Write Angles 3-10

8/14/2019 Write Angles 3-10

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O F F I C I A L N E W S L E T T E R o f t h e

B E R K E L E Y B R A N C H o f t h e

C A L I F O R N I A W R I T E R S C L U B

W r i t eA n g l e s

W r i t e A n g l e s

March 2010


2/12MARCH 2010 Write Angles 2

TA BL E O F C ON TEN TS The View From the Helm . 2

Upcoming Speaker:Becky Levine . 3

Meet Our Own Author:Alon Shalev . 3

Upcoming Events . 4

Upcoming WorkshopBrooke Warner . 4

5 Plot Types .............................5

Walkin with Joaquin ...............5

Craft, Story & Voice .................7

Member News ......................... 6

Member Pro les .......................7

Shop Talk: Write Badly . 8

Member Marketplace ............. 11

The View From the HelmThe.world.will.always.welcome.lovers

We know that writing is a lot like love. There is an emotionalconnection both mystical and mysterious that feels good evenwhen it is annoying. You forgive your writing even when it doesnot forgive you. You can ght and walk out on one another, butout of sight is not out of mind. Something needles and noodgesuntil you have to make up. And that make-up kiss is one of thebest you ever get.

Great writing knows no schedule. It will wake you in the

middle of the night ready to play. It also knows about afternoondelight, nooners, and rst thing in the morning.And lately we are reminded of one of the lessons of how to

get love: you get it by giving it away. At our February meeting,this notion was at the heart of Seth Harwoods talk. Seth built afollowing that ultimately led to book deals by posting chapters of his books as free, downloadable audio installments that can beplayed on your iPod, MP3 player, and more other devices that Ive

yet to learn about. There are writers whove posted a third of their books on the

net. Others have posted their whole book, save for the endingthat wraps up all the plot threads. And others who have simply

posted the whole shootin match for free. Or cheap. Kemble Scottreleased his last book on Scribd.com at the princely price of twobucks a copy.

It seems realistic to me that one of the routes to becominga sought-after author is to develop a following of readers wholike what they read and want more. One hopes some will like itenough to want to pay for it somehow. Cash, after all, is still themost universally accepted way of keeping score.

And like a lover, the respect for your writing is a two-way street. Love, honor, and obey in sickness and in health. Treat

your writing like a two-bit hooker and youll get a kosh on thenoggin with a bagful of quarters.

AL.Levenson,.President

A ction writer has two passions: people ahe has a gnawing, insatiable curiosity about meets, the words will come to t them. Harry Leon W

ON THE COVER:Distinguished.Writers.of.California

Harry Leon Wilson1867 1939Harry Leon Wilson was theeditor of Puck , the weekly humormagazine, from 1896 -1902. After

nancial success as a playwrightwith Booth Tarkington, he movedto Carmel, California, in 1910. Herounded out his writing career as

a serials writer for the Saturday.Evening.Post , a novelist and ahumorist.



FEBRUARY MEETING:Sunday, March 21, 2010, 1-4:30p.m.

West Auditorium of the Oakland Main Library at 125 14th Street near the Lake Merritt BART station.

Enter directly from Madison Street between 13th & 14th Streets.

MEETINGPROGRAM:

1:00 p.m.Library doors open

1:05-2:00 p.m. Marketing group meeting

1:05-2:00 p.m.Social time for membersand newcomers

2:00-2:15 p.m.Club meeting,announcements

2:15-3:00 p.m. Author Event

3:00 Book signing and break,

3:15 Featured speaker

Meet our own author:ALON SHALEV

The author event for March willbe Alon Shalevs novel Oilspill.dotcom

Shalevs genre is writing for social justice. In Oilspill.dotcom , he

explores how freedom of speech isthreatened by a rich and powerfulmultinational corporation. Shalevis a writer to keep an eye on.His current manuscript is in thesecond round of the Amazon.comBreakthrough Novel Award.

MARCH SPEAKERBECKY LEVINE

GET FEEDBACK,GET PUBLISHED

Youve nished your rst draft,a subtle blend of wit and luminosity,every sentence a delight. And yet youfeel uneasy. A question bubbles to thesurface: If its as good as I think it is,why do I stop reading in the middle of a scene Ive written and click the icon labeledGames.? A Higher Authority answer bubbles up as well: Because

your manuscript, like all rst drafts, is weighted down witherrors. Step One is spotting them.

