December Meetup

NOTE: THE MEETUP TIME HAS CHANGED FROM 7:00 to 7:30! FOR ALL OF YOU AWESOME PEOPLE WHO ARE EXCITED ENOUGH ABOUT THE GROUP TO SHOW UP EARLY, PLEASE ARRIVE NO SOONER THAN 5 MINUTES, 10 TOPS. AT THE MOMENT, THE MEETUP LOCATION IS A PRIVATE RESIDENCE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION, AND OF COURSE, YOUR ENTHUSIASM! ***Your desire to have monthly "exercises" has paid off! The organizers have folded under your buoyant enthusiasm! Instead of setting aside a separate meetup or workshop for this, we've decided to post an optional "Monthly Exercise" for the regular meetups. If you choose to do the Monthly Exercise for any given meetup, we ask that that be your share time, as it will be considered a substitute for what you normally would have brought to be critiqued. This month's exercise is: WRITE A SHORT STORY IN YOUR FAVORITE GENRE, WITH A THEME YOU'VE NEVER TRIED BEFORE OR SWORE YOU'D NEVER WRITE. For example, if you've only written humorous fantasy, but have never tried dark or serious fantasy, do that. Or, if you've only written terestrial sci-fi, try writing a space opera. Or, if your horrors are the gory-creature type, try writing something entierly psychological. Or. vice versa. Or, you could choose to do one of the exercises from the last several months: 1- write a scene where your protagonist is blind, and must rely on his or her other 4 senses to navigate a sticky situation. (Remember, the key here is 'show' don't 'tell'). 2-"While not the intended effect, the result was surprisingly satisfying." Now write a scene, using this as your first line. (Compliments of the First Line Literary Journal). 3- do a rewrite on the oldest story you've every written (if it's long, chose a scene). 4- sum up your most current novel in one, no more than two sentences. This is called a "PITCH" (or sometimes a "hook"). 5- write a SHORT SYNOPSIS (similar to the blurb found on the back cover of a book) of your most current novel--no more than two paragraphs max, but no shorter than three sentences. 6- write a 3-5 page, double-spaced SYNOPSIS (book report style) of your most current novel. 7- fill out the character spreadsheet--downloadable from the File category in the left-hand column--for the protagonist of your most current story. 8- in a one-liner, poke fun at one or all of your novels, shorts, and/or flash fictions, especially the ones that are dark, serious, and/or complex. An example would be my own novel, Shadow Gate, because, "You know, there's something about government conspiracy that they're just . . . not . . . telling us." !!! 9- write a short story composed of nothing but cliches. 10- "Hello, I am French and I am evil, but my name is not Delacroix." Now write a scene. 11- write an ABC story--every sentence must begin with a subsequent letter of the alphabet, from A to Z. 12- write a short story involving a leprechaun, a sick dragon, and a spaceship without breaks (or any combination of the above). 13- write a para-is-this-normal? love scene. 14- write a scene that starts out with your protagonist(s) either dead or about to die, and write him/her/them out of it. 15- write 10 hook lines. An example would be Linda's all time favorite from The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis): "There once was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." ---------------------------------------------------- Directions to Meghan's Enchanted Hollow of Introspection (from I-5): --Take the 78 East for approximately 7 miles --Exit onto Sycamore Ave and turn RIGHT --Take your first RIGHT onto Thibodo Rd. --Go approximately 1 mile and turn RIGHT into the Monarch at Shadowridge Apartment complex (the gate code is #1776, or you can follow a car through) --Veer RIGHT all the way around the mailboxes (equivalent to 2 right turns) --Take your last LEFT --Arrive at Building 1924