We've moved!

Well with our new site design came a built-in blog, so we will now be blogging over at www.lawritersgroup.com.   Please click on over there to follow us where we will be blogging much more frequently.

How to Create Suspense

Not only is this article on how to create suspense enormously helpful, he employs the very technique he is teaching you within the article itself. Brilliant.

http://nyti.ms/VKeQ9T

An Interview with Sanora Bartels, our Poetry Workshop Leader

As many of you know, Sanora Bartels will be leading a one-day poetry workshop on Sunday (tomorrow!).  This is a special treat for us because she doesn't do this very often.  I had the chance to speak with her about the importance of the poetry workshop experience and how it can help elevate your writing.

Why do you feel that poetry workshops can help improve a writers work as opposed to taking a regular class?

"You, as a writer, get to devote an entire day to your art and really go deep with your writing in order to clear any blocks you might not even know about! The same thing can happen with a weekly group but since you aren't spending the same amount of uninterrupted time writing, it may take longer..."

How else can a writer benefit from a one-day intensive workshop?

"The one-day intensive is a great way to jump-start your creativity and get in touch with your muse with a number of writing prompts instead of the normal three we do in about an hour of writing time every week."

Obviously poetry is a deep passion for you as well as for many other writers.  What's the motivation behind the passion?

"Poetry works the same way an excellent movie does.  It gives you images with which to relate and then either pulls back to give you the bigger picture or telescopes in to the tightest focus and allows you to see a truth that had previously escaped your notice."

What really hits home with you when you write poetry?

"The thing I love about poetry is the economy of language and its ability to really change your point of view with a powerful image."

Any word of advice to aspiring writers reading this?

"Write.  Sit down and write.  Your creative muse is shy and will not come to you unless you are still. The muse reminds me of my cats.  If I'm distracted or moving, they want nothing to do with me.  If I sit in peace and turn my attention to the page or the computer, suddenly I have a cat on my lap. That's how I know my muse must be in the room as well."

Here is the information about our poetry workshop tomorrow if you are interested in participating:

Poetry Workshop

Sunday, December 9th

10:00am - 4:00pm

Glassell Park, CA

Register or get more information about the poetry workshop here

Join our mailing list for first notification of upcoming poetry and creative writing workshops

Tuesday night creative writing workshop in Glendale - Glassell Park

Sanora's doing a rarely offered Tuesday night writers group / creative writing workshop! It starts next week - Oct 2nd.  Sign up by Friday and get early registration discount.   These workshops are open to all creative writers, any level, any genre.

About Sanora Bartels

Sanora has been running writers groups for nearly 8 years and in 2006 graduated with a Master of Professional Writing degree from University of Southern California. She has studied with various poetry mentors, including Cathy Colman (Borrowed Dress), Ron Koertge (Making Love to Roget’s Wife), and Holly Prado (from one to the next). At USC, she studied screenplay writing with Syd Field (Screenplay) and has since completed a full-length screenplay titled “Straying Home” which made it to the Semi Finals of NexTv’s 2010 Writing and Pitch Competition. Her poetry has been published in Wordwrights! magazine and New Millennium Writings. Her full-length poetry manuscript is titled The Order of Things. Sanora is a teacher of Vedic Meditation and has written several pieces on Vedic philosophy and has had over 20 articles published. You can find her meditation schedule on www.VedicMeditationTeacher.com. Sanora is a co-editor on the Meditation page of www.AllThingsHealing.com.

What will you get out of our groups?

• Get constructive, supportive critique on your current writing project in a safe environment from a qualified moderator and your fellow group members, regardless of the type or genre of the project
• Leave the group with a notebook filled with new stories and story ideas
• Reignite your passion for writing
• Connect with other writers in your area
• Create new stories; generate new ideas every week through improvisational creative writing exercises
• Elevate your writing
• Experiment with different voices, different genres

New Valencia writers group scheduled

We've scheduled a new 4-week writing workshop in Santa Clarita.  This is a great and inexpensive way to test out our groups, all while creating new material via creative writing prompts, and getting feedback on projects you are currently working on.  Our groups are open to all creative writers of all levels, no matter what you write.