Identify what you hate about your story, advises Becky Levine, our featured speaker for the March 21 meeting. Thenrevise around the problem. But what if youre too captivated by

your masterpiece to recognize the imperfections? Becky has theanswer: join a critique group. No writer, she insists, can seeevery aw in their own work by themselvesthats why there areeditors. And if an unpublished author cant listen to the opinionsof others, digest them and gure out which will make their workbetter, theyre going to have a hard time being published.

Becky is the author of The.Writing.&.Critique.Group.Survival.Guide:.How.to.Give.and.Receive.Feedback,.Self-Edit,.and.Make.Revisions . For younger readers, she wrote Cool.Cash.Adventure ,a middle-school guide to nance, and co-wrote with Lee Lo and

a book about being a police of cer. Becky also authors ction forchildren and young adults, and has completed the middle-grademystery, How.I.Solved.My.Summer.Vacation . Her current projectis a YA historical about a young girl growing up in a settlement-house neighborhood in 1913.

The questions Becky asks about her own workDo I needto show a personality trait more frequently or more intensely?Should I connect a subplot to the main plot in another place ortwo? Is it time to reveal . . . background info I thought I didntneed?suggest the kind of discussion we can look forward to atthe March meeting. Take another look at that rst draft and bring

your questions with you.

David.Baker



UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

April 11, 2010 Marianne Rogoff on Travel Writing

May 9, 2010 Wesley Gibson, Writing EffectiveDialogue

To.recommend.or.request.a.speaker,.contact.Risa.Nye..at.cwcworkshops@gmail com

MARCH WORKSHOP:BROOKE WARNEREditor and Writing Coach

The Power of Partnering and Accountability in Your

Writing Practice

Sunday, March 14, 20109 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Having an accountability partnership can make the task of writinghappen, much as a gym partner makes

you show up at the gym. This half-day accountability

workshop will open with an explorationof your goals and dreams. Through interactive exercises andteaching points, youll learn how to set up a partnership, whatit entails, and, perhaps most important, why being accountableto yourself simply isnt enough, even if youre the mostdisciplined person you know.

Brooke Warner, currently Senior Editor at Seal Press, alsooperates as Warner Coaching, working one-on-one with writers,from book proposal to manuscript completion.

$19 CWC Members / $39 Nonmembers. To.register,.mail.your.check.to.CWC-BB,.Box.6183,.

Alameda,.CA.94501 ..Registration.must.be.received.by.Thursday,.March.11 ..Include.email.address.and.telephone.

number.with.your.registration .The.workshop.will.take.place.at.a.restricted.access.venue.in.Alameda .Location.will.be.sent.in.a.

separate.email ..Questions?.cwcworkshops@gmail com.

MARK YOURCALENDARfor these upcomingBerkeley Branch Events

March 14, 2010 WORKSHOP,

Brooke Warner (See.right) March 21, 2010 AUTHOREVENT, Alon Shalev , Oilspill.Dotcom. (See page 3)

March 21, 2010. SPEAKER,Becky Levine (See page 3)

April 11, 2010, WORKSHOP,Marianne Rogoff , Travel Writing

April 18, 2010. AUTHOREVENT, Francine Howard ,Page.From.a.Tennessee.Journal .Launch party for her debutnovel.

April 18, 2010, SPEAKER, ToBe Announced

May 8, 2010 WORKSHOP,Wesley Gibson , Writing effectivedialogue.

May 16, 2010, AUTHOR EVENT,Karin Ireland , The.Job.Survival.Instruction.Book

May 16, 2010, SPEAKER,Ransom Stephens , How The.God.Patent made it to print froman eBook.

June 20, 2010, SPEAKER,author Molly Giles.

Other events of interest:

April 24, BLOGGING

WORKSHOP, sponsored by theSouth Bay Branch. For info:[email protected]

April 25, AUTHOR READINGS,and tours of Joaquin Miller Parksponsored by Friends of JoaquinMiller Park. (See next page.) Forinfo: [email protected]



FIVE PLOT TYPESto Shape Fictionand Non ction Storiesby Karin Ireland

You know that a plot tells readers what happens, when, andwhy. But did you know that there are ve basic plot types, andusing one or more can make it easier for you to shape your story and more satisfying for your readers? Heres how they work.

