Introducing Sprouts

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Category: Sprouts
Written by Marc Lehman

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first installment of Sprouts!  My name is Marc, and I'll be sharing what I've learned over the years about turning writing into a way to really connect as a family.  Writing doesn't just have to be a solitary pursuit, but can be a way to help your children explore the world and their place in it, to share with you and others their own unique voice and point of view.  This can be an especially beautiful experience with teenagers, since by working with them on the creation of their story, they often find the freedom to express problems and feelings through fictional characters that they aren't comfortable talking about directly.  Even your significant other can become involved, perhaps writing a romance together, as a way of discovering needs and desires that neither of you knew were there.

Over the coming months, we are going to be exploring a number of ways to incorporate writing  into your family relationships, and through this to also teach them techniques that will help them to become a solid writer.  Who knows, you might have a budding author that never knew they had it in them to create stories every bit as amazing as the ones they love to read.

Take a first step towards creating that relationship by taking a few minutes with each member of your family to talk to them about their favorite book, and why it is so important to them.  After that, borrow the book and read it, being especially conscious of how it speaks to them and to you, and what the difference is between what each of you sees in the story.  If you read a lot, maybe even try to read a random book off your kids book pile, find out why they love that book, talk about it, suggest a new favorite, tell them a story of your own.

With that bit of sharing as a starting point, in the next installment you will join in your first adventure writing.

Farewell, and happy reading.

 

Critique Night 12/28/11

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Category: Blog
Written by Sam Justice

We had a few people come out to Critique Night this Wednesday.  Here's what a couple of them had to say about the evening.

"All the comments I heard tonight were constructive and helpful. However, there was some disagreement regarding one of the poems we critiqued. . . . my feelings are that a piece of writing is doing something interesting if there is disagreement about it." - Amelia

"I feel that 100% of the advice is helpful. I can relate to what is critical to the contiuinity of my form of writing."  - Anon

Want someone to take a look at your work?  Critique Night meets the fourth Wednesday of every month.

Help us Help You!

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Category: Blog
Written by Megan

We’re getting ready to celebrate four years of writing fun with BNO here pretty soon. Though we didn’t have a name until the middle of 2008, we’ve been writing and critiquing and educating in some respect since the fall of 2007. And we’ve yet to ask for anything other than participation. So, why the change now?

 

BNO was originally formed to provide a service to the writing community – to create a place where writers of all genres, levels, and interests could come together to help one another out. We feel we’ve been doing a pretty good job of that, and the time has come to expand a bit more, and bring more to you, the writer. To date, everything we’ve done has been offered for free, and has been provided by a volunteer core. Hours of program development, website development, networking, and of course hosting the evenings of writerly activity.

 

We want to do more than host a Critique Night and a Seminar Night. Last year we brought you Taproot Reading, a book club all about the writing. This year we’re adding in a Writing Circle. This monthly event will round out the regular programming and offer a chance for writers to come together and write, or commiserate, or find inspiration, or just about anything else necessary to help you, the writer, do what you need to do.

 

All of this isn’t enough though. We want to bring authors to you at these events. We want to open more dialogue with authors and writers across the country. We want to bring you new and different ways of looking at putting words on the page. We want to provide you with workshops and a conference. We want you to have a place to see your words in print right here in the Treasure Valley, every month. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what we want to bring you.

 

These programs, old and new, cost money. Want to see your favorite author come to town? Or how about attend a workshop online from the comfort of your own home? Put your words in print and see them distributed throughout Boise? Your $40 membership will help make all of this, and more, possible. Join today, and start benefiting immediately with our new Critique Matching Service and have your work critiqued beyond Critique Night.

 

Seminar Night: The Editing Process

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Category: Blog
Written by Megan

You wrote it all down. You created characters and put them somewhere and send them on an adventure and some got what they wanted and some didn’t. And you wrote it all down. You wrote it all down so it must be done.

 

But, wait! There’s this huge step in the writing process often ignored: editing. This is the hard part. Slogging through run-on sentences (much like the one up above), gerunds masquerading as verbs, tense shifts, point of view issues, and filling in the holes left behind by fabulous, though somewhat inconsiderate, plot bunnies. For most, this process takes longer than the actual writing. For some, it’s fun. For others, it’s hell. And, especially following National Novel Writing Month, it’s a daunting task. On December 14th, we sat down at Rediscovered Books and talked about editing for the month’s seminar. Here’s what came of it:

 

 

  1. Finish it, and put it away!  Take a step back, and put some distance between yourself and the words before starting to change them.  Sometimes a day is enough, sometime you need more than a month.  If you start edit and you're not finding anything wrong, or all you can do is beat yourself up, it's time to take a step back and wait.

  2. Outlining is a good idea. Outlining before starting the project is great, but outlining after is at least as if not more valuable. This gives you a roadmap, something to follow in your editing process. A way to check in and say “Hey, does this make sense? Does this belong here? Did I forget to add something in?”

  3. Before attacking any of the nitty gritty, look at the story first. Along the way from A to Z did you stop at every letter? What was left out? What about the story do you know that the reader doesn’t? What about those little side-tracks? Did they get back to the story, or to they just sort of meander off into the distance, a nice little diversion, but not adding anything to the story?

  4. Characterization matters. In the course of any story, characters should change (or choose to not change). Does their change make sense as a reaction to the events of the story?

  5. Finishing the story you started. This is a point brought up that I often forget. When you start a story, the ending must finish that story. Finishing a story never started leaves an unsatisfied reader.

  6. Though language is the last aspect of writing to attack when editing, it’s worth paying attention to right from the start. The words on the page are what tell the story. If the language used makes no sense, or otherwise fails to tell the story, the reader won’t get what he or she is looking for.

 

 

What do you think about starting the editing process? Finishing a story?

 

 

Taproot Reading December Review

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Category: Blog
Written by Sam Justice

 

We'rereading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for Dec. 20th.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a quirky novel written by Douglass Adams. Based on a radio series by the same name, the book follows the misadventures of the unfortunate earth man Arthur Dent and his companion Ford Prefect after the Earth is demolished.

The Hitchhiker's Trilogy—the series that Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy starts—takes a satirical look at Life The Universe, and Everything, making fun of everything from bureaucracy and governments to stargazing and the sport of polo. When you finish you'll find the world a slightly stranger place; somewhat smaller, a bit bigger, completely ridiculous—and through it all you'll have an odd craving a for a good cup of tea.

 

Survey Time!

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Category: Blog
Written by Megan Justice

Help us get you what you want Boise!  Let us know who you'd like to see give a workshop here in town.  Dead or alive, it doesn't matter (though we won't be bringing your favorites back from the dead).


Click here to take this super-fast survey!  You can take it many times if you like.  In fact, please do!

Taproot Reading 4th Quarter

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Category: Blog
Written by Sam Justice

I've been meaning to get this up here for a few days, so without further delay, the reading list for the 4th quarter of 2011 is:

October:

  • The Red Pony by Stienbeck

November:

  • Finnagen's Wake by James Joyce (selected chapters, tba)

December:

  • Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Taproot reading meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at Hyde Park Books.