OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the

BERKELEY BRANCH of the

Write Angles
Write Angles CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB

March 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The View From the Helm...........2
Upcoming Speaker:
Becky Levine..............................3
Meet Our Own Author:
Alon Shalev................................3
Upcoming Events.......................4
Upcoming Workshop
Brooke Warner...........................4
5 Plot Types..............................5
Walkin’ with Joaquin................5
Craft, Story & Voice..................7
Member News ..........................6
Member Profiles........................7
Shop Talk: Write Badly..............8
Member Marketplace..............11
ON THE COVER:
Distinguished Writers of California
Harry Leon Wilson
1867 – 1939
Harry Leon Wilson was the
editor of Puck, the weekly humor
magazine, from 1896 -1902. After
financial success as a playwright
with Booth Tarkington, he moved
to Carmel, California, in 1910. He
rounded out his writing career as
a serials writer for the Saturday
Evening Post, a novelist and a
humorist.
“A fiction writer has two passions: people and words. If
he has a gnawing, insatiable curiosity about the people he
meets, the words will come to fit them.” —Harry Leon Wilson
MARCH 2010
The View
From the Helm
“The world will always welcome lovers.”
We know that writing is a lot like love. There is an emotional
connection both mystical and mysterious that feels good even
when it is annoying. You forgive your writing even when it does
not forgive you. You can fight and walk out on one another, but
out of sight is not out of mind. Something needles and noodges
until you have to make up. And that make-up kiss is one of the
best you ever get.
Great writing knows no schedule. It will wake you in the
middle of the night ready to play. It also knows about afternoon
delight, nooners, and first thing in the morning.
And lately we are reminded of one of the lessons of how to
get love: you get it by giving it away. At our February meeting,
this notion was at the heart of Seth Harwood’s talk. Seth built a
following that ultimately led to book deals by posting chapters of
his books as free, downloadable audio installments that can be
played on your iPod, MP3 player, and more other devices that I’ve
yet to learn about.
There are writers who’ve posted a third of their books on the
’net. Others have posted their whole book, save for the ending
that wraps up all the plot threads. And others who have simply
posted the whole shootin’ match for free. Or cheap. Kemble Scott
released his last book on Scribd.com at the princely price of two
bucks a copy.
It seems realistic to me that one of the routes to becoming
a sought-after author is to develop a following of readers who
like what they read and want more. One hopes some will like it
enough to want to pay for it somehow. Cash, after all, is still the
most universally accepted way of keeping score.
And like a lover, the respect for your writing is a two-way
street. Love, honor, and obey in sickness and in health. Treat
your writing like a two-bit hooker and you’ll get a kosh on the
noggin with a bagful of quarters.
—AL Levenson, President
Write Angles • 2
MARCH SPEAKER Meet our own author:
BECKY LEVINE ALON SHALEV
The author event for March will

GET FEEDBACK,
be Alon Shalev’s novel Oilspill
dotcom.