Date:  Tuesday evenings beginning October 23rd.  Meeting dates:  10/23, 10/30, 11/6, 11/13

Time:  7:00pm - 9:30pm

Group Leader:  Kirby Timmons

How to write a web series screenwriting workshop in Fairfax beginning October 18th, 2012 (Thursday evenings)

Arrive with an idea.  Leave with a series.

Web Series are the new frontier in entertainment. The best thing about a web series is anyone can write one. The other awesome thing about webisodes is that anyone can make one. When you write a web series, it’s like you’ll be writing your own TV series. “The Walking Dead” on AMC and “Web Therapy” on Showtime both started out as web series.



You will learn how long your scripts needs to be, what a script looks like on the page and how to write for an inexpensive budget. Whatever idea you bring to the class will be the idea we develop. If you aren’t sure about your idea, or you have more than one idea, within the first two sessions of class you’ll have the support and time to decide what direction you want to take. Once you decide on your web series idea, we will outline your six episodes and you will write your scripts.



In this workshop you will learn about genres from comedy to thrillers and how long a webisode script should be within your chosen genre. You will be writing web series with six completed episodes. You will learn how to create a story arc for your six webisodes so your final product will be the first season of your web series. You will also get tips about production and how to produce a webisode while writing one (as they go hand in hand). When the group is in the script writing phase, it will be fun to read your scripts out loud. Workshop members are welcome to bring in their own actors to read for the group too. There are no networks or studios to tell you what to do when you create a web series. In this workshop you will emerge with a web series package. Bring as much imagination as you can, because you’re going to have the creative freedom you need – it’s going to be a blast!




Click here to Register Now!

Dates: 10/18, 10/25, 11/1, 11/8, 11/15, no meeting 11/22, resume meeting on 11/29, 12/6, 12/13 

Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm


Cost:
New Members: $475 (register before 10/5 and pay only $450)

Returning Members: $450 (register before 10/5 and pay only $425)


Location:
Group leader's home in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles

Exact address TBA upon registration for privacy reasons

Los Angeles, CA 90038 



Instructor - Shawn Schepps

Shawn is a Los Angeles native. She began her career as a child actress in such shows as, "The Brady Bunch." As she got older she appeared in, "The Terminator," "Racing with the Moon," and "The Golden Girls."

Shawn started writing plays and musicals. Her first play, "The Steven Weed Show" was performed in Edinburgh and New York. Her play "Group" was performed in New York, at The Montreal Comedy Festival, and The Aspen Comedy Festival.

While writing and producing theater, Shawn wrote, "Encino Man." Thus began her writing and producing career with films like, "Son-In-Law," "Drumline," "Lip Service" and recently, "You and I" directed by Roland Joffe.

Shawn's television writer/producer credits include, "Drop Dead Diva," "Inconceivable," and "Weeds" which she spent two years writing, producing and acting in. Shawn has worked for every major studio like, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Disney. She has been on shows and written pilots for major networks like, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBW and CBS. She has sold and developed to cable outlets like HBO, Lifetime, Showtime and more.

Shawn has taught writing all over the country.


Our July 2012 Book Club Selection: Writing Subtext

Our July 2012 book club selection for our books on writing club is Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath by Dr. Linda Seger.   Come join our meetup group to participate in the discussion either online or in person.

Reviews

Like our own book club discussion, How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One , our June 2012 book club selection, has received mixed reviews.  It did make for a very lively discussion though!  Read some of the reviews of Fish's book on Goodreads.

Writing a crime scene or police story?

Just got this in:

What a great idea for those of you writing police or crime-based stories.

