Thursday, January 28, 2016

Writing @ the Library


The Write Now writers have been busy honing their craft. Through the fall, group members discussed characterization. Now the focus has shifted to "showing versus telling" and the next meeting - on Feb. 3 at 7 pm- will continue on that topic.

"Show, don't tell." That's advice editors often give to writers. But what does it mean in practical terms? Carol Henry, the "fearless leader" of Write Now, is sharing what she's learned through the process of writing seven novels. What writers want to do is "show" characters moving through a scene or interacting with others. Or even dealing with a problem.

 For the February meeting, Carol is bringing an original manuscript with editorial comments. She'll share examples of where the editor noted "telling" and how the text was changed to "show" the action.

Writers in the group will be bringing scenes in their own writing to see how they can change it to more active language. This will be an open discussion for people to share and learn from each other, so bring work in progress. Future meeting topics include discussion of "point of view" and, says Carol, whatever topics members in the group want to work on.

Meetings are the first Wednesday of each month at 7 pm at the back table. Bring your pencils and notebooks and whatever you're working on - whether it's poetry or mystery or nonfiction or ....