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IN THIS ISSUE OF CHAPTER THREE

Meeting Recap 10/27/2020
A good round of discussions/critiques by our core group of writers. Also considering Thanksgiving and Christmas meets, the SCWA, and my thoughts on self-publishing.

Elements of the Writing Craft Challenge
Kicking it off with Lesson 8: STORYTELLING IN NONFICTION.

Articles and Other Worthies
The latest from WriteOnSC, Yak Babies, The Writer magazine, and the Write By Night blog.

COLA III Meeting Recap for 10/27/2020


Seven of us made it to the meet. Four read for critique:
 


Our writing crew met on Tuesday night for another round of readings and critiques. Larry read a pivotal scene from The Letters, building tension and introducing a significant find for his characters. Dea continued Desert Courage, also upping the tension in a turning point scene. Danielle read two poems, both being considerations on the theme of “unity.” And I read the final scene from my novel, Power of the Ancients

In the way of business, I noted that the SCWA has decided to make their 2021 spring Writers Conference a virtual event. They’ve provided no details yet.

We discussed whether we wanted to meet on 11/24, which is a couple of days before Thanksgiving. The consensus at this point is to meet as usual.

Our Christmas party is scheduled for Tuesday, 12/08. We haven’t settled on a location for it, but the default will be Larry and Carolyn’s house. 

I have noted that I read my final scene from Power of the Ancients at this meeting. I have been reading from this work for most of the approximately 3 1/2 years I’ve been attending COLA3 meetings. I have benefited greatly from our group’s feedback and, without doubt, my story is all the better for it. 

Questions naturally arose as to how I would continue and what I intended to do about publishing. We talked a bit about all that, but let me make a few observations here, hopefully to provide some food for thought as you consider your own publication/editing options.

First, let me say that my manuscript is not “complete,” in the sense of being ready to be published anywhere. There are more updates and tweaking I want to do. Actually, I wanted to get a pro Developmental Edit. When they’re ready for editing and publication, independent authors typically spend about $4000 for that process (I came across that figure in my research). Assuming you find a good editor/publisher, I think that is money well-spent. I can recommend Write By Night, who provided me a good quote. My problem, though, is I cannot afford even a good price.

So if you can’t afford an editor, what do you do? You do it yourself, there is no other choice. Now, as I said, my COLA3 work has helped greatly in this regard, and I am grateful for that. Time constraints, however, mean writers’ group critiques are only on short sections of a manuscript, spread out over months (or years). Making updates soon after a critique section, however, does help to keep sort of a constant edit going. I did that and recommend it as a best practice. 

Also, earlier in the year, I had three beta readers provide feedback (Dea, Danielle, and Casey Houser were kind enough to do this). This was very helpful in getting an unbiased (or less biased) critique of the novel as a whole, and I took much from their comments. I recommend this practice, as well. It is, I think, a service we as a writers’ group can perform for each other. I am willing to do that for anyone in our group. 

In Stuart Horwitz’s book, Blueprint Your Bestseller, there is a “Guide for Beta Readers” in the appendix that is a good primer and guide for Beta reading. I recommend the appendix and the book.

I have just completed a “developmental” update of my novel. I cut scenes and threads I thought were too tangential to the storyline, even if they were good. This created a leaner manuscript of about 120,000 words (down from 150,000) and better balanced between the three acts. I will now do another reading to verify I haven’t left any story holes.

There are a lot of things I must consider in publishing my novel—even using Amazon’s platform. For now, I’m concentrating on three self-publishing aspects identified by Derek Murphy in his book, Book Marketing is Dead. He notes that independent authors MUST get these right. They are:

* The Book Cover

* The Sales Description

* Reviews (on Amazon: as many as possible, good or bad)

I’ll talk about these and more in future newsletters.



COLA3's next meeting is scheduled for November 10th
You can always check the status for the next scheduled chapter meeting here.


Ray


 
ELEMENTS OF THE WRITING CRAFT CHALLENGE
 



LESSON 8: STORYTELLING IN NONFICTION

PRINTED BOOK PAGES: 13-14

READING EXCERPT: Kayaking the Full Moon by Steve Chapple

    “…She ran the forty feet. There was no tree to climb. You can’t fight a bear. They are so strong. She wrapped around me. I tried to put my stuff sack in her mouth so she wouldn’t bite me, but it didn’t work. She came at me seven times. I looked her in the eye. People say you shouldn’t look a bear in the eye, but I wanted to tell her: ‘Don’t do this to me.’ But she wanted me.

    “She lifted me off the ground by my elbow. I’m what you call a six-foot woman. I weighed 160 pounds then. I weigh less now, after the operations. I don’t really know what happened. I hope to remember some day. It was so quick. The next thing I knew I was on the ground and she was gone. It was almost like a dream.”


MY NOTES ON THE LESSON

This excerpt is a true story told like a first-person fiction. It contains a dramatic arc, which makes it creative nonfiction. I think it is an effective piece. There is an inciting incident (the bear running the forty feet to attack and the woman realizing she can’t fight back). There are complications (stuffing sack in bear’s mouth, bear attacking seven times, being lifted off the ground). A turning point (amnesia blocking the attack). Climax (the bear simply disappears). And resolution (multiple operations making the woman’s body a “map” of the attack). 