Writer's Homicide School

Are you writing a thriller, mystery, crime or police based story? Want to make sure that your action and dialogue is as authentic as possible? Then The Writer's Homicide School is a must for you.  Detective Derek Pacifico, a 22-year vet of of the San Bernandino County Sheriff's Department will go over proper police protocol for reading crime scenes, doing forensics, interrogating suspects and much, much more.

When: June 2-3, 2012, 9AM-3PM

Where: The Satellite, 3110 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405 (3rd Floor)

Price: $299 with discount code WHS (normally $350)

Go to www.filmmakerjunction.com/events/writers-homicide-school/ to purchase tickets and see the topics Detective Pacifico will cover.

Our writing craft book club selection

This May / June we are reading How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One by Stanley Fish.  Read and discuss with us online or in person at our Meetup Group:  http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Books-About-Writing-Book-Club/

Get email updates here

Hermosa Beach writers group starts Tuesday night

This is just a quick reminder that the Hermosa Beach writers group starts on Tuesday, April 10th (7:00pm - 9:30pm).

 

Sign up or get more info here

Also the next Writer Monkeys! show is Sunday, April 22nd at 7:00pm at M.i.'s Westside Comedy Theater.

Hello, Santa Clarita!

We wish our Santa Clarita, California charter writers group participants a fabulous and creative first night! Thank you and wishing you many creative writing nights to come!!

Article on how to be funny when writing comedy

It's not very often I come across an exceptional blog article that helps aspiring comedy writers improve their craft. Comedy writing often presents as easy to write because usually the writer or speaker makes it look so damn natural and easy.  It seems like magic. On more than one occasion, I've found myself gazing admiringly into a writer's eyes who just wrote something that lead my writers group into unexpected gasping and snorting fits of laughter. My many stand-up comedian friends used to say, "Comedy is serious business." So naturally, comedy writing must be REALLY serious business. Today Writer's Digest published an article called, 10 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING WHILE THINKING LIKE A COMEDY WRITER helps simplify it just a little bit, and every little bit helps.  The article lists ten excellent tips on penning with a more comedic angle. Do you know of any other good comedy writing blog posts or articles floating around on them there interwebs?  If so, please post them in the comments for our other readers to check out.

Our February Writing Craft Book Club Selection

    

Many thanks to everyone who showed up to our writing craft book club meeting today at NextSpace in Culver City to discuss:  Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them (P.S.). We were lucky to have a fantastic and intelligent group of writers attend, making the discussion both informative and interesting.  If you read the book but were not able to attend you can visit the message board and participate in an online discussion about the book.

Our February writing craft book club selection is:

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print

If you'd like to participate, join our free meetup group.

Love letters written to Brenda Ueland, a new book called Brenda, My Darling

For those of you who are eternally devoted fans of Brenda Ueland and her book, If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit as I am (if you are not, then you should read it immediately), then the new book release, Brenda, My Darling: The Love Letters of Fridtjof Nansen to Brenda Ueland edited by Eric Utne and published by the Utne Institute might be your next purchase.

Love letters to a writer?  A brave task indeed.  One that apparently, Ueland's lover, Fridtjof Nansen did with exceptional talent.

The book reprints love letters written to (not from, sadly) Brenda from the Norwegian explorer, humanitarian and winner of the 1922 Nobel Peace Prize Fridtjof Nansen from the time they met in New York City in 1929 until his death a year after their brief love affair.

Here is a link to Brenda, My Darling on sale from the publisher (the hardcover is not available yet on Amazon.com).

Here is a link to the kindle edition of Brenda, My Darling: The Love Letters of Fridtjof Nansen to Brenda Ueland on Amazon.com.

20 places you can submit your creative writing to before the end of the year

1.
Arroyo Literary Review is an award-winning national magazine with a West Coast orientation.  Looking for:  fiction, flash fiction, poetry, essays, and translation for our fifth issue.  Reading Period / Deadline:  Open reading period from December to May 31st.

2.

