 PENS OF PRAISE
CHRISTIAN WRITERS GROUP Tuesday, July 21, 2020 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. We will meet on ZOOM. Email me at susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com. I will send you the invitation that you need to join the meeting. The topic this month Free For All will allow those attending to share our latest works in progress and knowledge that will be utterly inspiring, if I know all of you! PROMPT: Summer brilliance. Inspired readers given excellent take-away = return readers! We are a safe place to share, and Pens Meetings are free. As always, if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact: Rebecca McLafferty @ rebeccamclafferty@gmail.com or Susan Marlene@ susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com
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 CLASSICS & WHAT MAKES THEM by Susan Marlene
Classic – 1. Of the first or highest class or rank: a classic piece of work. 2. Serving as a standard, model, or guide: the classic method of teaching arithmetic. Just to name a few: Fiction -- Ben Hur by Lew Wallace; In His Steps WHAT WOULD JESUS DO by Charles M. Sheldon; Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens; the Bogart movie, Casablanca; or anything by Charlotte & Emily Brontë. Non-Fiction—Webster’s Dictionary; MY UTMOST for HIS HIGHEST by Oswald Chambers; SELF-EDITING for FICTION WRITERS by Renni Browne and Dave King; or BATTLEFIELD OF THE MIND by Joyce Meyer. (Just to name a few.) Let’s name some other favorites. Discussion! What grabs your attention strongly enough to purchase a fiction or non-fiction book or movie? What do you want to learn? What is important to you? Write down your thoughts. Remember--The brain uses stories to simulate how we might navigate difficult situations in the future. “there seems to be a reward system that allows us to enjoy good fiction, implies that there is a benefit to fictional experience.”1 Let’s unpack what some of those attractive qualities are. What do they look like? How do these emotionally charged reveals impact our writing? For fiction and non-fiction. Discussion and note taking. Survival – (Everything from 007 danger to social acceptance at an Amish bake sale to how to techniques.) Secrets – What happens next. (Will we be surprised or overrun or what?) What is the antagonist & protagonist’s goal? (When so I see this?) Or what is the purpose of the non-fiction book? (Protagonist) Desiring an unchangeable day-after-day existence but conflict comes and change is inevitable? But what of it? Why should the character care? Why should the reader care? How much conflict is necessary and believable for your story type? Or disaster happens—what does the reader want to learn from your pages? How to improve your aim for landing your valuable thoughts with focus and power on your written pages:
One author explained why he wrote about intriguing individuals. Specifically, these are stories of individuals who were drawn into pivotal situations within their respective cultures, times, and geographies. I’ve emphasized the following elements about their lives: personal integrity, universally valued criteria, the influences and interdependencies of change and choice, a broad historical timeframe, and simple—yet inspiring—insights into ordinary, mostly unknown men and woman. People whose deeds are worthy of our attention and emulation because they have left us a legacy of unselfishness, not one of domination, self—aggrandizement, or capitulation.2 1Neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga quote. WIRED FOR STORY by Lisa Cron, pg. 167 2 UNCOMMON CHARACTERS--STORIES OF ORDINARY MEN AND WOMEN WHO DID THE EXTRAORDINARY by Douglas Feavel, Located in the Prologue. WELCOME TO PENS OF PRAISE CHRISTIAN WRITERS GROUP
Tuesday, June 16, 2020 Meeting at Pat’s house. Conntact me for directions. Prayer - Sarah Grosskopf Introductions for new guests. Pass around the sign-in sheet. Devotion-- Pat Klein GRAMMAR TIDBIT--What those attending what to discover in WRITE WITH EXCELLENCE 201 by Joyce K. Ellis The topic this month CLASSICS & WHAT MAKES THEM by Susan Marlene, will cause us to expand our thinking so that we can use techniques that bring zing to our writings! Non-fiction and fiction alike will benefit. We hope to see you there! PROMPT: Bring your latest work or something you admire! ANNOUNCEMENTS: Write to Publish https://www.facebook.com/WritetoPublishConference/ This Facebook page has a listing of several apps to improve writer’s writing! Northwestern Christian Writers Conference, http://www.northwesternchristianwritersconference.com/ July 24 – 25, 2020 Virtual Zoom meeting info: https://www.northwesternchristianwritersconference.com/register.html www.grammarly.com free download https://www.loc.gov/about/ Library of Congress website TheFamily.net WEMI FM
Inspired reader = happy reader + excellent take-away = return reader! God’s abundant blessings to you as you write for His glory!  PENS OF PRAISE