Mistake/Discovery/Reversal This is one of the most popular plot types, and youll

recognize it in a lot of books, movies, and non ction featurearticles. In this plot type, the main character (and maybe othercharacters or even groups) has a mistaken belief. Everything thecharacter thinks, says, and does comes from this mistaken belief.

This behavior continues through most of the book, movie, orarticle.

At some point just before or after the climax, the maincharacter (and maybe others) discovers that his belief is wrong.But its not enough to make that discovery; he must act on thenew belief in order to convince readers his thinking has changed.Most romantic comedies, and a lot of non ction life stories, tinto this plot type. Remember Romancing.the.Stone with Kathleen

Turner and Michael Douglas? They hate each other on sight, andthen decide, well, maybe not. By the end of the movie, we see thatKathleen Turner has reversed her mistaken beliefs about MichaelDouglas because the romance book shes writing, which is basedon their adventure, has the happy ending she longs for. He proveshes reversed his beliefs about her when he shows up in front of her Manhattan apartment with a sailboat for them to sail away together on.

Try and SucceedIn another popular plot type for ction and non ction, the

main character (characters or group) knows what he or shewants and makes every effort to succeed at achieving the goal. Of course, there are con icts and blocks that cause him to fail. Buthe tries again, and again, each time with bigger efforts. With eacheffort, hes met with bigger con icts or blocks. This happens atleast three times (since you dont want to make it too easy), andeventually he succeedsdirectly because of his efforts. Often,personal achievement stories, mysteries, and memoirs followthis plot type. Sometimes, the main character doesnt get whathe wantsremember William Macys character of the murderinghusband in Fargo ? But the writer has crafted the character insuch a way the readers and viewers are happy to see him fail.

Wish Ful llment Think of Cinderella when you think of this plot type. She

wishes and wishes, but she doesnt do one single thing to getwhat she wants. The old Sandra Bullock movie, While.You.

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CWC DIGS UP ITSSHINING ROOTSWALKIN WITHJOAQUINIf.Jack.London.was.a.founder.of.the.California.Writers.Club,.then.Joaquin.Miller.is.its.patron.saint .

CWC Central Coast member Joyce Krieg shared thisperspective last spring on avisit to the California WritersMemorial Grove in Oaklands

Joaquin Miller Park. Joycesstatement followed her witty tales of trying to nd theplaque in the Park that honorsCalifornias great writers. (See

three bulletins starting July-August 2008).

Her work launched a quest tond the trees and the plaque,

which unearthed the richartistic, civic, cultural, andliterary contributions of early CWC members to Joaquin MillerPark and to Californias literary and natural history. Thathistory will be celebrated in

April as part of the rst annualFriends of Joaquin Miller Parks(FJMP) gathering, sponsored by the City of Oakland Parks andRecreation Department.

The CWC Central Board joinedFJMP last year. BB memberLinda Brown represents theCWC and is coordinating theportion of the California History

Tour that recognizes and

celebrates the CWC role, whichhas become clear through theefforts the many CWC members*who provided historicalinformation. This Tour will show

*George.Rathmell.(Redwood.Branch),.Dorothy.Benson,.Ray.Faraday.Nelson,.Dave.Sawle.(the.Chapter.History.Project).and.Therese.Pipe.(all.Berkeley.Branch),.and.Joyce.Krieg.(Central.Coast.Branch) .AL.Levenson.inspired.the.name.of.the.event



Member NewsCWC BERKELEY BRANCHMEMBERS :.Please.send. WriteAngles .all.the.news.about.your.life.in.the.world.of.art,.letters,.and.literature,.however.it.expresses.itself Your.efforts.and.accomplishments.inspire.courage.in.others . [email protected]

On 3/6/10 at 3:30 p.m. JoAnnSmith Ainsworth will sign atthe Black Diamond RWA &Sacramento Valley Rose RWAwriting event and booksigning,CAPS Restaurant, 144 Oak Street,Brentwood, CA 94513, 2nd FloorBanquet Room.