OccuPoetry is seeking poetry about economic justice/injustice, greed, protest, activism, and opportunity. Submissions need not be limited to Wall Street’s greed nor US-based poets; we consider the Occupy Movement a world-wide movement for a more just world. OccuPoetry accepts formal and free-verse, mail art, and collage poetry. 

3.
Silver Boomer Books seeks submissions for an anthology on the widowhood experience. They are interested in all aspects of widowhood—grief, memories, glitches, triumphs.  Either prose or poetry is acceptable. You can even send a 6-word memoir if you like. Submissions will be read between December 1, 2011 and January 31, 2012.

4.

Street Stories is looking for stories under 1000 words.  They will publish one great story each quarter.  Pays $20 upon publication.

5.
GOT TRUTH?  THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FACT International Journal of Literary Nonfiction is looking for literary nonfiction essay, memoir, commentary 1000-5000 words, literary nonfiction narrative poetry, black & white art and photography.  Submission Deadline December 31.

6.

Crate is looking for fiction and non-fiction (up to 7500 words), poetry (up to 5 poems) and short dramatic works (10 minute plays). Submission deadline is January 1, 2012.  Deadline for all submissions is Sunday, January 1st. 

7.

LQQK Magazine is a new science fiction magazine currently looking for new writers. They are interested in stories that speculate about the future of contemporary phenomena like social networking, mobile devices, filesharing, hacking, and online lifestyles. They are also interested in far-out, surrealist, or anarchic stories in general, with or without lulz. 

8.

Peripheral Surveys is a monthly literature and arts magazine with assorted pieces focused on a certain theme.  Deadline: December 20.  They are looking for poetry, prose (fiction and nonfiction) and photography submissions.

9.

The anthology, Submitted: Women Finding and Leaving Extreme Religion (to be published by Seal Press in Spring, 2013), will chronicle the lives of women from a variety of restrictive religious backgrounds who chose a religious path only to eventually reject it or alter it in whole or in part. 

They are seeking contributions from women of all faiths, as well as all ages and backgrounds. 

10.

Mandala Journal is open for poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and art submissions from October 15 through February 15.  Please refer to the submission guidelines on their website for information about this year's theme.

11.

The Meadowland Review will be considering submissions of poetry, fiction, photography and art pieces from December 1-February 1.

12.

burntdistrict is now accepting poetry submissions for our inaugural issue to be published Winter/Spring of 2012. 

13.

The Indian River Review is currently soliciting submissions for its inaugural issue slated for publication in late spring 2012. The theme for this issue is "Time and Place." The deadline for submissions is

January 15, 2012. Genres include short fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, critical essays, black and white photography, and book reviews.

14.

CavanKerry Press will be having an open submission period from January 1-31, 

2012 for its Laurel Books imprint.  LAURELBOOKS are collections of poetry or prose memoirs that explore in depth poignant and critical issues associated with personally confronting serious and life-threatening physical or psychological illness. CavanKerry seeks work written from a personal perspective by the individual who has experienced the illness or by the individual personally and deeply involved with the person who suffered from the illness.

15.

Little Patuxent Review call for Submissions: Audacity Issue. LPR invites you to explore the various aspects of audacity ("audacity defines the best and worst within us. It is boldness or daring, accompanied by confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought or other restrictions. It is also effrontery, insolence or shamelessness") for their Summer 2012 issue. Submit well-crafted poetry, prose, artwork or photography between December 1, 2011 and March 1, 2012

16.

Valparaiso Fiction Review, which has just released its inaugural issue, is now seeking works of short fiction for its upcoming Spring and Fall 2012 issues. VFR publishes two editions a year, in December and in May, and it features fiction from established or emerging writers. 

17.

straight forward is a new online poetry journal looking for clear, concise, emotionally honest poetry. They are taking poetry submissions, with no restrictions on form, length, or style, for our debut March 2012 issue. 

18.