CHRISTIAN WRITERS GROUP Tuesday, June 16, 2020 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. We will meet at Pat’s house. For directions please contact me at susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com, or dklein5473@cs.com. We will send you the information needed to join the meeting. For those wising to maintain social distance we can connect with you on Hangouts! Use your gmail for this! The topic this month CLASSICS & WHAT MAKES THEM by Susan Marlene, will cause us to expand our thinking so that we can use techniques that bring zing to our writings! Non-fiction and fiction alike will benefit. We hope to see you there! PROMPT: Bring your latest work or something you admire! Inspired readers given excellent take-away = return readers! We are a safe place to share, and Pens Meetings are free. As always, if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact Becky McLafferty @ rebeccamclafferty@gmail.com or Susan Marlene@ susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com Looking purposefully at the tags in some novels I’ve recently read expanded my view of that mere use of “he said and she said”. What I discovered while investigating some favorite authors is that tags are like an exquisite paint brush poised to dip into oodles of color choices which can aide your readers enjoyment for deeper and more satisfying experience. What is a tag? Dialogue tags are the words used after a character has spoken, such as "he said," and "she whispered." ... Dialogue tags are very important as they're used to show which character is speaking at any given time. http://www.fiction-writers-mentor.com/dialogue-tags/ Dialogue tags are like punctuation marks - they should be invisible, guiding the ... What about when “said” just doesn't convey the precise meaning you're after? What is so important about them? Beyond identifying the characters I see them used to anchor the reader to the scene. What is the character doing or thinking, etc.? For example: using a tool, eating a carrot, dropping a book in a super silent library? See what I mean! How do we write effective tags that don’t pull you out of the story? Take out a paper and pen and list the ways these tags are used, please. (If you were not able to attend this Zoom you can grab your favorite novel and list the uses for the tags from those favorites. BIBLE TAGS: Matthew 26:26 – 39—Jesus at the Lord’s supper and later at Gethsemane. How many ways were the tags used in these verses? Examples are read from Veiled in Smoke by Jocelyn Green, pages 146 -147; The Lacemaker by Laura Frantz, Page 131- 132; Knox by Susan May Warren page 103. You can see that word choice matters. Be careful to not be too dramatic, off topic, or unrelated to the mood or emotion at hand. Use tags to dress your message for your readers in a way that will assist their grasp of time, backdrop, mood, danger, and character observation and insight (right or wrong) to create eventful and memorable stories! To-Do Activity: Hopefully we all worked on our prompt. If not, we can write some emotional references now. PROMPT: Write four or five samples of your favorite emotion. (Distraught, overjoyed, anxious, delighted—just to name a few.) Write these examples very basic – plain. Write them again but dress them up and make each one special by adding description or adding your unique spin on that emotion. On page 211 of Troubleshooting Your Novel, Steven James writes, “Unless there is overwhelming contextual reason to reverse the order, speaker tags follow the name or personal pronoun of the speaker.” Personally, I’ve enjoyed the tags that came on either end of the dialogue. (Sue) Following is an example I came up with. A man stepped into the room. “I told the flower shop owner that you stole the flowers.” “How could you?” She blushed. Or… Unkempt as always, Fredric stepped into the room. Cigar smoke trailed in from behind. His ripped pant legs were rimmed with dirt. “I told the flower shop owner that you stole the flowers.” “How could you?” Georgina’s face bloomed as red as Aunt Peach’s Rosa ‘Ingrid Bergmans’ as their thorns pinched her finger behind her back. ACTIVITY: Just for fun, if you wrote to the prompt then lets use those samples to create some practice “tagged dialogues.” The Footnotes or No Notes section of this lesson will include the citation notes of endnotes and other source citations. There are some important facts to learn such as: proper formatting and how citations are handled in the same type of document that you wish to publish. I found outstanding information in WRITE WITH EXCELLENCE 201, A lighthearted guide to the serious matter of wiring well—for Christian authors, editors, and students, by Joyce K. Ellis, pages 181 – 185 and she includes where, when, and how to cite sources as well as other books used by magazines and publishers for punctuation and formatting acceptable rules. Footnotes—books and some magazines use those. Endnote or notes are used at the end of articles or of chapters or end of a book. Let’s talk about what you wish to know here on our Zoom meeting! I have these books at the ready to investigate how they share their sources for research. NON-FICTION: Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger,--A Note on Sources; Original Intent, The Courts, The Constitution, and Religion by David Barton—several devises to record sources. It Couldn’t Just Happen, Fascinating Facts About God’s World by Lawrence O. Richards—Notes in the back; The Oracle, The Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled by Jonathan Cahn—Notes in the back; FICTION Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan (Aneko Press)—Bible verses in italics with use of parentheses and abbreviated scripture verses in the body of the story. Excellent resource on punctuation for dialogue tags! https://sandragerth.com/how-to-punctuate-dialogue-tags-and-action-beats-correctly/  PENS OF PRAISE CHRISTIAN WRITERS GROUP
