Pikes Peak Writers Advice Column: Dear Annie

Dear Annie:

Why do my metaphors and similes go splat? My critique group claims they simply are not working. I thought they were clever. What’s wrong?

Signed,

Not So Clever

Dear Not So Clever:

You might be right. Your metaphors may be astute, but ask yourself whether the comparison you’ve created does what you want it to do. Are your metaphors appropriate for the mood, the setting, and the character involved? Having an eight-year-old girl note that her teacher dresses like a prostitute may perfectly describe the teacher, but would this little girl have the background to make that observation? Similarly, would Harry Potter compare Ron Weasley’s flaming red hair to that of Anne of Green Gables? If you construct your metaphor to be appropriate as well as descriptive, you’ll accomplish your purpose while avoiding slippery banana peels, too. Oops! Splat!

Dear Annie:

My story is complete but the word count is less than expected for my genre. How can I fix that without ruining my plot structure?

Signed,

Coming Up Short in Manitou Springs

Dear Coming Up Short:

Have you developed each goal, motive, and conflict well? A careful analysis can prompt a writer to create an entire new chapter. Maybe there is a relevant aspect to the personality of your main character, for example, that you have not yet fully defined. Added words may be required throughout the manuscript to accomplish this. Or you may need an additional scene to demonstrate clearly this side to his personality. Also check that all plot points are adequately developed and that they demonstrate their relevance to the main goal of the protagonist.

Warning: be sure that you’re enhancing an appropriate element to the story and not simply padding to accomplish a certain word count.

Dear Annie:

My critics say that I hammer home the same emotions and motivations in the main character as she moves through the story. How can I be sure that I’m not being tedious and overdoing this? I don’t care to bore my reader.

Signed,

Hoping to Thrill

Dear Hoping to Thrill:

To interest a reader, characters need to be complex and multi-layered. While protagonists have one main goal, achieving that goal should involve complications in the plot which inspire growth and reveal the intricacies of their motivations. Don’t forget that subplots which run concurrently to the main plot also demonstrate the character’s minor goals and reveal breadth of personality. Including subplots deepens your story and necessarily increases word count though that should be a secondary objective.

Dear Annie:

I’ve written five novels without a problem. Now I feel tapped out, devoid of inspiration. I’ve heard that every writer has one good novel in him/her. Guess I had five. Any suggestions?

Signed,

Throwing in the Towel in Grand Junction

Dear Throwing:

Whoa. Sounds like you need some serious R ’n R. If you could accomplish this uncommon feat five times, you can surely do it again. Think of a cause that arouses your passion or that makes your blood pressure soar. Go for a long leisurely hike in a quiet natural setting and let your mind massage that issue or subject. Put zero pressure on yourself. If you don’t get an inkling of an idea, try again tomorrow. This process may take a week or two, but chances are, the potential theme will present itself as though from a deep Godlike voice descending from the clear blue sky overhead.

Once you formulate a concept, identify a theme, and establish a goal for the main character, sit down and write. The very act of writing should lead your mind in surprisingly creative directions. If writing a detailed outline is your stumbling block, skip it. Let the creativity flow. If you get off course, you can always rewrite. On the other hand, if your characters are guiding you in this alternate direction, take their counsel.

Dear Annie:

Do you ever run out of questions for your article?

Signed,

Just Wondering in Colorado Springs

Dear Wondering:

Not yet. But write to me at annshill@q.com with your suggestions. I will answer serious questions, and maybe some funny ones, to the best of my ability. Your writing is of utmost importance to me because it is important to you.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

~ Ms. Annie

About the Author:  Dear Annie is the pseudonym for Ann S. Hill. After hearing the call to write in her thirties, Ann set the ambition aside while life happened. Now that she has retired from her career as a dentist and her children are adults, she is seriously attacking that parked ambition. She spends significant time on her true passion and has recently completed her second novel. Her first novel, Wait for Me, was a finalist in the Zebulon, Pikes Peak Writers Contest. She has written several short stories. In the meantime, she remains a voracious reader and film aficionado. 

