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NEWSLETTER
AUGUST 2017
DUES NOTICES
Please pay your dues in the month noted.
Failure to renew means you cannot read
or critique at meetings. Those with un-
paid dues prior to July can’t participate.
SEPTEMBER Michael Corcione, John Davidson,
Nancy Federick, Sara Im, Linda Peno, Lee Summerall, David Wood
AUGUST
Bill Boden, Linda Mahnke,
Pam Stewart
JULY Nani Freeman, Warren Wilson
ANNUAL DUES ARE $50.00, but any amount over that is welcome. Pay by cash or check. You can mail your check , payable to Pinellas Writers, to Treasurer, Pinellas Writers, 5272 Colony Point Drive S, St Petersburg FL 33705
SPRING 2018 CLASSES
The roster for classes will be finalized in September. If you hav e a writing– or publishing-connected area of expertise
and would like to share with fellow members, please contact Lee Summerall, [email protected] to discuss details
AUGUST MODERATORS
AUGUST 5: Judy Hunt
AUGUST 12: Mike Corcione
AUGUST 19: Anne Younger
AUGUST 26: Judy Hunt
SEPT 2: Lee Summerall
Friendly Reminder: In the interest of a smoothly-running meeting, please do not speak or comment if you haven’t been called on by the Moderator.
Inspiration is for ama-teurs. The rest of us just show up for work.
—Attributed to artist Chuck Close
Most people don’t realize that writing is
a craft. You have to take your apprentice-
ship in it like anything else.
—Katherine Anne Porter
WELCOME!
Information for Welcome! is lifted from
your membership application. The more in-
formation we have, the better your bio.
A warm welcome to our new members:, who have
already read in meetings
Patrick Whalen. Patrick, an enthusiastic scuba diver,
writes suspense under the name of Patrick Wayland
and is working on an underwater thriller .
Richard Dimberio has two novels published, one sci-
fi and the other historical. His WIP is a spy-political
thriller. He’s been writing since retirement.
COMING TO A
LIBRARY
NEAR YOU
LARGO LIBRARY will
sponsor a book festival, Get
Lit Largo! on Saturday, Sept.
23., from 10AM to 2PM
Any Pinellas Writers member
who would like to participate
and sell their books in the Lo-
cal Authors Showcase should
contact Nancy Coleman at
Space may also be available
to read up to 15 minutes of
your work. Ask Ms. Coleman
for details and requirements.
Space is limited
Apply today!
POLITE NOTICE
SUBMISSION TO PINELLAS WRITERS NEWSLETTER
Please have your submission, regardless of subject,
ready to put into the newsletter without extra editing
or formatting. Make sure the editor receives the ma-
terial in a timely manner to avoid delay in getting the
newsletter out. Questions? Ask Lee Summerall, Editor.
Writers don’t require drive. It’s like saying a
chicken has to have drive to lay an egg.
—John Updike
MEMBER NEWS
A is for Author, a helpful guide for early writers
with over 333 detailed entries, is available
through Amazon on August 15. Author Shayla
McBride will notify membership if the book is
on special
Carol Perry’s Witch City Mysteries will be dis-
counted as follows/ from August 13 to 20:
Caught Dead Handed $2.99
Tails You Loose $2.99
Look Both Ways $3.99
Murder Go Round $1.99
There will also be a BookBub for Murder Go
Round on August 16.
Member News will be published when we have
news from members announcing events, publications,
awards, or anything of note in your writing career.
The news should be sent in a ready-to-upload format
as the Newsletter Editor cannot create an announce-
ment on your behalf.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
SAW PALM, a literary publication of the MFA
Program of the University of South Florida, seeks
work from Florida writers : poetry, fiction, crea-
tive non-fiction, art, photography, reviews, and
interviews.. Deadline October 1. Visit
www.sawpalm.org for more information
LOVE CATS & DOGS? How about a spooky
Halloween short story starring your favorite pet?
Pet360 Media’s intensely competitive call seeks
tails (oops...tales) that could garner up to $400.00
for the winning submission. Story length 1000—
1500 words. The ghost of a long-gone cat could
propel you to being published! Contact the Pet360
site for submission guidelines. If that route fails,
query Deidre Greives, at [email protected]
WHY USE INDEX CARDS?
Pinellas Writers offers index cards if your critique
is long and involved, or you have a detailed sug-
gestion for a fix. Just jot your thoughts on the
card, sign it, and give it to the reader.
Another use for index cards is to block out your
scenes prior to commencing to write. Even pant-
sers could appreciate this ploy. The “what if” we
all experience should be followed by a “who
cares?” . You might think you’ve got a great what
if, but writing down sufficient scenes to be sure
you can produce a workable 70K-word novel is
easier with your scenes put on index cards, one
scene per card. Opening scenes, introductory
scenes with protagonists, disaster scenes, plot
points, Black Moments, rising action, the climax,
falling action, all get a card. Then arrange them in
order of appearance in the novel. Got enough?
You should have at least thirty. If you can’t figure
out sufficient cards to flesh out a story, maybe that
golden what if wasn’t so good after all.