Tuesday, MAY 19, 2020 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Zoom Conference Anyone wishing to attend, please contact me at susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com. I will send you the information needed to join the meeting. You must do so before noon on Tuesday, May 19th. So, in essence the meeting is held at your home - USA Your couch or chair. Your choice of refreshments from your fridge--still no running to Kathy’s house for treats! 😊 Susan Marlene will share To Tag or Not to Tag & Footnotes or No Notes for the topic this month. Let’s enter the wonderful world of tagging dialogue for your novel or memoir together! Also included are those nuggets of whatever she can dig up on that almost forgotten art of adding footnotes to your nonfiction projects. I’m sure that many writers are taking advantage of extra time at home to pen encouragement, how-to, or fiction amid this pandemic. When it is in your power to lift another—what will you say? How will you say it? PROMPT: Write four or five samples of your favorite emotion. (Distraught, overjoyed, anxious, delighted—just to name a few.) Write these examples very basic – plain. Write them again but dress them up and make each one special by adding description or adding your unique spin on that emotion. I will send the lesson materials to our Pens of Praise group. If anyone else would like this information pre-meeting, please request To Tag or Not to Tag & Footnotes or No Notes at susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com Inspired readers given excellent take-away = return readers! We are a safe place to share, and Pens Meetings are free. As always, if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact Becky McLafferty @ rebeccamclafferty@gmail.com or Susan Marlene@ susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com “ENCOURAGING PUZZLE PIECES” is the topic this month. Rebecca McLafferty and Susan Marlene are team teaching on writing encouragement in the midst of a pandemic. When our lives are altered what can we do to lift others from their doldrums? We will all have time to share our pieces of the puzzle.
PROMPT: Something encouraging during the pandemic – you choose the title and focus for your genre. Where would you send your piece of encouragement? (Words you can use if you want them: doldrums, frustrations, pluck, valor, strife, victorious) Have you ever worked on a 1000-piece puzzle that seemed impossible? One that didn’t hold boldly varied colors and angles but only a misty blending of similar swirling tones and non-defined shapes? Sometimes that is how life feels. We can’t seem to make sense of the trials and limitations that bind us to our homes or circumstances. That’s why it is so beneficial to be a writer. Writing offers sweet release. Let’s consider this more thoroughly. Have you discovered that focusing on others when sharing the lessons you’ve learned through a painful trauma somehow takes a portion of the sting away? To have a purpose—a goal—to make stronger or wiser those who may experience the same stressful situations can be quite soothing—for them and for you. I start with prayer! There is such a big bad world out there, with many needy people who are looking for entertainment, guidance, hope, comfort, and encouragement. So, I suggest that we begin by picking who we wish to reach. Pre-school, grade-schoolers, Jr. High, High school, or adults? The elderly? Now narrow this down to educated with some college, or high school proficiency? Uneducated- who needs more straightforward wording and more photos or artwork? How about those with hobbies such as fishing, travel, cooking, sewing, biking, camping, etc. the list goes on. Once you choose the who, then decide what you wish to communicate? Will you teach something worthwhile or entertain them? Even with fiction, there is problem-solving demonstrated that the reader examines to see if they can apply the hero’s techniques so that they can win in their lives. The drive to survive is powerful, and we search for ways to become stronger or wiser when difficulties descend upon us. That is what our minds do— they are always searching for survival and to be empowered and successful. Now you need to know where. Yes, where can you write this fantastic stuff that will benefit the world or even a small tribe of readers? I suggest that you look to writing for your political party, historical societies, newspapers or examine the Christian Writers Market Guide for short stories, periodicals, or self-publishers or traditional publishers. Outline your ideas. Take your pen in hand and write down your first thought. Draw a line out from that central idea and add another and then the next and the next. I’m sure a plan will develop right before your eyes. We often wait until we have it all in our brains before we start. But I say just start and see what your minds come up with! During this pandemic, I chose to write a book/author review on a Bible study that I want people to know about. YOUR BEAUTIFUL PURPOSE by Susie Larson reaches down into our hearts because she is vulnerable and transparent, and her own healing relationship with the Lord shines through. Her giving of her self and how she connected with the Lord through tremendous trials gave the people in our Bible study group hope. Hope in the middle of trials and discouragement. That we would walk in courage and His Truth during our separate trials and pain. I didn’t sell this. I offered it freely on my website, but I probably could have. There is no shame in that. Selling our work will reach different readers. Particular “apples of gold in settings of silver” ways of sharing are: Humorous cards to encourage the downtrodden. Poetry for someone—whatever the situation—happy, sad, or in-between. Letters or notes of appreciation for who others have been to you! All of these examples present encouragement that you may offer. Assisting others to put their puzzle pieces together for those in need of comedy, direction, courage, or truth among other worthy topics! What writing have you been working on? If you’ve not started on a project nipping at your mind, what venue are interested in? Can we offer suggestions for you to aim your though like an arrow so that you can hit your bullseye? Let’s share what we are working on or what we wish to—if you want to! I can look through the Christian Writers Market Guide to see if we can find your target location! I highly suggest getting one of these books for yourself for they are very helpful!  PENS OF PRAISE