Quote of the Week and the Week to Come

“When I first started writing, I was in advertising at the time, I was doing most of my writing on weekends. I had studied most of the other series heroes and I figured it would be fun for mine to be different and put him in and around water. So I dreamed up Dirk Pitt.” 

Source: Google and Wikipedia

 Clive Eric Cussler (born July 15, 1931 in Aurora, Illinois) is an American adventure novelist and marine archaeologist. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than seventeen times. Cussler is the founder and chairman of the real-life National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA).

This week on Writing from the Peak:

July 18                  Dear Annie PPW’s Writer Advice Column

July 20                  By Any Other Name by Darby Karchut

July 22                  Sweet Success Celebrates Shannon Lawrence

Shannon Lawrence, Sweet Success and Once Upon a Scream

Shannon Lawrence is enjoying another Sweet Success with the publication of her short story, “The Black Undeath” in Once Upon A Scream, (adult horror/fairy tale, ISBN13: 978-1530529513, 280 pages), by HorrorAddicts.com on April 23, 2016. It is available at Amazon and Createspace:

Amazon: Amazon

Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/6137489

One Upon a Scream is an anthology filled with everything that goes bump day or night. “There was a tradition of telling tales with elements of the fantastic along with the frightful. Adults and children alike took heed not to go into the deep, dark woods, treat a stranger poorly, or make a deal with someone- or something-without regard for the consequences. Be careful of what you wish for; you just might get it. From wish-granting trolls, to plague curses, and evil enchantresses, these tales will have you hiding under the covers in hopes they don't find you. So lock your doors, shutter your windows, and get ready to SCREAM.”

“The Black Undeath” is a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. An illness, combining the bubonic plague and leprosy, has struck the royal family, infecting their infant son. Can the mysterious little man really help, or does he have ulterior motives? 

Shannon is a fan of all things fantastical and frightening, she writes primarily horror and fantasy. Her stories can be found in anthologies and magazines, including Under the Bed, Devolution Z, and The Deep Dark Woods. When she's not writing, she's hiking through the wilds of Colorado and photographing her magnificent surroundings, where, coincidentally, there's always a place to hide a body or birth a monster.

Find her at www.thewarriormuse.com.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

By: J.T. Evans 

I think the #1 question most writers dread is, "Where do you get your ideas?" The main problem with this question is that some of aren't sure. Sometimes an idea leaps unbidden into our head. Other times, we'll hear a phrase or lyric, and it will inspire creative thought. Getting ideas is one of those things that seems to come naturally to most writers.

However, there are times when the ideas won't flow. Sometimes, you're working on a novel and get stuck. Sometimes, you're trying to start a short story, but the ideas won't flow the way you want.

I used to be part of an improv writing group (one I'd love to resurrect). When we're given a whopping five or ten minutes to write on an idea, there needs to be some form of direction. I call this a "creative compass." There needs to be some target to attempt to hit. Sitting someone down and telling them, "Write a short story" isn't much help at all. If you give them a genre to go with, that helps some, but most genre definitions are so broad, it's not much of a direction. This is where idea tokens come into play.

In my improv writing bag (yeah, I have a whole bag dedicated to it), I have loads of dice and cards inside to assist me in generating idea tokens. They are invaluable to me when coming up with story ideas, character quirks, genres, and other random ideas I use to feed my brain before writing a story.

These tokens can be created very fast. As an exercise, I decided to create 12 idea tokens for 52 short stories. This was part of my writing goal for 2016, so in late December, I sat down one night with the goal of creating 52 story ideas so I could start writing in January. It took me about three hours of work (and cataloging the ideas on a spreadsheet) to create the 624 idea tokens I needed for the 52 stories. 

That's a little over three idea tokens created each minute. I went a little overboard with the 12 per story because I generally only need three to four for starting my engine on a short story. This means, in about a minute, you can use randomizers like cards and dice to create the tokens you need to run with a short story… or maybe the opening of a novel!

I use quite a few different tools on creating these idea tokens. My favorite is Rory's Story Cubes. There are also some great games that can be utilized for creating idea tokens. Some of them are Once Upon A Time, 99 Chances, and Dixit. 