The Vermillion Literary Project (VLP) is now taking submissions for our Spring 2012 issue of the annual VLP Magazine. This is a student-produced journal sponsored by the VLP, the University of South Dakota's only student literary and creative writing organization. We are seeking  submissions of poetry, short fiction, essay, and black & white art.   The deadline is 12/30/11, and there is no reading or submission fee.

19.

Conclave: A Journal of Character is a literary and arts journal that focuses on great characters. They strive to print the best poetry and fiction submitted by emerging and established writers.

20.

cream city review is a non-profit literary magazine devoted to publishing memorable and energetic fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and comics that push and undermine the boundaries of stable definitions of “literature”. The magazine also features reviews of contemporary literature and criticism, as well as author interviews and artwork.  

Jobs for writers

Many people come to LA Writers Group with writing jobs looking for writers to hire.  Sometimes they are corporations looking for in-house writers or freelancers, sometimes they are individuals looking to hire a writer.  To that end, we've decided to create a database of the writers on our list so that we can screen them and then connect our writers with those who want to hire them. 

Once you join our database of writers, your information will stay within LA Writers Group and won't be passed on to anyone unless we contact you first.    

If you are interested in getting part-time, full-time, contract, or freelance writing jobs, please enter yourself into our database so we can submit you for future jobs.

Get in our jobs for writers database here.

2012 Writing Workshops Scheduled

We have some writing workshops for January 2012 are now scheduled and open for enrollment:

West Hollywood writers group
Glendale / Glassell Park writers group
Hermosa Beach writers group

Have questions?  Leave a comment or email us at lawritersgroup@gmail.com

Poetry Book Review: A Journey Taken in Grace Toward Love Where Bodies Again Recline by Harry Northup

A review by Sanora Bartels

Where Bodies Again Recline by Harry Northup takes up where his last volume of poetry Red Snow Fence left off.  In 2006, I reviewed that volume and wrote this about the last section of the book:

While the first two thirds of the book is grounded in the physical daily realities, the last third of Red Snow Fence takes us on a journey of night visions, which seem to me to be part memory, part premonition.

In Where Bodies Again Recline the premonition is realized and we are taken to the next level of evolution. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the title poem where bodies again recline:

in the primacy of law, the bootleg

version, there will be no superiority

of money, of celebrityhood, of

loss, lack, ignorance, rigidity, simple

down home rootedness

there will be listening to one another

recognition of brotherhood, a will-

ingness to see past vertical mobility

Straightforward enough — but that is always the way of spiritual truth.  The ideal is simple, the practical application, more difficult.  This yearning for kindness, for meaning, for a way to hold on and let go all at once, plays out in much of Northup’s poetry as in gifts:

it rained as it always does for a

funeral — careers die, youth dies,

trust dies, money decays brotherhood

all holiness must die & be reborn

in new roads, new rains, — memory

remains blackness itself

memory strengthens kindness

The voice is one that has lived a life full of love, full of connection, both to friends and family, knowing that loss is often necessary for growth.  In the second section of the book, titled “white bird above fire”, that loss is no longer limited to the individual. It is a communal loss that may feel overwhelming, where recovery feels nearly impossible as expressed in single white bird above fire:

fires burning, crowns across the

sea — plane, with burning wing, flies

a star hoisted, props the plane,

cradles it — through all our arms,...

…we elect parts of ourselves & deny

blessings; the golden city on an island

does not include our neighbors’ vote

should he be less wealthy, less like our

desire — we measure hearts with ring

sizes — for often hearts are rubble…

…knives of light surround our descent

what was killed remains hidden — it

tears at freedom — columns fall,

tumble, & a long crescent, like

antlers, forms a cradle around the

blue light moon — …

The poem ends with:

deliver me, white bird, white house

forgive the ache, the one long sharp

arrow on fire, cross, field burning

It hints at an America that, years later, is still reeling from attack, steeped in cynicism, in a defensive posture and Northup asks for the ability to move forward with grace.

