http://fictionalauthors.com/ Fictional Authors » Recent Posts en Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:20:03 +0000 http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/march-meeting-1#post-158 Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:40:43 +0000 tomlitton 158@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I also won't be able to make it on Saturday, and i'm not sure about Sunday. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/march-meeting-1#post-157 Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:59:06 +0000 Dale 157@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Sorry I did not reply sooner. Also sorry to say I am unavailable on Saturday, and Sunday is iffy.</p> <p>Dale </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/march-meeting-1#post-156 Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:29:29 +0000 Alison 156@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>April 17th is a Saturday, April 18th is a Sunday, which do people prefer?</p> <p>And for the record, I WON MY KATA DIVISION AT THE TOURNAMENT! There were only 2 of us in my division, but I still won. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/march-meeting-1#post-155 Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:59:09 +0000 tomlitton 155@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>So, get together in April to talk about Feb's story? April 17th, or 18th, or some other date? </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/march-meeting-1#post-154 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:59:39 +0000 Alison 154@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Paul and I, and Jim will be at a karate tournament on Saturday, which would have been our meeting date. I've been distracted with preparing for the tournament and didn't arrange anything else, sorry guys.</p> <p>I have a story from last time, and 2/3 of a new story done too that I'd really like feedback on. I do like the face to face meetings though. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/march-meeting-1#post-153 Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:24:40 +0000 tomlitton 153@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>We never discussed the last assignment, so we can get together and talk about it, then decide on April's???</p> <p>Was there any consensus on the date and time for our meetings in general?</p> <p>There is also the option of being more virtual. We could post our stuff here or on one of the free blog sites. There is also the option of meeting in an IM chat room. I would still like to get together (in person) once a month, but it would ease the burdon for people that can't always make it. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/march-meeting-1#post-152 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:46:29 +0000 Dale 152@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Greetings,</p> <p>Was there discussion of when / where the March meeting will be held? And was there any sort of activity to prepare for it?</p> <p>Thanks,<br /> Dale </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/meetings-dates-times#post-150 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:31:48 +0000 Paul 150@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Sundays of the month are generally free for me in the afternoon. (I have a standing booking on 4th and 5th Sundays of a month). Saturdays are almost always free.</p> <p>Alison has something on Tuesday evenings, but mine are almost always free until 8pm, if we ever wanted to do something then. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/meetings-dates-times#post-149 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:25:23 +0000 Dale 149@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Our group was quite small last time. I hope it's bigger in Feb in my absense and going forward. As you guys might discuss the March schedule during the Feb meeting, here's my input:</p> <p>If we remain such a small group, I think three people missing would justify moving the date. Selfishly that date isn't good for me either.</p> <p>And again if we're a small crowd, I don't think it's unreasonable to consider even one regular member, although we might lose more if we switch to Sundays. </p> <p>For myself, either Saturday or Sunday afternoons are generally available, and planning ahead will help me.</p> <p>I am available the second or forth Saturday in March at this time, or any Sunday.</p> <p>Dale </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/meetings-dates-times#post-148 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:48:15 +0000 Dale 148@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I did not want to further clutter the February meeting thread with plans for March and maybe beyond.</p> <p>There was discussion of third Saturdays 2-4, in general.</p> <p>There was mention that Paul, Ali and maybe Jim would miss a third Saturday meeting in March (3/20) unless we rescheduled it for a different Saturday.</p> <p>A question was asked "Are Saturdays good?" and Jen indicated she works every other Saturday.</p> <p>Discuss! </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/february-the-crooked-tree#post-147 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:30:34 +0000 ZenWriter 147@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Saturdays are rough for me since I'm working 2 jobs, and the 2nd is every other Saturday. Sunday would be better for me, personally, but if Sat is good for everyone else I'll just make it whenever I can.</p> <p>Jen </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/february-the-crooked-tree#post-146 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:40:45 +0000 Alison 146@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Yes, we're aiming for third Saturday.</p> <p>However, third Saturday in March I will be competing in my first ever karate tournament, so either Paul and I won't make it (and possibly Jim too), or we switch for March.</p> <p>Do Saturdays work for everyone? </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/february-the-crooked-tree#post-145 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:58:07 +0000 Dale 145@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Regrets, I will miss this one. I need to put all of these in my calendar so I don't make other committments. Will it generally be the third Saturday of each month, 2-4:00 PM? </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/february-the-crooked-tree#post-144 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:26:48 +0000 ZenWriter 144@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I don't have to work that Saturday, so I should make this one. Look forward to seeing you all!!