There are also some wonderful, writer-centric, products out there to assist you with getting that creative spark. These include Writer Emergency Pack, Storymatic, Story Forge Cards, or you can even use homemade index cards with genres written on them.

There are quite a few digital tools for iPads (and probably Android as well, but I own an iPad, so that's where my experience lies). The ones I own are Brainstormer, Rory's Story Cubes (again, but on my iPad), Writer's Dice, Writer's Lists, and Story Spark.

As you can see, there are a wide variety of randomizers on the market. If you're interested in stretching your boundaries as a writer, or just need a fresh idea or three, I highly recommend you check out the products I've listed above to see what you can find that will ignite your passion for writing.

If you have some favorite tools for idea creation, please drop them our way in the comments below.

Forty Minutes to Reach the Bridge

By: Natalia Brothers

I confess: I’m obsessed with spooky, atmospheric settings. When I travel, I’m on lookout for places full of eerie charm, intensity that would stir my imagination and inspire a new story. One of such spots is a pastoral village where I spent my childhood summers.

The settlement has changed over the years. A new highway slashed the sprawling fields behind the gardens. Beavers moved in, built dams, altering the flow of the river, and disappeared, leaving behind dozens of downed willows.

But other things remain the same. In May, nightingales’ intricate whistles fill the night and the orange full moon peeks through the birches before beginning a hurried journey across the black sky. The cemetery on top of a hill grows, but its crawling edge doesn’t affect the aura that lingers under ancient lindens, where the rusted fences guard abandoned graves, and forget-me-nots and lily-of-the-valleys are lovely against the thick carpet of moss.

An avid photographer, my childhood friend Olga wants pictures of the church in the soft light of the setting sun. Alex, my cousin, gives us a ride on his lovingly restored 1976 motorcycle. The old machine grumbles and sputters but makes it uphill. Alex offers to wait and bring us home. We ask if he’d like to join us on a walk. He glances at the graveyard and shakes his head.

He knows what kind of stories I tell. He doesn’t understand why my genre is dark fantasy. I smile. He’s proud I took the picture for my book cover on one of our motorcycle rides.

Our homes are just across the river, but I warn Olga that the rains have damaged the bridge. We have forty minutes to reach it before dark. If we don’t make it, we’re in trouble: there are no shortcuts through the overgrown meadows peppered with hidden waterholes, curtesy of the beavers. And I’m not ready to walk back through the cemetery long after sunset. Thin trails zigzag among the plots, some of which are well maintained but others neglected. It’s easy to end up in a dead end between fences.

Alex leaves. As Olga and I take pictures, the approaching dusk changes the quaint atmosphere. The shrubs, heavy with moisture after a recent shower, and blue columbines blooming by a tiny abandoned house seem too quiet. Someone dumped discarded wreaths onto the dilapidated porch. I check my watch. Olga turns off her camera.

We leave the church yard, cross a stream, and enter the labyrinth of graves.

“Fifteen minutes till darkness,” I tell Olga. “We must hurry.”

Except, we lose our way. We left the main trail too early, took a wrong turn, and now every path we try leads us to an older part of the cemetery, under the canopy of the old lindens, away from the bridge. It’s hard to see the deep-green ground. I trip over a border stone of a forsaken grave and realize I’m still wearing my dark glasses. Olga giggles nervously. She looks around. “I know where we are,” she says and points at another grave. I recognize the picture. We used to play together when we were children. Olga and I bow our heads and stand in silence. Then she leads me out of the maze.

We pause on the hilltop, the darkening sky and the cemetery behind us, the river below, and the vast fields ahead, framed by a forest on the horizon. The slope under our feet is covered with lupines that will soon burst in bloom. In a week, the landscape will look like a colorful painting.

It’s nearly dark when we reach the bridge. We tread carefully on the rickety structure.

I’m a dark fantasy writer. I better take more pictures.

