! In fact, if you still really want to open with a prologue and you’re wondering, How can a prologue help my story? Well, the short answer is, Lots of Ways. And to show you what a good guy I am, here’s a brief list which I’ve borrowed and amalgamated from different sources: A Good Prologue can be used to...
To balance things a bit, I thought I’d give you some Prologue No-Nos...
Marcia Eckstein, Editor-at-Home On July 29th, Barbara Slavinski, the medical librarian from Drake Center brought three members of the Drake Writer’s Group on a field trip to CWP’s Wednesday Fiction Critique group. Drake’s focus has changed over the years and it is almost exclusively a rehab center for brain injury patients now. Ms. Slavinski encourages patients and workers to express themselves through the writers’ group. At the end of our session, the Drake group was presented with a copy of Not From Around Here, Are You? for their library. Drake Writers’ Group meets on Tuesdays and Fridays from 2 to 3 pm in the Drake Medical Library. Writers read their work and the group offers support. Ms. Slavinski said, “We welcome your visit to us.” If you are interested, call Barbara at 418-2684.
By James Montgomery Jackson I heard the praise: “Clean writing.” “Great characters and each an interesting individual.” “Fine dry sense of humor.” “Terrific relationship between Seamus and Paddy.” More importantly, the damning: “I really liked the book once I got into it.” “It really perked up when I got to …” “Great opening and I thought the ending was terrific.” “I wasn’t quite sure about…” A niggling whisper in my brain said something was not quite right, but no one could tell me exactly what or how to fix it. After many agent rejections of Bad Policy the whisper became as loud as the Niagara River at the falls. In one sense I believed my writing was better than many, maybe even most, commercial mysteries. In another sense I knew it was a failure. Based on their oblique comments, critique groups and individual readers sensed something, but couldn’t provide me with enough insight so I could tackle the problem. A sage once said the definition of being crazy is to do the same thing over and over and over again and expect a different result. I needed to do something different if my writing was to succeed. I belong to the Sisters-In-Crime and their Guppy Chapter (for the little fish swimming in the waters: the not-yet-published or lightly-published). From a recently successful author I got a recommendation of a professional to analyze Bad Policy. Before signing on as a client, I traded a couple of emails with Jennifer Fisher of JSF Editorial to make sure I understood her process and she understood what I thought I needed. The estimated cost was $750. It seemed like a fit, and I sent her a hardcopy of my manuscript. What did I get for my money? I got confirmation about both of my presumptions. I can write a good sentence: “You are a very clean stylist and write with a sense of immediacy which is great for a mystery. Typically your sentences are tight and punchy and your word choice is right on target. And I applaud you for your grammatical sensibility…” I had problems: “But as you well know a book needs more than strong writing to hold it together…” Her approach is to take notes as she reads the manuscript, primarily focusing on problems or questions, but noting good stuff as well. The advantage of these notes is to give you insight into her impressions as a reader, albeit one with a more critical eye than typical. After she completes the book, she summarizes her findings and makes general and specific recommendations. She also gave considerable thought to alternative strategies that would help strengthen my book. Was it worthwhile? My first reaction when I read Jennifer’s eight and a half page, single-spaced critique was that I was a hopeless hack who could write a decent sentence, but couldn’t be trusted with anything more than a paragraph. Erica Jong once said, “Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.” Amen. After a suitable mourning period, I reread the letter and mined its gold. I had sensed Bad Policy had a saggy middle; Jennifer not only confirmed my fears, she showed where I should apply liposuction and radical surgery. She gave me insight into how I could add depth to the manuscript with additional subplot and character development. She challenged several of my deep-rooted assumptions about Bad Policy, and I realized I needed to hold a wake and wish them a wonderful afterlife. Starting with her ideas I brainstormed others and developed some interesting approaches. The thinking reenergized me, and I became enthusiastic to do the necessary work of a complete rewrite. After several weeks considering Jennifer’s feedback, we spoke on the telephone for half an hour. I provided her additional insight into my characters and their motivations and then suggested my new proposed opening, additional subplot and what I thought I’d leave on the cutting room floor. We batted ideas back and forth and improved them. Should you consider paying for a critique? With self-study and critique group feedback I continued to make incremental improvements, but my writing had essentially reached a plateau. To be successful I needed to reach higher ground, and I needed a guide to show me the way. There are other approaches that could work for you: concentrated writing conferences, school courses, a mentor. Living far into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan woods, none of those was practical for me. I consider the $750 money well spent. What I learned will not only assist me in improving Bad Policy, it will affect the way I write in the future. I guess I’d better get to it, eh?
By Mary Fitzpatrick I know I’ve talked about Context in the past but I went again this year and was even more impressed that usual in the quality of the Context Writing workshops. Context is a Science Fiction Convention held every year in Columbus, Ohio. Don’t let that spook you, it’s not the sort of Con where you’ll run into chicks in chainmail in the elevator or members of the fighting 501st in the hotel bar. Context is a small, low-key, non-media oriented Con that focuses on writing and writers. They have a full schedule of the sort of panels you might find at any Con, but they also have a full schedule of mini writing workshops. Although it is a SF Con, most of the writing workshops are geared to anyone writing commercial genre fiction. This year I did two workshops. One was on Conflict and Plot and was lead by Tim Esaias who is one of the professors from Seaton Hill’s MFA in the popular novel program. The second was called Improv for Writers. This workshop taught us how to use the sort of “story spine” actors and comics use to improve as an outline for longer works of fiction. Ellen Klages, who ran this workshop, is both a published writer and an experienced improv performer. She started the workshop by pairing us up and having us actually do some improv. It’s far harder than it looks. After we had all looked silly doing that, she walked us through the how-to use a story spine to plot out a story or novel... ...And because of that… And because of that…Until finally…And ever since then…” If you are writing commercial genre fiction and you are looking for a nearby, not horribly expensive writing workshop you should look into Context in 2010.
Murmurs and asides overheard at Wednesday night's critique group: “This writers’ group is different than ours,” she said, her face a sort of apology. “Participants read their work out loud. Then we all say how wonderful it is.” “We use tough love here,” he answered, with a mean grin. [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, September 27, 2009 |