Kristen Caven kicks off publicity for her new memoir, Perfectly.Revolting:.My.Glamorous.Cartooning.Career, on March 14with a tea party at Mills College.(RSVP to 510-430-2123 byMarch 8 if you wish to attend.]

The book is about her journey asa young artist and scholar and isillustrated with over 100 of hercartoons. The narrative concludeswith a reprint of .Inside.the.Mills.Revolution , her award-winning(AND banned) cartoon account of the student strike at Mills twenty

years ago this spring. www.kristencaven.com

Exciting reading about BarbaraRuffner in Dave NewhousesOakland.Tribune column of February 28, detailing her fty-eight years membership inthe League of Woman Voters,an organization that educatesabout nonpartisan issues andencourages people to vote.

continued.on.next.page

anything (I mean, look at hershes a wreck) to make her wishhappen. She and Cinderella get their happy endings because of who they are, not what they do.

Stream of Consciousness or Excursion/AdventureIn this plot type, readers are dropped into a story and follow

a character (or characters) until some logical stopping point. Thecharacter isnt necessarily trying to accomplish anything, andthere arent necessarily any challenges unless its an adventure.

There doesnt have to be any character growth. The movieMission.Impossible uses this as one of its plot types. So do somechildrens books, memoirs and self-help books.

The X PlotIn a plot whose shape resembles the letter X, a character or

group starts out on top and falls to the bottom, while an opposingcharacter or group starts at the bottom and rises to the top. The.Firm is an example of this plot type, with the rm of attorneysstarting with all the power and the Tom Cruise character startingas an idealistic new lawyer. They engage in con ict, and the TomCruise character emerges to take power against the defeatedattorneys.

Some books and movies have two or more plot types woveninto the story. In Romancing.the.Stone and The.Firm , both havecharacters who demonstrate the plot characteristics of Mistake/Discovery/Reversal, and Try and Succeed.

Just a thought: Plots are satisfying when they go full circle.In Fargo , the police chief is in bed talking to her husband whenthe movie starts, and theyre back in bed talking when the movieends. Mission.Impossible begins and ends in an airplane with a

ight attendant giving the MI leader a DVD describing the nextmission.

Subplots (aka secondary plots) weave in and out of themain story to add complexity and dimension to ction andsome non ction. They can provide relief from drama, addcomplications, and give readers more insights into the characters.

The same subplot can affect many or most of the characters, oreach can have his or her own.

The back story (aka back plot) can also help make the story interesting. When you, the writer, know what happened to yourcharacters before the story began, youll know how he is likely to

behave in certain situations. Sometimes youll show some backstory in order to make your character(s) believable; sometimes tomake them vulnerable. Some characters will do anything to hidetheir secrets.

In closing, it occurs to me that we live our lives in these plottypesweaving in and out, sometimes changing one for another.Maybe thats why we nd them so satisfying when theyre part of the stories we read. U

PLOT TYPES continued ...



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See You There!

Charlotte Cook has joinedaward-winning screenwriter

Jon James Miller on the blogAdapting.Sideways (adapting-sideways.blogspot.com), which

chronicles their work adaptinghis screenplay into a novel andprecedes the already agentedbook of the same title. Alsolook for Adapting.Sideways workshops scheduled withseveral Northern California CWCgroups.

Latest news about FrancineThomas Howard: Her novel,Page.from.a.Tennessee.Journal , will be out in hardcover on March 16. This isthe rst of AmazonEncoresoriginal manuscripts to bereleased. Find out moreat francinethomashoward.wordpress.com Look up Page. from.a.Tennessee.Journal onAmazon.com for the Francine

Thomas Howard page.

Anne.Fox.

MEMBER NEWSc ontinued ....

CRAFT, STORY AND VOICEby Rachelle Gardner, literary agent

Courtesy.of.Rachelles. Rants & Ravings blog.at.wordserveliterary com

One of the most common things I hear from writers lately is, Youve told us a lot about what makes you say no to a book.Now tell us what makes you say yes. So yesterday I wrote that Ilove when I can sense the writing is authentic and true.

