MnNaNo meetings

Since it's first week of the month will Sherri show up? Will Odran or Renee? Will we ever see Jay or John Carlson in the flesh again? (No, I'm not complaining, this is supposed to be mildly humorous) Will it be a record-breaking attendance meeting? Will we need the "Big" table. Will there be another "Free the world" group meeting with a dominating moderator? Tune in next meeting for "How I met my hernia," or "Is this Toledo" June 2 at Coffee Corner, 7p-9pm.

Our topic is ending, that is, ending a story, the like. Ties in with Beginning Continuing all logical like. I plan to take time to review how our goals from the previous meeting went, and setting goals to achieve before the next meeting. There will also be "News around MnNaNo" if you've anything to report (new job, new house, new goldfish)...

I've gotten one of two stories done so far - My Happy Ending - in rough draft, clocks in at four chapters and under 3,000 words. I'm hoping it might get some laughs since it is supposed to be funny. The problem - no printer at home and no diskette at work and an Internet problem at home. I might not be able to get it printed before June 2. The no diskettes at work has been a cramp on the actual work I get paid for side of things as well, so I should really try to fix this.) Seems like so far the new job hasn't killed the creative writing side of my brain, or occupied it otherwise, I''ve been trying to do a little writing every day and have at least 40% succeeded. I've also succeeded in getting 20% less sleep.

Anyone who has something they'd like to share is welcome to bring it (Ninjas, Andy's and Melissa's continuing "My mother never.." stories, will Jeannine have something to share based on the "continuing" efforts at last meeting?

If you're bringing writing (you can just wave it and say you finished it, share it, read it, whatever you'd like) if you want comments please keep it to five pages or fewer, double spaced, 10-12 pt, say six copies (we know Katie isn't going to be there since she's in another state). There will be a little time to set-up the story if it's not the first five pages...

I also finished "On Writing," "How to Sell, then write your nonfiction book," "If you want to write," and I'm hoping to finish Trainspotting. Four of the last four books I've finished reading are on.... Writing.

If you're in a bookstore and have time, I'm thinking about using the last chapter of "Word Work" as a starter piece for the conversation phase.

Melissa - Please bring that book of writing prompts so we can have some kind of exercise.

Bring pens and pencils.

Closure - select next meeting's topic, schedule meeting and location.

My idea for the next meeting -- June 23 -- is "Your body of work, and what it says about you as a writer".

What kind of themes do you like to explore? Are there stories that you like to tell over and over in different ways? Are there certain character types you tend to use? How are they similar to you? different from you? Do you explore your 'dark side' in your stories? Your 'light side'? How do the kinds of stories you wrote when you were younger differ from the ones you write now?

Ah, Bastille Day. The French equivalent of Guy Fawkes' Day. Passe-moi l'ail. (yeah, I don't know how to do a trema in code.)

Meeting topic: Scenes.

Time: 7-9 pm

Place: Coffee Corner / Corner Coffee, you tell me. I have trouble remembering the name of the place.

Exercise –
“12. Two to three pages. Write a dialogue between a father and a daughter. She is looking forward to a trip to Alaska, which he’s promised, provided that she got all As on her finals. However, The father has just lost all his savings gambling that afternoon when she comes home with her transcript. He can’t afford the trip, yet he doesn’t have the heart to tell her. Meanwhile, she got a C in English but forged an A on the transcript. Let him marvel at her improvement in English and ask to see her brilliant essay on honesty; and let her keep evading his request, asking about Alaska and going about her business, packing for the trip.
Objective: To practice constructing dialogue that serves to avoid giving information, to mislead, and to forestall dreaded questions.
Check: Is there a lot of cross-purpose conversation? There should be. Are there irrelevant things said out of context? There should be, like in Christopher Isherwood’s “The Last of Mr. Norris” (page 135). Is there body language to show anxiety? Defensiveness? Faked emotion? Pauses? Ignored questions?”

(you may change these circumstances to suit your mood, but please give the original exercise a try first, except Melissa. If she can get two pages of “My mother Never” continuation out of that...)

Here’s the page 135 bit that’s relevant.

In a scene with dialogue, the words may run contrary to the general meaning of the scene. In the following example – “The Last of Mr. Norris” by Christopher Isherwood – a character, eager to mask his nervousness at a German border crossing, speaks about Greek archaeology quite out of context:

He spoke so loudly that the people in the next compartment must certainly be able to hear him.
“One comes, quite unexpectedly, upon the most fascinating little corners. A single column standing in the middle of a rubbish-heap....”
“Deutche Pass-Kontrolle. All passports, please.”
An official had appeared in the doorway of our compartment. His voice made Mr. Norris give a slight but visible jump. Anxious to allow him time to pull himself together, I hastily offered my own passport. As I had expected, it was barely glanced at.
“I’m traveling to Berlin,” said Mr. Norris, handing over his passport with a charming smile; so charming, indeed, that it seemed a little overdone.”

Bonus exercise – Take a section of some of your narrative summary and turn it into a direct scene. [Stein, How to Grow a Novel might have material on this as well. I think.]

edit: Quick kick to show this thread as current and updated today. Meeting today at 7pm, Corner Coffee.

Topic - Scenes - discussion, reading.