About the Author:  Born in Moscow, Natalia grew up with the romance and magic of Russian fairy tales. She never imagined that one day she’d be swept off her feet by an American Marine. An engineer-physicist-chemist, Natalia realized that the powder metallurgy might not be her true calling when on a moonless summer night she was spooked by cries of a loon in a fog-wrapped meadow. What if, a writer’s unrelenting muse, took hold of her. Two of her passions define her being. Natalia is an orchid expert and she writes dark fantasy.

Quote of the Week and the Week to Come

“I hold that a strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations.”  

                                                                                      ~ Beatrix Potter

Source: Wikipedia

 British author Beatrix Potter, born July 28, 1866, wrote and illustrated more than 20 children's books. She spent a solitary childhood, loved to sketch animals and later invented stories about them. In 1902, Potter published The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which launched her career as a children's author. More than 20 other books for young audiences soon followed. Potter's tales of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Benjamin Bunny and others have become children's classics. Ms. Potter died in 1943.

This week on Writing from the Peak:

July 11          40 Minutes to Reach the Bridge by Natalia Brothers

July 13          Where Do You Get Your Ideas by J.T. Evans

July 15          Sweet Success Celebrates Shannon Lawrence 

Sweet Success Celebrates Uncanonical Magic by Carol Berg

By Kathie Scrimgeour

Uncanonical Magic, an adult fantasy by Carol Berg, was released in May 2016 (Issue 10, Spring 2016) by Pulp Literature Press (short story, ASIN  B01F454N8A, adult fantasy, 8400 words, ebook and paperback,

 A fantasy detective story, set the world of her Collegia Magica series. High Constable Hue de Paien's investigation could cost him more than just his knees.

More from Pulp Literature Press’ website: Follow Hue de Paien, the High Constable whose detective work could cost him more than just his knees in Carol Berg’s ‘Uncanonical Murder’;
“Berg’s world, redolent of medieval France, is populated with living, breathing characters. … it’s clear the depth of thought she has brought to her creation. Her prose is clear and uncluttered. ‘Uncanonical Murder’ is also a decent mystery, something I’ve seen too many sci-fi and fantasy writers forget to succeed at.” – Fletcher Vredenburgh, Black Gate

Visit Carol’s website for more on all her publications. http://www.carolberg.com
Twitter #cbergwriter, Facebook: http://www/facebook.com/carolberg
Email: carolberg@sff.net

Available on Amazon.com (electronic version) and Pulp Literature Press (paperback): http://pulpliterature.com/subscribe/the-bookstore/issue-10-spring-2016/

​The 90-day Genre Series Project

By Deb McLeod

For as long as I’ve been a writing coach I’ve been focused on the novel-writing process. I’m always looking for new ways to produce work faster. For me and for my students.

If you know me at all, you know I’m a hard core Blake Snyder fan. I use his methods to create my structure, to revise against, and even when I’m story editing someone else’s work.

Since discovering Snyder’s Beat Sheets, I get story in a way I never did before. And, because I analyze published novels for their beats, I am improving my screenplay-to-novel understanding and finding my personal differences with using a screenwriting tool for novels.

Recently, I launched a pilot program called the Genre Series Project with two of my students. The three of us are working on launching a genre series. I’ve chosen to write a romance that ties into one aspect of my sci fi/ fantasy, The Julia Set. As we’re working on our projects, we’re studying and perfecting our process so we can turn out series work faster.

My goal is to write a 60k book from idea through revision in 90 days.

The plan:

• 30 days plotting and character work
• 30 days writing scenes
• 30 days revision

So far, I’m on track. Sort of. I spent the first 30 days getting to know my characters and setting up the situation that would keep them in the same place so they’d have time to fall in love. I plotted using Snyder’s beats and got through to Midpoint, some of the second half of Act 2 and the last few scenes.

I had planned to plot the entire book and then start writing, but I discovered that as a former pantser, I still rely pretty heavily on the discovery process in the actual writing to figure out the plot. I’m working on changing that. For me pantsing adds too much time to the equation.

But I am having a hard time seeing the second half of the second act where things start to fall apart and get serious. It’s as if that late second act is too far out for me to be able to see. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed that so I know it’s an area I will work on.

So, yesterday, since the first 30 days were up, I altered course and even though I wasn’t finished with the entire plot, it was time to start writing. So I did.