St Pete Times
Festival of Reading
November 11, 10A-5P, at USF St. Pete
Members are encouraged, as a group, to sell their book
at the festival. Pinellas Writers will not have a booth
at the event, but will work with authors to facilitate
space. In 2016, cost was $150.00 for the booth. Five
authors participated, making the cost only $30.00.
Contact President Anne Younger for details.
Are You Confused?
Q: What’s wrong with being a pant-
ser?
A: It’s not a heinous crime, it’s just a
waste of time. Florida author Tim
Dorsey has said he plans his nov-
els out, then forgets the plot the
minute he begins to write. That
overlooks the fact that Dorsey
was a newspaper reporter for
many years and has ingrained
habits of memory and speed that
the usual entry-level writer lacks. Plus,
he’s already done the work: he’s thought
through his plot and the major turning
and crisis points. He knows what he’s
going to write about, he just has to put
the details into his computer
If you’re writing flash fiction, maybe
you can get by without plotting out a
500-word piece. If you’re trying for a
75K-word mystery or thriller, beginning
by flying into it by the seat of your pants
will result in a crash landing somewhere
around the 15K mark. You’ll have either
written yourself into a corner or off a
cliff. Or you’ve got writers’ block.
Novelettes (under 17500 words) often
have a simple single-line plot with a
minimum of complications. These are
probably easy to write without advance
plotting.
Novellas (up to 40K), have an A plot
plus a number of side plots or complica-
tions. Again, you might pull it off with-
out much pre-planning, but it’s more
likely a side plot will grab you by the
throat and haul you into the weeds.
When you get to novels, however,
you have multiple plot lines that in-
tertwine and affect each other, plus
any number of lesser side plots or
“plotlettes”. For a 100K novel, it’s
pretty close to folly to just blithely
sit down, crack your knuckles, and ex-
pect to write the entire thing unplanned
when you just have a germ of an idea to
build on.
This even supposes you’ve spent any
time figuring out who your characters
are, and how their personalities and ca-
pabilities will allow you to follow the
plot needs clear to the end. If you are at-
tacked by writers block 15K into your
story, it’s because you never thought
about these pesky details. At that point,
you have to begin to work out the de-
tails...and now you are a plotter, not a
pantser.
THE WRITE STUFF by
Lee Summerall
(pictured below writing a mash-up of time-travel, cozy mystery, & dystopian)
WHAT’S IN A GENRE?
Originally, genres were developed by retail
booksellers to keep track of various categories
of fiction. Eagerly adapted by librarians, who
had previously relied on strict alphabetical or-der for everything, it soon became an industry
standard.
There is actually an organization, BISAC, that
keeps track of a list of “official” genres. You
might think this is of no consequence, just one of those arcane facts, but Amazon (and, I pre-
sume, others) uses BISAC genres to
classify the books they sell.
So, for more than one reason you
should know what genre and sub-genre
you’re writing in.
Expectation is another reason. Each
genre has its own expectations: of
length and content and subject and
theme. Your can’t put violent confrontations in
a cozy. Cozy’s require that all violence and un-pleasantness take place off-stage. Pinellas
Writers member Carol J. Perry, in her Witch City Mystery series, has said she walks a fine
line making sure that her villain “appears nor-
mal right to the last minute.” She also doesn’t allow the villain to do his dirty deeds on the
page.
The romance genre requires a meaningful set
of obstacles between the two main protago-
nists, and an HEA or Happily Ever After at the
end. In some sub-genres, an HFN – Happy For
Now – is acceptable.
A thriller has to thrill: high stakes, global con-
sequences, a deadly deadline, one beleaguered
protagonist against an all-powerful enemy.
Mysteries, such as Carol Perry’s, have to have
a mystery, and clues. In the case of a cozy, the
sleuth – Lee Barrett – is assisted by her love
interest, police detective Pete Mondello. But
Lee will solve the mystery. It’s what the cozy
sub-genre expects.
It’s what the reader expects, too. When a read-
er enters a keyword on the search bar, the
“machine” matches the request to the key-
words the author has entered when putting the
book up for sale. If the author used cozy as a keyword for her blood-drenched kill-a-thon,
the reader will be, most probably, not only sur-
prised but offended. She paid for and expected
a cozy not murder most rampant. Amazon, or
other vendor, will also be offended, and well
may pull the book from sales.
What may be the most important
consideration for the writer be-
ginning a work, assigning a gen-
re makes plot and character
choices easier. You won’t find a pleasant, normal Lee Barrett in a
paranormal urban fantasy or a
steamin’ hot romance. Genre ex-
pectations are not a straight-jacket on your cre-
ativity, they are the mannequin you’re going to dress from the skin out in layers of unique
clothes of your choice and design.
Know your genre. It’ll save time and energy
and a lot of re-writes. Don’t know your genre?
Now, that is a real problem. Mash-ups are not
uncommon, but if you’re an early writer you might want to re-think this go-it-alone deci-
sion. Could it be that you simply haven’t
mulled over your genre choices? Maybe your
plot arc is still unformed? Perhaps you haven’t
thoroughly investigated your protagonists and their dilemmas? With clear genre choices, you
simplify and clarify your writing tasks. Any-
thing that makes writing easier is good.