Today I want to take it further and identify three basicthings that are immediately apparent to agents and editors whenwe read and evaluate your work, and they make the differencebetween yes and no.

Craft.. . . . Story.. . . . . . . . Voice.Of course, the elements are intertwined, but its helpful to

arti cially separate them in order to understand why a book iseither workingor not.

Craft refers to the mechanics of ction: plot,characterization, dialogue, pacing, ow, scene-crafting, dramaticstructure, point-of-view, etc. I think craft is pretty easy to teachand its easy to learn. Its technique, the foundation upon whichwriters use their artistic skill to build their story. Knowing themechanics of craft enables you to use it to create the effect youwant.

Story refers to the page-turning factor: how compellingis your story, how unique or original, does it connect with thereader, is there that certain spark that makes it jump off thepage? Is it suf ciently suspenseful or romantic (as appropriate)?Does it open with a scene that intrigues and makes the readerwant to know more? Story comes from the imagination of thewriter and is much more dif cult to teach than craft (if it can betaught at all).

Voice is the expression of you on the pageyour originality and the courage to express it. Voice is what you develop when

you practice what we talked about yesterdaywriting what youknow. Its the unfettered, non-derivative, unique conglomerationof your thoughts, feelings, passions, dreams, beliefs, fears andattitudes, coming through in every word you write.

Without a doubt, whenever I read a new manuscript andfall in love with it, the deciding factor most of the time is thevoice.

So how do you nd your voice? You cant learn it. You cantcopy it. Voice isnt a matter of studying. You have to nd it. Andthe way to do that is by writing, and experimenting, and seeingwhat kind of response you get from others, and writing somemore. And some more.

Putting it All TogetherI receive numerous projects that show strong technique,

Member Pro lesThe.writers.and.members.of.the.CWC-Berkeley.Branch.are.as.diverse.as.the.East.Bay.community .We.continue.our.monthly.presentation.of.CWC- Berkeley.members.in.their.own.words .Thomas.Burch eld.is.currently.soliciting.pro les. from.club.members.so.we.can.get.to.know.one.another.better .Each.month,.we.will.include.four.or. ve.pro les.in.members.own.words .If.you.would.like.to.share.your.pro le.(150.word.limit).and.want.more.





but no originality or heart. In a way, this is good because it showsthat writers are paying attention to their craft. Theyre taking thetime and making the effort to learn to write, which is fantastic.But some of them lack a strong story, and others dont havea compelling or unique voice. These writers just need to keepworking on it.

I think some writers nd craft easier, and others nd story

comes more naturally. A few writers have a strong voice right outof the box; most writers have to work for years to develop one.When you read published books that dont seem to follow

the rules of craft that youve worked so hard to learn, insteadof getting mad and throwing the book across the room, try todetermine if maybe that book got published because of the story,rather than technical perfection. Ask yourself whether the authorhas a pleasing or compelling voice that makes you want to read,despite technical imperfection.

If your storytelling and/or the voice is powerful enough,readers will forgive an awful lot of aws in technique... and so willagents and editors. On the other hand, all the perfect craft in

the world cant make an unimaginative book shine.If editors and agents are looking at your samples and

immediately criticizing your craft, be aware this means they arentable to see a fabulous story in there and theyre probably notcompelled by your voice. Either it doesnt exist to begin with, orits camou aged by your lack of expertise in ction technique.

So craft, story and voice all work together to create a winningwork of ction. Of the three, story and voice are my primary considerations when searching for new writers. g

CS & V continued ...

information.on.what.were.looking.for,.email.Thomas.at.tbdeluxe@sbcglobal net .We.look.forward.to.hearing.from.you!

Tanya GroveI write short stories, personalessays, and humorous childrenspoetry. Currently, Im workingon my rst novel for girls ingrades six to nine. I joinedCWC in November 2009 withthe notion that becoming partof a writers community mightmake me feel more like anactual writer. I live in Berkeley,

and my day job is copyeditingand proofreading books in awide range of topics, includingbusiness, health, and politics.Over a year ago, I retired fromteaching elementary school think hostile takeoverand eversince then, Ive been writing withthe goal of being published. My

le of rejection letters grows everfatter, but my determinationhas not diminished. On Tuesday mornings, I am a writer coachat King Middle School, where Ipraise, cajole, edit, and makesuggestions to eighth graders. My literary heroes are Eve Bunting,Shel Silverstein, BarbaraKingsolver, and Dr. Seuss.