The best thing about planning is that when you start to write, it just pours onto the page. I just love that. I can handle the 2500+ words a day I’ve assigned myself. And, the 5-point scene arc I created helps me plan out the scene before I write, should I need it. So, for me, the writing month feels like it will be the easy month. It’s early, of course, but I’m loving the story and loving this process.

Since the first 30 days are over, I thought I’d do a recap after each 30 days in the hopes that my process might give you something you can use in your process. You’ll recognize some of this as Snyder and some as me.

Transformation and Growth Periods

I like Snyder’s way of looking at story as a character transformation. One of the ways I differ from Snyder is that I think each of the major characters is the star of their own story. And everyone is transforming all the time. So each of my characters gets their own beat sheet that tracks what they need to learn and where they are in their life, transformation-wise, while the story is taking place. Then I weave the two beat sheets into one that creates the story beats.

Story may be the record of a process of transformation. In fact, I think life itself as one great big transformation. One of the ways to get really good at recognizing transformation is to start to look at your own life as a series of growth periods. A growth period is when you are playing out some sort of event as a healing or a learning experience. In real life, we’re always in the midst of a growth period, or several overlapping ones. We face and master challenges and grow. If we don’t learn and change, we get the opportunity to face the same lesson one more time. And sometimes, that lesson is bigger and the consequences more dire.

As a writer, seeing life in growth periods has been an essential skill for me to learn. Sometimes it’s easier to look at someone else and identify what growth period you think they might be in. Or, if you have one of those friends who’s always getting into the same jams, or attracting the same guy, can you see what her growth period or lesson might be? If so, you can write a story about it. And show how it might transform if it was a story and not the sad shape of someone’s real life.

All transformation, both real and imagined, comes in three acts. There is an early period or preparation to any process. There’s the long hard middle where transformation is shaping or the lesson gets imparted. Then there is the painful part at the end when the character has to change. Or doesn’t. If they do change and master the growth period – there’s a happy ending. If they don’t master the growth period, it’s a tragedy and the energy of that end is that while this growth period is over, there’s more on that to come.

Spence and Lila

So when it’s time to look at the character arc I ask a few questions. To use an example, I want to talk about a book that has stayed with me a very long time. It’s called “Spence and Lila” by Bobbie Ann Mason. It was published in 1989. I’m pulling this from memory as I don’t think I have this book any longer - it was given to the library in “Deb’s Great Book Armageddon of 2004” when I gave away a pickup truck full of my books. But here’s what I remember:

The story is a quiet one about an older couple in the Midwest. It’s from Spence’s point of view. He’s a curmudgeon. That sour old man, a farmer who’s tired and cranky. His wife, Lila, has to go the doctor to have a lump tested (or maybe removed, I don't remember). Through the course of the story, Lila may or may not be sick, but the experience forces Spence to stop being so sour, to unfreeze and face the fear of death that has been plaguing him. He learns to appreciate the love he has, and has had, with Lila for however long he can still have it. The story brings Spence into the gratitude of the present moment.

Primal

Blake Snyder refers quite a bit to creating a “primal” connection with your audience. Your character needs to be going through something primal. But I want to be sure you understand that this doesn’t mean drama, drama, drama, or the biggest drama you can think of. It merely has to be relatable to your audience on a primal level.

Look at Spence and Lila. That’s primal. This couple is getting old. Death is coming for us all. So while the story is one that takes place over a short amount of time, and concerns one man's life and his love for his wife, it's primal.

Stasis = Death

Another caveat Snyder talks about is Stasis = Death. What he’s referring to might be a literal death, but more often it refers to the death of some part of the character’s life. Maybe the death of a dream or a relationship, or their self-respect, etc. Some sort of death is on the line in a primal way.

Stasis means “things staying the same.” And death means death, as in, if things keep on keepin' on like they are, some part of somebody is going to shrivel up and die. And even though the protagonist doesn't really want to get up off the couch and fix it, the story is going to make that happen.