</p> <p>Jen (jsights on NaNo forums...registered here last year with a different user name for whatever crazy reason) </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/february-the-crooked-tree#post-143 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:23:02 +0000 InjunJoe 143@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I'll be there with copies of something, and my wife is participating in this one as well. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/february-the-crooked-tree#post-142 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:49:50 +0000 Alison 142@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I'm going to try this as another semi-unplotted story like the Stephen King exercise. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/february-the-crooked-tree#post-141 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:14:19 +0000 Paul 141@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>We pulled a story starter from <strong>Lou Willett Stanek's book "Story Starters"</strong> as a writing exercise to do, that we'll share and discuss next time we meet.</p> <blockquote><p>He had given your character a key but insisted that she call before coming over. One night she was in his neighbourhood and, on a whim, she stopped by. </p></blockquote> <p>Feel free to switch genders around, and aim for something of short-story length (max of a couple of thousand words I'd say). </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/january-16th-crooked-tree#post-140 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 08:10:55 +0000 Alison 140@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Tigger, please come! Prepared or not, we'd love to see you. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/january-16th-crooked-tree#post-139 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:34:58 +0000 tptigger 139@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>There's a meeting tomorrow (OK, Dale told me that on Wed), and there's HOMEWORK? *kerthud*<br /> Um, is it worse to skive off or to come unprepared? </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/january-16th-crooked-tree#post-138 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:28:58 +0000 Dale 138@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I have written something in response to the exercise and printed copies. I plan to be at the meeting. However, I now expect to be a little late. My little dog is having some issues, and the only time the vet was availalble was just before our meeting. If it goes quick and I hurry, I might be almost on time. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/january-16th-crooked-tree#post-137 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:52:08 +0000 Alison 137@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Yes, do the exercise, and swap when we meet. I have an idea, and I'm trying not to plot the thing out ahead of the writing time. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/january-16th-crooked-tree#post-136 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:36:01 +0000 Paul 136@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>How does it make sense to do this exercise? I lean toward doing it in our own time, and arriving with something in-hand as it will give us something to read, and talk about, plus we can talk about how we felt it went, pros/cons etc. Anyone have objections? </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/january-16th-crooked-tree#post-135 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:21:57 +0000 tomlitton 135@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I'm planning on going. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/january-16th-crooked-tree#post-134 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:42:35 +0000 Paul 134@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>From the book:</p> <blockquote><p>Everyone is familiar with the basic details of the folllowing story; with small variations it seems to pop up in the 'police beat' section of local newspapers ever week or so. A woman - call her Jane - marries a man who is bright, witty and pulsing with sexual magnetism. We'll call the guy Dick. Unfortunately Dick has a dark side. He's short tempered, a control freak, perhaps even (you'll find out as he speaks and acts) a paranoid streak. Jane tries hard to overlook Dick's faults and make the marriage work (why she tries so hard is something you will also find out; she will come onstage and tell you). They have a child, and for a while things seem better. THen, when the little girl is three or so, the abuse and jealous tirades begin again. The abuse is verbal at first, then physical. Dick is convinced that Jane is sleeping with someone, perhaps someone from her job. Is it someone specific? I dont know and dont care. Eventually Dick will may tell you who he suspects. If he does, we'll both know, wont we?</p> <p>At last poor Jane cant take it any more and divorces Dick, gets custody of the daugter but Dick continues to stalk her. Jane responds with a restraining order. Finally after an incident which you will write in vivid and scary detail - a public beating perhaps - Richard is arrested and jailed. All this is backstory. How you work it in, and how much you work in, is up to you. In any case, its not the situation. What follows is the situation.</p> <p>One day shortly after Dick's incarceration, Jane picks up her daughter from day-care and ferries her to a friend's house for a birthday party. Jane then takes herself home looking forward to a few hours of rest. Its a big house she's going to, despite being a young unmarried, working mother. How she came by the house and why she has the afternoon off the story will tell you (perhaps the house belongs to her parents; perhaps she is house sitting; perhaps something else entirely).</p> <p>As she lets herself in, something pings at her, something that makes her uneasy. She tells herself it's just nerves, a little fall-out from her 5-year hell of living with Dick, who's under lock and key after all. Before taking a nap, Jane decides to have cup of herbal tea and watch the news. The lead item is a shocker: three men escaped from the city jail, killing a guard in the process. Two were re-captured but the third is still at large. None of the prisoners were identified but Jane (sitting in her empty house) knows without a shadow of a doubt that one of them was Dick. She knows because she has finally pinned down the ping of unease she felt - it was the smell of Vitalis hair tonic - Dick's hair tonic.