Jeffrey KingmanI have two degrees in MusicComposition, but I switched fromwriting music to ction about

twelve years ago. My novel, Moto.Girl , is a family drama abouta twelve-year-old motorcyclistin a desperate situation. Abook trailer for Moto.Girl willbe posted on Youtube soon.My other book is called Two.Mountains.and.Other.Stories ;two of the stories have been

MEMBER PROFILESc ontinued ....

SHOP TALK #2 .THE STORY OF A NOVEL:

WRITE BADLY by Thomas Burchfeld

Greetings,.and.thank.you.for.reading.this .What.follows.is.the.second.in.a.series.of.essays.on.the.writing.of.my.recently.completed.novel,. Dragons Ark .

As I read the rst draft of my novel Dragons.Ark for the very rst time, the voices of angry critics rumbled through my brain:

Worst.novel.Ive.ever.read!.Ive.always.been.a.First.Amendment.stalwart,.but.this.vile.excrementive.pile.has.changed.my.mind!.

San.Francisco.Chronicle

It.wasnt.until.I.closed.the.book.and.threw.it.in.the.incinerator.that.the.stench.that.permeated.the.room.faded.away .

The.New.Yorker




published. A third story willbe published this spring inthe Schuylkill.Valley.Journal .I recently joined CWC andhave already met lots of greatfolks. I highly recommend it.I work at the reference deskat my local public library. Imlucky to have a job where Imsurrounded by books. I likethe way books look, feel, andsmell. (If you havent yet hada chance to smell a Kindle, getready for a disappointment.)You can nd me here: www.

jeffkingman.com, www.redroom.com, jkingman@ mindspring.com.

Janell Moon Janell Moons memoir, Salt.and.Paper:.Creative.Aging ,is forthcoming in the fall of 2010 by RAW ArT PRESS.She is the author of tenbooks of spiritual non ctionand poetry. Stirring.the.Waters:.Writing.to.Find.the.Spirit (Charles Tuttle) wasnominated for the NautilusPrize as one the ve bestspirituality books of 2002;The.Wise.Earth.Speaks.to.Your.Spirit was voted one of the best spirituality books of 2005 by Health and NatureMagazine. Of her six volumesof poetry, one won theNational Stonewall Prize andanother, Riding.Free.in.a.New.Studebaker , was published asEditors Choice in the Main.Street.Rags National Poetry

Contest.-Thomas.Burch eld


T

WRITE BADLY, continued ... I.cant.take.it.anymore!.Hand.me.that.revolver!..

Publishers.Weekly.(deceased)

OK, it wasnt that bad...but reading Draft #1 of Dragons.Ark had all the pleasures of a bad high school memory: a sour sauceof embarrassment and anguish. Once in awhile, say every tenpages, I glimpsed life glittering on a black mysterious pool and

sensed a sweet supernatural twinge; more often, the prose wasrotting algae on a deoxygenized pond. In places, I hadnt a clueabout what I was doing. Toward the end, I saw Id neglected animportant character and then spent fty pages eshing him out.

Draft #1 was exactly the bad, unpublishable mess Iexpected: With so many loose ends, it rolled around like anoctopus trapped in a front-loading washer. But you knowsomething? Big Ef ng Surprise. I felt no guilt or paralysis. Why?

Because I hadnt shown it to anybody! Not even darlingElizabeth. My mistakes were mine alone to suffer with. I foundout many years ago that the only thing I ever learned fromshowing a rst draft was the most obvious one: Your book

sucks! Usually, this news comes avored with schadenfreudeand resentment (Youve wasted precious moments of my life!)that crush the morale needed for the second draft, which, if ever

nished, is written so as not to provoke more anger. It ends witha book that is nice, formulaic, and safe. Or never nished at all.

This is my problem of course. Im too sensitive. Yelling hasnever worked with me, especially over something as unimportantin Lifes Scheme as a novel. Back in the old days, I also believedthat perfect sentences always uttered like lovely lightning boltsfrom the ngertips of the great; that inky pearls of beauty pouredfrom Shakespeares pen with every second he spent at his writingdesk. Do-overs were for losers! First thought, best thought!Otherwise, keep it to yourself!