So here are some questions to ask while you’re in the character planning stage:

Where is your character in the beginning of the story? – In “Spence and Lila,” Spence is busy. He’s annoyed at his wife’s doctor’s visit and the implications of it. Annoyed to think that his wife might really be sick. So he doesn’t think of it. Doesn’t face it. He just grumps about everything else.

What is the stasis? - Spence is frozen in fear and doesn’t even know it until later in the book.

What is the death? - Since he and Lila are getting older, death is a reality. Since Lila is sick, death is coming. So if Spence continues to do what he’s doing, he will waste whatever time he has left with his wife. When she dies, he will be sorry.

Where does the character end up? - Spence resists but finally thaws and the story ends on a beautiful note of love.

This is one of the tools I used for my character work this past month. When I had the answers to those four questions, I was on my way to developing the story my characters would live through and grow from. Can you answer these questions for your novel? And, please, if you have anything to share about your process, chime in on the comments. I’m always learning and sharing. Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary occupation.

Stay tuned for my analysis next month on how the writing month went. Can I finish this book in the next 30 days? That’s the goal.


About the Author: Deb McLeod, MFA, practices novel research immersion. For her novel, The Train to Pescara, Deb journeyed to Sardinia to study ancient goddess worship and spent time in the Abruzzi village her great-grandparents left in 1905. Her metaphysical knowledge for the Angel Thriller, The Julia Set, culminates from four years of studying and teaching meditation, clairvoyance and chakra healing. For over fifteen years, Deb McLeod has been a creative writing coach helping other writers to embrace their passion and get their words on the page. For more, 

July Letter from the Editor

When I noticed my letter from the editor fell on the fourth, the word that immediately came to mind was fireworks. The second word that occurred to me was independence. Finally, after working on the blog’s Quote of the Week by Dean R. Koontz, and choosing his quote, “Never Scope to the Market,” I knew the focus of my July letter.

When writing, we should be fearlessly independent, the enjoyment we get should be akin to goosebumps or fireworks, and unless paid to do so, we should never, ever write to the market.

For good reason.

I came from a nonfiction background. As an editor for a weekly newspaper I was always looking for breaking stories or something no other paper would have. It was a big deal to scoop another medium—especially the local daily.

So imagine my disappointment when I got into fiction, began attending conferences and learned that the mindset of editors and agents was completely the opposite. I remember quite well walking into a crowded room, notebook and pen ready, to listen to a big time editor.  I was prepared to hang on her every word until she said, “We’re looking for this. This genre is hot right now. We’ll consider anything that includes this or this.”

It astounded me that all around me authors and aspiring authors were scribbling furiously. While me, I stopped taking notes. Mainly because I didn’t write the genre she was referring to, nor did I enjoy it.  And if I didn’t love writing that kind of book, I knew it would show in the writing.

In my opinion, three things might have occurred as a result of that editor’s session. 1) The author might have tried, found he wasn’t invested in the work and given up; 2) He might have followed through, completed the story, only to be soundly rejected; or 3) He might have been one of few who squeezed through that remarkably tight publishing door.

Why? Because, thanks to that editor and those globbing on to the next best thing, the publishing industry creates a glut for these kinds of stories. 

The articles we bring you on Writing from the Peak are geared toward bringing out your best as a writer. We want you to succeed, not at another’s whim, but at something you deeply love. 


This month we have articles that, ideally, will inspire you to do just that. Deb McLeod, the Writing Coach is back, Natalia Brothers has a fantastic article called “40 Minutes to Reach the Bridge,” J.T. Evans will talk about something uniquely geared toward originality, “Improv and Story Ideas, and Darby Karchut addresses, By Any Other Name – that often difficult task of naming our characters.

It's hard enough to create a story that matches the one we have in our heads, let alone to write to somebody else's vision. Further when we reach THE END, it should produce fireworks. Think about it; if your writing gives you, the author, the chills, imagine what it will do for the reader. 

Have a marvelous 4th and a productive July.  