Mr. Olmstead notes that the story is told in short expressions of details: “she ran, she wrapped, she came at me, she wanted me, she lifted me.” The woman’s reactions are also told in short, machine-gun phrases: “you can’t fight a bear, I tried, I looked her in the eye.” 

While sticking to the facts, the author relates the woman’s bear-attack story in the manner of a compelling fiction. This can be a powerful way to relate a true incident.

In the exercises, I told a story I remember my aunt telling of surviving an F5 tornado. I arranged the details she related into a story arc to make a creative nonfiction that reads like a story. It is, however, a true tale.


MY ANSWERS TO THE WRITING POSSIBILITIES

01. What are some unusual, survivable dramatic experiences that you can report? Make a list of ten. 

    1-Auto accident
    2-Plane crash
    3-Snakebite
    4-Falling off a boat
    5-Falling off a cliff
    6-Armed robbery
    7-Train wreck
    8-Motorcycle accident
    9-Skydiving mishap
    10-Tornado

02. Now find a person who has had one of these experiences…Interview him on precisely what occurred. You can use this material in either fiction or nonfiction.

My aunt’s survival of an F5 tornado plowing across her farm home in 1966. It was the famous “Candlestick” tornado, so-called because it demolished the Candlestick Park shopping center on the southside of Jackson, MS. 

My aunt lived close to Candlestick Park on a sixty acre farm. Alone in the house, she saw the tornado approaching the farm and took shelter under her bed. She prayed as she listened to the tornado pass. When it was gone, she emerged to find her farm destroyed, but her house was untouched.


03. Find some detail left behind by the disaster, like the bear victim’s injuries…Use this key detail in a descriptive paragraph or two.

A small doghouse, probably no more than twenty feet from the house, was hit and disintegrated.

04. Decide whether to tell the story yourself or let those who experienced it tell their own story…Base your decision on the information you’ve collected and write your story.

Opal had always heard that tornadoes sound like freight trains when they pass. What Opal heard sounded like a dozen trains, roaring through the wind, rain, and thunder of the afternoon thunderstorm. Fearing what it portended, she ran to the back window and looked into the growing dark. Barely discernible as black on gray, the oak, cedar, and pine trees bordering the sixty acre farm were being whipped into a fury by massive winds.

Cows bellowed and guinea fowl were slung through the air in flight they could never achieve on their own. The tornado was too large to see in its entirety. It was just a wall of wind that Opal knew the house would never withstand. Fear gripped her and she wished her husband were there, even as she was thankful he was not.

There was no place to shelter from this monster, but it would be foolish to stay by the window. With a cry for God to spare her, she ran through the house to her bedroom and scrambled under the heavy wood-framed bed. Cats joined her there. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed the desperate prayer of the longtime sinner facing death. She struck no bargains with the Almighty, just cries of “Please, please, please save me!”

The roar increased. The house shook. Opal anticipated breaking windows and the bed being pulled from over her. But such climax never happened. Instead, the roar and the winds lessened. Opal waited, still praying, until the roar was gone.

Opal’s fear also subsided until she was confident that mercy had been granted her. She crawled from beneath the bed. The storm had abated and the afternoon lightened from black to gray. She returned to the back window to seed the monster gone. Elated that death had passed her by this time, she opened the kitchen door and looked out.

Something was amiss about the stands of trees bordering the farm. They were gone. More startling, the little doghouse that sat no more than twenty feet from the back door, had totally disintegrated.
ARTICLES AND OTHER WORTHIES

Here are a few articles, podcasts, and videos that might inspire and lift your spirits. 

Write On SC shownotes

Episode 117: Metaphors & Prophecies
On October 17, 2020, Kasie and Rex followed up on Tuesday’s #wschat on Twitter about metaphor and prophecy. Are they similar enough to make one episode? 

Episode 118: Pants the Show About Planning
On October 24, 2020, Kasie and Rex previewed the NaNoWriMo pantser or planner debate. 


Yak Babies

122- Spooky Non-Books
The yeeks take a break from books to talk about some of their favorite movies and games to enjoy around Halloween.

123- Universal Monsters and Their Literary Antecedents
The pals discuss the classic Universal monsters (and other silver age horror films) and the books that inspired them.

125 - Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
The pals discuss a Scholastic Book Fair staple that spooked a generation of readers.


Write By Night

Discussion questions: Write about a scare. What has been the scariest moment of your life? Have you ever had a near-death or near near-death experience? A medical scare? A particularly creepy visit to a haunted house? What’s the scariest piece of literature you’ve ever read? The scariest thing you’ve seen on a screen?

My Reply. 



The Writer Magazine

All the things I wish I’d known as a beginner horror writer
Want to write horror? Read this first.


 

CALENDAR

 


Remaining COLA3 Meetings for 2020:

                           

                       

 

Web Links
 
Note: The opinions and themes expressed by COLA III's members are not necessarily the opinions and themes of the Columbia III Chapter of the SCWA or of the SCWA.

List of previous issues of Chapter Three

List of books published by COLA III members

SCWA web page

SCWA Bylaws

Chapter Three FREE newsletter sign-up web-page

Write On SC broadcast

 
Yours in Literature,

Ray
Ray's Twitter
Chapter Three
Chapter Three newsletter issue #51

Columbia III has been a chapter of the SCWA since September 2010

Copyright © 2020 COLA III Writers Group, All rights reserved.



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