next meeting - november 1st at 7pm

The next meeting of the Downtown Writers Group is scheduled for Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 7:00pm, at the DLANC Outreach Center at 450 S. Main Street (between 5th and Winston Streets), Los Angeles, 90013, next to the Regent Theater.

This week we have two screenplays and a short story to review, as well as new members and a guest to welcome, so it should be a lively meeting.

Please consider joining us if you are an emerging or professional writer, are interested in meeting other downtown writers, or are interested in participating in a peer-reviewed writing group.

If you have a work-in-progress that you would like feedback on, please bring copies.

When: Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 7pm

Where:
DLANC Outreach Center
450 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013


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hand-off, mini-meeting, and good press

I hope you've been writing, because this Thursday is the due date for submitting material for review during our next meeting. We weren't able to fully review two screenplays from our last meeting, so this Thursday will also serve as a mini-meeting where we can discuss and review Brady's and Kristin's screenplays. Map and directions to the meeting venue are below.

To facilitate discussion between our members, at least online, I established a Google group, a private mailing list so that we can email questions, critiques, announcements, etc. to the group. Our web address for the Downtown Writers Google Group is http://groups.google.com/group/downtown-writers-group. If you're already a member (I emailed out the invitations moments ago), then you can email the group using this address: downtown-writers-group(at)googlegroups(dot)com

If you get a chance, read Steve Lopez's article in the LA Times about one of the members of the Downtown Writers Group, Brady Westwater. We discuss Brady's screenplay this Thursday, so please make sure you've read it and have your notes ready!

What: Downtown Writers Group Hand-Off and Mini-Meeting

When: October 18, 2007 at 7pm

Where:
DLANC Outreach Center
450 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013


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next meeting - october 4th at 7pm

The next meeting of the Downtown Writers Group is scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, October 4, 2007 at 7:00pm, at the DLANC Outreach Center at 450 S. Main Street (between 5th and Winston Streets), Los Angeles, 90013, next to the Regent Theater.

Just a reminder, we have four screenplays to discuss. If you have scripts in your possession (I hope you've read them), be ready to share your suggestions, critiques, and questions. I've read all the scripts - there's a lot of good stuff here - and am readying my notes, I hope you are too.

Please consider joining us if you are an emerging or professional writer, are interested in meeting other downtown writers, or are interested in participating in a peer-reviewed writing group.

If you have a work-in-progress that you would like feedback on, please bring copies.

When: October 4, 2007 at 7pm

Where:
DLANC Outreach Center
450 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013


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there goes half my novel

E. E. Knight has posted a list of 20 genre writing sins to his blog. He writes:

"It's amazing how many of the same mistakes you see over and over again. Different authors, same flaws.

Anyway, here's a list of errors I (and some editors I know) see over, and over, and over again, ad desperandum. Plus a few that maybe just bug me."

I especially like:

2. Logorrhea: Having something between two and a dozen words pull the weight of one. I can't tell you how often I read stuff like "Thinking back on her past, she remembered her childhood of twenty years ago, when as a six-year-old..."
and:

16. Plot on rails: Too often amateur writing sets up what the protagonist has to accomplish at the beginning of the story and sticks to that right to the end. That may work for some shorts, but in a novel you want events to move the goalposts. It allows the character to discover what she or the world really needs, rather than what was thought at the beginning. Remember, Frodo didn't set out from Bag End thinking he'd have to go to Mount Doom, he was just trying to get the ring out of the Shire and meet Gandalf. A story is not a baseball game, objectives and rewards can change with the character and situation. Go watch Run Lola Run if you don't believe me.