</p> <p>What I want you to do in this exercise is to change the sexes of the antagonist and protagonist before beginning to work out the narrative - make the ex-wife the stalker (and perhaps it's a mental institution and not the city jail she's escaped from) and the husband the victim. Narrate this without plotting - let the situation and that one unexpected inversion carry you along. I predict you will succeed swimmingly ... if, that is, you are honest about how your characters speak and behave.</p> </blockquote> <p>I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone makes of this! </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/january-16th-crooked-tree#post-133 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:09:57 +0000 InjunJoe 133@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I'm in!</p> <p>And an extra special thanks to Paul and Alison for keeping this going for the last three years and again to Paul for the discussion sight and domain. You guys rock! </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/january-16th-crooked-tree#post-132 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:07:02 +0000 Alison 132@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Let's kick off our 2010 at the Crooked Tree, 2pm till 4pm.</p> <p>There's a great exercise in Stephen King's "On Writing" p170-173, he gives a premise, a required scene, and a starting point, you have to write 5-6 pages WITHOUT PLOTTING FIRST. I think that would be a cool exercise to work through.</p> <p>So, who's coming? What are you working on? Did you write "The End" on your 2009 NaNo yet? </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/post-nano-2009#post-131 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:19:37 +0000 Paul 131@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Let me take these questions in a very rough kind of order:</p> <p><strong>1) So what's going on? </strong></p> <p>Fictional Authors will begin meeting again in January once the collected hangover from Christmas &#38; New Years has cleared. Aiming for the middle of the month.</p> <p><strong>2) Who's planning? </strong></p> <p>Planning to attend? I dont know. The goal was to get the TGIO out of the way and to post to the Missouri::St Louis forum about things.</p> <p><strong>3) When is Paul updating this site? </strong></p> <p>When Paul gets some time to himself to look at it. We will be moving to an entirely new version of bbPress, and updating the theme. Poking around in the database has shown that the "private messaging" feature isn't being used so that will go bye-bye. Hopefully the upgrade will preserve all of the existing posts and user accounts, but don't freak out if you arrive and there's an entirely blank forum - just re-register and run with it.</p> <p><strong>4) Are we meeting at the Crooked Tree? </strong></p> <p>First meeting in the middle of January was planned to be the Crooked Tree since we love the place so much.</p> <p><strong>5) When are we meeting? </strong></p> <p>My guess, <em>Sunday, January 10th at 2:00pm</em>.</p> <p><strong>6) Will Denise join us? </strong></p> <p>No clue, but we ought to invite her!</p> <p><strong>7) Will any of the new folks from this year be coming? </strong></p> <p>If I post to the official forums, they might turn up... we shall see.</p> <p><strong>8) Who is the badass looking chick holding the shovel on Facebook? </strong></p> <p>I don't know, but she looks hot ... do you think she'll go out with me?</p> <p><strong>9) Will my freaking condo sell?</strong></p> <p>There's sell and there's <em>sell</em> - I'll give you $20 for the place. That's a sale! :-) </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/post-nano-2009#post-130 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:40:13 +0000 InjunJoe 130@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>So what's going on? Who's planning? When is Paul updating this site? Are we meeting at the Crooked Tree? When are we meeting? Will Denise join us? Will any of the new folks from this year be coming? Who is the badass looking chick holding the shovel on Facebook? Will my freaking condo sell? </p> <p>Tune in again for answers to these and far more important questions at an unspecified time after I hit enter on this post. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/ah-hah#post-122 Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:58:07 +0000 SpongeJim 122@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Actually, I might not be able to make it, but I'll try to stop by </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/ah-hah#post-121 Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:59:59 +0000 SpongeJim 121@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I am planning on being there. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/ah-hah#post-120 Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:39:06 +0000 Alison 120@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I asked her to put it on the calendar two days ago, she hasn't logged in to the NaNo site since then so I've put it on as a thread. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/ah-hah#post-119 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:34:17 +0000 Paul 119@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Chatted briefly to Jen (our ML) - she cant make it that day to join us, but she has no problem with getting this onto the Missouri::St Louis calendar if we want to publicize it. </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/ah-hah#post-118 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:54:24 +0000 Alison 118@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>I'm putting this out as a firm arrangement:</p> <p><strong>October 10th<br /> Crooked Tree Coffee House<br /> 2pm</strong></p> <p>Any takers? </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/ah-hah#post-114 Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:05:53 +0000 Alison 114@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>OK, so that's a vote for Sat 10th. And it seems the Nano forum is also after a pre kick-off meet, do we want to combine? </p> http://fictionalauthors.com/topic/ah-hah#post-113 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:14:11 +0000 Dale 113@http://fictionalauthors.com/ <p>Well I said "suggest a date" and now I have a conflict, can't do the 11th. I could do the Saturday the 10th. And, we can have more then one meeting. And / or use this forum to exchange ideas and build excitement. </p>