by CWC Marin administrator | Jan 25, 2016 | Newsletters, volunteer
We’re a writers’ club, so how’s this for a radical New Year’s resolution — let’s pool our writing chops to spread the word about the CWC-Marin Branch, our upcoming monthly meetings and April Writer’s Life workshop, and our own books and poems and stories?
We have a website and a Facebook page that are crying out for new content and new contributors? That means you. Yes, you.
You don’t have to write a novel. On the web, short is best.
Here are some examples of the kind of contributions we would love to post:
On our website — cwcmarin.com:
On Facebook — facebook.com/marincwc:
- inspiring or amusing quotes about writing
Like this one from Oscar Wilde: “The play was a great success, but the audience was a total failure.”
- blurbs with short links to cwcmarin and other websites
- links to contests, workshops, book reviews, etc.
The Facebook posts are usually brief and link to some other source. They can be recycled from all sorts of places.
Here’s how it works:
If you’re interested, contact me at johnbyrnebarry@gmail.com. If there’s a particular kind of contribution you’re interested, please let me know, but I’d be happy to make assignments.
We have a simple review process for the web, where you can post a draft and I approve it, and can be pretty quick. For Facebook, it’s a little trickier.
Ideally, we can gather a group of contributors and now and then meet in person, on the phone, or online to brainstorm and collaborate on ways to make our website, newsletters, and Facebook page more exciting.
— by John Byrne Barry, author of Bones in the Wash and Wasted
by CWC Marin administrator | Feb 25, 2014 | Events, Newsletters
The tenth book by Priscilla Royal in her medieval mystery series, Covenant With Hell, is now out in paper and book versions. 
Publishers Weekly has given it a starred review and Sharon Kay Penman her highest praise.
A native of Washington State, Priscilla Royal grew up in New Westminster, BC. She graduated with a BA in world literature from San Francisco State University.
In 2000, she retired from the federal civil service and now writes medieval mysteries full time. Medieval literature and history have fascinated her for almost half a century, and she delights in finding details that aren’t usually mentioned in most fiction. As one example, her main characters belong to the very real Order of Fontevraud, a double house of monks and nuns, run by a woman in an era when conventional wisdom said that women were weak, illogical and should never rule men. The characters remain true to their time but exhibit universal character- istics.
Although a fan of theater, modern mysteries, and fiction of lesser violence, she was inspired to write about medieval crime and punishment by the works of both Ellis Peters and Sharon Kay Penman.
Visit her website at www.priscillaroyal.com and her blog postings on The Lady Killers blog (www.theladykillers.typepad.com).
by CWC Marin administrator | May 1, 2013 | Newsletters
The Emotion Thesaurus
A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression
My first-draft protagonists exhibit two emotions and two postures. They smile. They frown. They lean forward and back. Sigh. They’re a stiff lot.
To put emotional meat on my characters’ brittle white bones, I created a three-by-five-card file of evocative physical reactions from a variety of sources. Here’s one example from an interview with actor Michael Caine: “Strong characters never blink.” Good one, Michael!
By last measure, eighteen inches of my bookcase is devoted to discarded craft books designed to help my characters giggle and shriek in the most lifelike manner. My most recent acquisition is my favorite: The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression self-published in 2012 by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.
The book begins with a recap of Common Problems. Given that I suffer from every single problem, it’s a short but sobering read. But Ackerman and Puglisi don’t leave you to wallow in despair. After a short primer on how to discover just the right gestures and feelings for your characters, they launch into the details of their seventy-five emotions. Randomly excerpted sentiments include: agitation, contempt, disgust, envy, insecurity, rage, scorn, uncertainty, and worry. Roughly the same emotions experienced by the average teenage girl before lunch.
Emotional elaborations include Definition, Physical Signals, Internal Sensations, Mental Responses, and Cues of Acute, Long-Term, or Suppressed Emotions. “Writer’s Tips,” such as this one following “smugness,” end each emotional exploration: “When describing a character’s feelings, the word ‘felt’ is often a cue for telling emotion, not showing. Run a search for this word and challenge yourself on its use.”
Visit the author’s website at http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com to download a free copy of “Emotion Amplifiers, a collection of fifteen states that naturally galvanize emotion and make a character more volatile.” While you’re online, you may want to purchase a hardcopy ($10) or PDF ($5) version of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression.
“It’s a great addition to your library,” Jo said as she leaned forward with a smile. (Damn first drafts.)
Written and Contributed By CWC Marin Board Member Jo Haraf