What struck me throughout the volume were the sweeping images, the visuals soaring and then swooping along the horizon of the reader’s imagination. If Red Snow Fence invoked passing memory, then Where Bodies Again Recline lifts that memory into what can only be called a collective consciousness that kindles spiritual epiphany, as in what was lost, gained:

all ways everlasting, revelations,

glory, earth, river — sky with golden

explosions — one turning diamond in

fire, body compressed, human-like,

with propellers, triangles turning

spinning out most of blackness, stars

The repetition of arrows, of light, of wings, and always the spinning activity, lifted me into ether, that moment of possibility, that snapshot of motion — the eternal “now” in like a breeze the final caress:

a crown, nest revolving, upward

path shoots & two horizontal half-

circles meet, waterfall wings

tree-like motion spins

red grapes, clusters around golden

center, night with stan getz playing

“alfie,” breeze, no high humidity,

“what a difference a few degrees

make”

This poetry is a balance of memory and that certain future we visualize, forget, but then somehow hold dear - figure, human-length rises:

white light above many figures

heart, soul, words, real gold, sorrow

nowhere, death nowhere, nothingness

white light out of opened coffin

sprinkling gold dust, death joy

A word of warning, I have not taken you step by step through each section, I have not stayed true to the path of the poet in his manuscript.  Instead, I have been like the hawk in blue final

hawk flies, white propeller moves

like shark in blue waters, smooth

& turns quickly — long white wings

in wind’s lit path — hurries home

The poet takes us on a spinning spiritual journey, populated by wings & arrows & stars and then turns toward home. Harry Northup ultimately leads us to Where Bodies Again Recline, toward grace and joy and most important, toward love.

Where Bodies Again Recline by Harry Northup is published by Cahuenga Press and is Harry Northup’s 10^th book of poetry.

---

Sanora Bartels received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from North Dakota State University and her Masters of Professional Writing Degree from University of Southern California.  She is a co-founder of www.LAwritersgroup.com and runs a weekly writers’ group. Her chapbook of poetry is titled The Order of Things.

How to Participate in Real-time Storytelling

The weekend draws to a close, and you don’t want to watch the same shows with the same plot and the same characters:  A moody, down-on-his-luck dude meets a gorgeous manic pixie dream girl.  One or both of them are photographers.  They find themselves stuck in an elevator, and hilarity ensues.  Boring!

Well, what to do on a Sunday night?  Answer: Go watch Writer Monkeys!  A Literary Improv Show this Sunday, December 4 at 7:00 PM.  This is our last performance of 2011!  The Monkeys will be playing at Mission Improbable’s Westside Comedy Theater on 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.  This mad experiment in theater is the creation of our own Nicole Criona and J. Keith van Straaten, who produced and hosted the Fix-Up Show and performed in programs like Beat the Geeks, Sit ‘N’ Spin, The Liar Show, Pinata, Rant & Rave, Tongue & Groove, and Word Salad.

“Improv?”  You ask.  “Like Who’s Line is it Anyway?”  Nope.  Even better.  The writers take audience suggestions and compose literary pieces on-stage while the comedy rock band Throwing Toasters entertains the audience.  After the writers read, improv actors create scenes, taking inspiration from the pieces.  Sometimes the results are funny, dark, or poignant.  Rinse, repeat, and you have a full, entertaining night of stories you have never seen or heard.  Even better, you had a hand in creating them.  If you always wanted to hear tales about Russian circus bears advancing science as furry NASA engineers, go to the show and shout out those suggestions.  We can realize your dreams that easily.  Until then, be our friend on Facebook.  We promise not to judge your drunken photos.

Writer Monkeys! A Literary Improv Show
Sunday, December 4, 2011 @ 7:00 PM

Westside Comedy Theater
1323-A 3rd Street Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(the alley between 3rd and 4th Streets)