I had to get over that and learn to be alone with my work;to be my own best critic: sharp, hard-nosed, but humorous andpatient patient patient in the faith that somehow I would make itbetter. The point is not whether I write badly. The point is that Irecognize when the writing is bad and then make it better.

Despite the at characterizations, rushed, weedy,storytelling, dithering plot lines and paucity of convincing detailin the rst draft, the basic story of Dragons.Ark still seemedsound. The ending seemed especially good, which I dont seeoften in supernatural novels. Many of them, even after the most

evocative and exquisitely poetic buildup, often collapse in aconfusion of blood and re.Draft #1 came out around ve hundred pages. Some months

later, Draft #2 came in longer by ten chapters and a hundred-plus pages. (Three of those chapters were ripped from that fty-page monster I wrote in the rst draft.) But that was not a badthing. It was longer, I suspected, because I knew and understoodmore.

By the time Id started Draft #2, Id drawn a crude map



of the location. The real Alpine County, where my story and Imet, turned out to be too underpopulated and lacked certaingeographical features I needed. I created an imaginary county,though I left some local landmarks with new names. In additionto new geography, I built a whole new town.

As I marched through Draft #2, I constructed an eventscalendar. As I nished each chapter, I entered the following

information:CHAPTER NUMBER

TIME/DATE(S)LOCATION(S)CHARACTERSPLOT/STORY

This was only one step in that bureaucracy I mentioned inlast article. The creation of this Monster Birds-Eye view helpedestablish a window of time within which the action takes place.It assisted with plot, continuity and pacing, and the analysis andcutting and rejoining chapters and scenes.

I also settled the point of view (POV) issue, a crucial decisionin all ction. Genre ction is often told in the rst person.Dracula famously did this through diaries, letters, and articles, atechnique that allowed Bram Stoker to it in and out of variousPOVs. Peter Straubs most masterly Ghost.Story goes in and outof rst and third without using media.

I chose to tell Dragons.Ark in the third person, withmultiple singular POVs: two major POVs and four or ve minor,one POV per chapter (with one or two exceptions). I consideredcutting down to two POVs only. While this might have created amore intense experience, it would also create a claustrophobicsubjective experience, similar to stories written by the Englishmaster Ramsey Campbell. But I wanted to read something moreepic.

Before I waded into Draft #3, I took only two weeks off. Timeto get on with it. I think youve got something here, the Musehad whispered the rst time. Now her voice had grown urgent:Wait no more! Go on! Write badly! t

Positions

OPENA club position looks great

on your writers rsum!

ANOTHER INTERN needed tohelp with the WestSide Story Contest. Contact Tatjana Greinerat [email protected]

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE members needed to:

Chair committee and attendboard meetings

Help make people feelwelcome and follow up withinquiries and drop-ins.

keep track of member list andcontact information.

Contact AL at calwritersclub@ gmail.com.

PROGRAM CHAIR Contact AL [email protected].

* * *

Thank you to Lloyd Lofthouse,our new Vice Presidentof Marketing and Websitecoordinator! Send Web updatesto Lloyd at [email protected].

Thank you, Alison Huetter, ournew WA designer-in-training!

* * *

Alysa Chadow, KymberlieIngalls, Trena Machado, and

John Q. McDonald!

WRITE BADLY, continued

WALKIN continued from p . 5...

elcome W New Membhow much the vision of one writer shaped the landscape and the cultureof our vibrantly eclectic city, and how our club expanded Millers visionto create a special place for many people to enjoy and nd inspiration.

Please join us for the rst annual gathering of this group onSunday, April 25, from 10:00-3:00 pm at Joaquin Miller Park inOakland . After the meeting, BB member Kristen Caven will lead thegroup in a singalong of her song, Joaquin Miller Went Walkin, and(handicap accessible) tours of the park will begin. Each self-guided tourwill feature docents from different groups who have a stake in the park.Volunteers from the CWC are needed to read literary excerpts from early CWC members as well as their own works.