About the author: Donnell Ann Bell is the managing editor for Writing from the Peak, the coordinator for the monthly Open Critique held on the first Wednesday of every month, and one of Pikes Peak Writer's board members at large. She is a best selling romantic suspense and mystery author. To learn more about her books, find her at www.donnellannbell.com

Quote of the Week and the Week to Come

“Never, never try to scope the market.”  Dean Koontz

Source: Bio.com and Goodreads

Dean Koontz, July 9, 1945, is a bestselling thriller writer who has been keeping readers on edge since the late 1960s with titles like The Door to December and Odd Thomas. He published his first novel, Star Quest, with Ace Books in 1968. He soon began branching out into various genres under several pseudonyms before settling on the thriller novel, an arena in which he would become a massive worldwide success. Today, Koontz has written more than 120 books with over 450 million copies in print.

This Week on Writing from the Peak

July 4            Letter from the Editor – Donnell Ann Bell

July 6            Deb McLeod The Writing Coach

July 8            Sweet Success celebrates Carol Berg

Pikes Peak Writers July Events

Welcome to July!

PREVIEW:  2017 PIKES PEAK WRITERS CONFERENCE  

INTERESTED IN PROPOSING A WORKSHOP?

Pikes Peak Writers 25th Conference!

Keynotes: Kevin Hearne, Tess Gerritsen, Donald Maass

To be considered as a presenter for PPWC 2017 propose a workshop by September 15, 2016: http://www.pikespeakwriters.com/events/proposing-a-workshop/


July Open Critique

6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Cottonwood Center for the Arts
427 East Colorado Avenue
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

This FREE program provides a critique experience for a small number of writers who seek feedback on manuscript pages and who want to learn how to have positive critique group experiences.

PPW’s Open Critique program is facilitated by Donnell Bell with the occasional experienced guest critique partner. During Open Critique, Donnell and the guest critique partner will provide comments, criticism and suggestions on participants’ manuscript pages, as well as model positive behaviors, techniques and procedures for critiquing.

It is our hope that participants will not only receive valuable feedback on their writing, but will also learn how to create great critique groups of their own, or learn how to improve existing critique groups.

Each month Open Critique will accommodate up to eight participants with a maximum of eight manuscript pages (double spaced, one side) per person. Bring at least 8 copies. To request a slot to participate, email your request to critique@pikespeakwriters.com. Slots are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, and are only considered for the month in which they are received. Participants will receive confirmation and instructions via email.

PPW reserves the right to give priority to new participants over those who have attended multiple times.

July Write Brain

What:  How to Write Authentic African-American Characters
Who:  Jason Evans
When: July 19, 6:30-8:30 pm
Where: Venue@21c (upper floor, to the right if coming in the upper entrance) of Library 21c, 1175 Chapel Hills Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80920

More Information: Diversity is a buzz word in the writing industry today. Yet in order for diverse characters to be authentic, writers must do their research and ask the hard questions. It is the intent of this workshop to help writers start that process by introducing them to African-American culture and history. We will also explore how literature and cinema have done in creating authentic African-American Characters.

About the Presenter:  Jason Evans wanted to be a writer his entire life. He just didn’t know it. He has been an educator in public & private schools for twelve years. He has earned Double bachelors from UC Santa Barbara, a teaching credentials from Cal-State Los Angeles, and an MA from UC Denver. He has two short stories published and is the editor-in-chief for Man-gazine. He lives in Denver with the Fetching Mrs. Evans and his three dogs and one haughty cat.

Facebook Event: Want to see who else is coming? Check here.

July Writer’s Night

FREE Writer’s Night

Location: Kawa Coffee

Address: 2427 N Union Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80909

Fourth Monday of every month

6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Join fellow writers for PPW Night on the fourth Monday of every month.

PPW Night is two full hours of discussion, laughter, and fun with other local members of Pikes Peak Writers.

The direction of the meeting is decided by the participants and can include discussions about query letters, obtaining and working with an agent, writing conferences, or other specific points of the craft.  If nothing else, we talk about books!

If you have any questions, or if there is a specific topic you’d like to get on the agenda, send an e-mail to the host, Deb Courtney, or call her on her cell phone at 719-337-9049.

Meetings are scheduled to start at 6:30 and run until about 8:30. These are drop-in meetings, so feel free to attend all or just part of them.

See you soon!