CHRISTIAN WRITERS GROUP APRIL 21, 2020 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Zoom Conference zoom.us You need to set up your account with zoom ahead of time because it takes a few steps. I, Susan, took photos of the most of the steps and will share those if you need them. Just email me at susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com. Meeting Held at Your Home - USA Your couch or chair. Your choice of refreshments from your fridge—no running to Kathy’s house for treats! 😊 “ENCOURAGING PUZZLE PIECES” is the topic this month. Rebecca McLafferty and Susan Marlene are team teaching on writing encouragement in the midst of a pandemic. When our lives are altered what can we do to lift others from their doldrums? We will all have time to share our pieces of the puzzle. PROMPT: Something encouraging during the pandemic – you choose the title and focus for your genre. Where would you send your piece of encouragement? (Words you can use if you want them: doldrums, frustrations, pluck, valor, strife, victorious) Rebecca and I will send the lesson materials to our Pens of Praise group. If anyone else would like this information please request APRIL LESSONS for ENCOURAGING PUZZLE PIECES at susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com A note from Sue Fink, . Please continue to pray for comfort for Roger Smith and his family whose 40 year old son died unexpectedly. 2ndly I am doing research for (Lord willing) a book on balancing self care with serving others. I would welcome and appreciate any comments, questions, personal experiences from our group on this subject. Inspired readers given excellent take-away = return readers! We are a safe place to share and Pens Meetings are free. As always, if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact Becky McLafferty @ rebeccamclafferty@gmail.com or Susan Marlene@ susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com  Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, we are not holding our monthly meeting, which we had already delayed for a week. This is an excellent opportunity for us to write more, or if you have Gmail, we could hold a meeting on Google Hangouts. (If you have up to ten people, this is a free service!)
Another alternative is that we write to a prompt and share those offerings with each other via group email. How about writing about resourcefulness! I look forward to hearing from you! I already miss you! I know that we are collectively praying for this emergency to be resolved quickly. Please pray for those in authority over us, for their health and stamina and wisdom. I appreciate that I’m not at the helm, making such important decisions for our great nation. So, until we meet again, I will look for your emails with devotions, short stories or plays on resourcefulness!  Here is my portion of the lesson from our February PENS OF PRAISE meeting. I have included Sarah Grosskopf's website link at the bottom of my post so that you can visit her excellent contrbution for that lesson also! “HOW Did THAT Get into MY Manuscript?” Bloopers, errors, and wacky information…Have you finished a writing project only to find problems that could have been avoided? Let’s explore some positive avoidance methods: List of characters chart—including looks, traits, talents: Chapter by Chapter (This lists Physical location and time and what major happenings, setbacks, and victories the character or characters’ have per chapter.  Timeline: Have you ever had to chase down wayward actions of your character? How about mix-ups or confusion on important detail(s) of your character(s)? I’ve decided to use timelines and charts religiously in future so that I can keep track of who did what-when-how- why- etc. and who they were with and when. Where they are at and what is their goal and hurtful lie to overcome and their dream to aspire to. Etc. etc. Example of a basic timeline that can be embellished as the story builds: Main characters for the timeline example: Character #1 Redford comes to town. Place of his biggest failure. Redford discovers a body and is suspicious of 3 different people. Redford travels to England in search of a major clue. Redford returns to Manitowoc in time to save his love interest from being murdered. Character # 2: Tom meets with Redford at the Lake where Redford’s girlfriend drowned years ago. Tom hides information about the murder he and Robert committed from Redford to protect himself. Tom travels to England in search of information. Tom returns to Manitowoc in search of a woman he is looking for related to the murder. A woman who Redford feels responsible for. Character #3 Robert sees Redford and Tom and talks to them Robert discovers the body and is suspicious of 3 different people Whoops wrong person! :0 Instead, Robert hides the body and barely gets away Robert flees to England and takes evidence about his accomplice for blackmail Robert escapes Redford and takes the first plane back to Milwaukee to kill his accomplice. A grammar check: Grammarly.com Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon - Debra shares the chart that can organize these critical pieces of story. She offers examples too. Quite the valuable how-to guide for writers of fiction! You will not wish to miss Sarah Grosskopf's teaching! https://sarahgrosskopf.com/resources/ Editing Fiction: Avoiding Bloopers, Errors, and Wacky Information |
Words are not just words. They are thoughts and inspiration that have been behind every relationship and every deed--good or bad throughout time. If you have that burning desire to communicate and explore, come peruse my pages, teachings, and short stories. Allow inspiration to anchor your dreams on the written pages of memoirs, devotions, poems, or stories, both short or long! Luxuriate in the creativity you were born to share! Archives
July 2020
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