Read back issues of Write Angles at www.Scribd.com/CWC-Berkeley

BERK ELEY C WCBOARD OF DIREC TORS

President:.AL .Leve nson

Vice.President:.D ave.S awle

Vice.President/Marke ting:. Lloyd.Lofthouse

Secretary:.Jane.Glendinnin g

Trea surer:.Carlene.Cole

Me mber ship:.AL.Levenson

Public ity.Ch air:.Linda.Brown

Program.C hair:. OPEN

Workshop.Cha ir:..R isa.Nye

Newsletter.Editor: ..AL.L evenson

Copyeditor:.Anne.Fox

Newsletter.Design/Produc tion:.Kristen.Caven

Webm aster:.Lloyd.Lofthouse

Del egate .to.Central.Board:.Linda.Br own

Delegate. to.CW C-Norcal:.Lloyd.Lofthous e

5th.Grade.Stor y.Con test:.Lucille.Bellucci

WestSide.Story.Conte st:..T atjana.Greiner

The CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUBis dedicated to educating membersand the public-at-large in the craftof writing and in the marketing of their work. For more information,visit our Web site at cwc-berkeley.com.

Copyright 2010 by the CaliforniaWriters Club, Berkeley Branch.All rights reserved. Write.Angles is published 10 times a year(September-June) by the CaliforniaWriters Club, Berkeley Branch,on behalf of its members. CWCassumes no legal liability orresponsibility for the accuracy,completeness, or usefulness of any information, process, product,method or policy described in thisnewsletter.

Cover image: To Leon,from his battered [?]namesake, Harry LeonWilson. Carmel, July 271925. Edward Weston,1935 [photographer]Contributing Institution:

The Bancroft Library.University of California,Berkeley.

Thomas Burchfeld

Editing & Writing Services

Tel. (510) 547-1092 Cell (510) 541-1991

SERVICES FOR WRITERSSaturday Literary Salons *Weeklong Themed Writers

Studio RetreatsCommunity Ed Classes:Memoir, Fiction, TravelStories, Grie writing

Writer Coaching:Approaches to Starting,Overcoming Obstacles,

FinishingManuscript Editing:

Developmental Feedback,Hands-On Line Editing,

Proo readingWriter/Pro essor MarianneRogof * [email protected] * 415.455.0781

Member Marketplace

O F F I C I A L N E W S L E T T E R o f t h e

B E R K E L E Y B R A N C H o f t h e


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Our volunteers will also educate participants about the CWCs enduringlegacy of Woodminster, the Cathedral in the Woods dedicated to pastand future California writers, including the California Writers MemorialGrove; Joaquins artistic retreat in the Hills; his Temple of the Godswith the Cascades, pools, fountains, and outdoor amphitheater; andthe Fire Circle, where young writers of the future will read.

A display table will feature literary works by current CWC membersbefore and after the one-hour morning business meeting. Please contactLinda Brown at [email protected] if you would like to helporganize our efforts, be a docent, help at the display table, donate abook, or display your marketing materials with the Club. Friends andmembers interested in reading the literary works of early CWC membersand sharing their current work can contact Nina Egert (CWC-Mt. Diablo)at [email protected].

Linda.Brown.&.Kristen.Caven

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California Writers Club NorCal Presents:

Writing in the Redwoods Imagine yourself writing in the

beauty and serenity of a redwoodforest. Dont just dream it, do it! The

Northern California branches of California Writers Club are

sponsoring a three day retreat in theSanta Cruz Mountains. This is the perfect opportunity to polish your

novel . . . get started on your memoir . . . finish that poetry chapbook . . .

far from the distractions of everydaylife, and with the companionship of

fellow creative souls.

When: April 5-6-7 (with option to stay at the retreat center through April 9)

Where: Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center, near Corralitos in the Santa CruzMountains http://www.polmountainretreat.com

Cost: $206 for two nights, three days, including all meals

Facilitators: Volunteers from CWC will act as facilitators; however, the emphasisis on quiet, independent time for writing. In addition to writing, there are walking

paths and an outdoor pool, as well as a meditation shrine and amphitheater available for your use.

For More Information: Contact Dale King, [email protected]

SOLD OUTinquire to get on waiting list

Write Angles 3-10

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