GET PUBLISHED Shalev’s genre is writing for social

justice. In Oilspill dotcom, he
You’ve finished your first draft, explores how freedom of speech is
a subtle blend of wit and luminosity, threatened by a rich and powerful
every sentence a delight. And yet you multinational corporation. Shalev
feel uneasy. A question bubbles to the is a writer to keep an eye on.
surface: If it’s as good as I think it is, His current manuscript is in the
why do I stop reading in the middle of second round of the Amazon.com
a scene I’ve written and click the icon labeled Breakthrough Novel Award.
“Games.”? A Higher Authority answer bubbles up as well: Because
your manuscript, like all first drafts, is weighted down with
errors. Step One is spotting them.
Identify “what you hate” about your story, advises Becky
Levine, our featured speaker for the March 21 meeting. Then
“revise around the problem.” But what if you’re too captivated by
your masterpiece to recognize the imperfections? Becky has the
answer: join a critique group. “No writer,” she insists, “can see
every flaw in their own work by themselves—that’s why there are
editors. And if an unpublished author can’t listen to the opinions
of others, digest them and figure out which will make their work
better, they’re going to have a hard time being published.”
Becky is the author of The Writing & Critique Group Survival
Guide: How to Give and Receive Feedback, Self-Edit, and Make
Revisions. For younger readers, she wrote Cool Cash Adventure,
a middle-school guide to finance, and co-wrote with Lee Lofland
a book about being a police officer. Becky also authors fiction for
children and young adults, and has completed the middle-grade MEETING
mystery, How I Solved My Summer Vacation. Her current project PROGRAM:
is a YA historical about a young girl growing up in a settlement-
house neighborhood in 1913. 1:00 p.m.
The questions Becky asks about her own work—“Do I need Library doors open
to show a personality trait more frequently or more intensely? 1:05-2:00 p.m. Marketing
Should I connect a subplot to the main plot in another place or
two? Is it time to reveal . . . background info I thought I didn’t group meeting
need?”—suggest the kind of discussion we can look forward to at 1:05-2:00 p.m.
the March meeting. Take another look at that first draft and bring Social time for members
your questions with you. and newcomers
—David Baker
2:00-2:15 p.m.
Club meeting,
announcements
FEBRUARY MEETING: 2:15-3:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 21, 2010, 1-4:30p.m.   Author Event
 West Auditorium of the Oakland Main Library    3:00 Book signing and
at 125 14th Street near the Lake Merritt BART station. break,
Enter directly from Madison Street  between 13th & 14th Streets.  
3:15 Featured speaker

MARCH 2010 Write Angles • 3


MARK YOUR
CALENDAR
for these upcoming
Berkeley Branch Events
March 14, 2010 WORKSHOP,
Brooke Warner (See right)
March 21, 2010 AUTHOR
EVENT, Alon Shalev, Oilspill
Dotcom (See page 3)
March 21, 2010. SPEAKER,
Becky Levine (See page 3)
April 11, 2010, WORKSHOP,
Marianne Rogoff, Travel Writing
April 18, 2010. AUTHOR
EVENT, Francine Howard,
Page From a Tennessee Journal.
Launch party for her debut
novel.
April 18, 2010, SPEAKER, To
Be Announced
May 8, 2010 WORKSHOP,
Wesley Gibson, Writing effective
dialogue.
May 16, 2010, AUTHOR EVENT,
Karin Ireland, The Job Survival
Instruction Book.
May 16, 2010, SPEAKER,
Ransom Stephens, How The
God Patent made it to print from
an eBook.
June 20, 2010, SPEAKER,
author Molly Giles.
Other events of interest:
April 24, BLOGGING
WORKSHOP, sponsored by the
South Bay Branch. For info:
calwritersclub@gmail.com
April 25, AUTHOR READINGS,
and tours of Joaquin Miller Park
sponsored by Friends of Joaquin
Miller Park. (See next page.) For
info: calwritersclub@gmail.com
MARCH 2010
MARCH WORKSHOP:
BROOKE WARNER
Editor and Writing Coach
The Power of Partnering
and Accountability in Your
Writing Practice
Sunday, March 14, 2010
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Having an accountability
partnership can make the task of writing
happen, much as a gym partner makes
you show up at the gym.
This half-day accountability
workshop will open with an exploration
of your goals and dreams. Through interactive exercises and
teaching points, you’ll learn how to set up a partnership, what
it entails, and, perhaps most important, why being accountable
to yourself simply isn’t enough, even if you’re the most
disciplined person you know.
Brooke Warner, currently Senior Editor at Seal Press, also
operates as Warner Coaching, working one-on-one with writers,
from book proposal to manuscript completion.
$19 CWC Members / $39 Nonmembers.
To register, mail your check to CWC-BB, Box 6183,
Alameda, CA 94501. Registration must be received by
Thursday, March 11. Include email address and telephone
number with your registration. The workshop will take place at
a restricted access venue in Alameda. Location will be sent in a
separate email. Questions? cwcworkshops@gmail.com
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
April 11, 2010 Marianne Rogoff on Travel
Writing
May 9, 2010 Wesley Gibson, Writing Effective
Dialogue
To recommend or request a speaker, contact Risa Nye .
at cwcworkshops@gmail.com.
Write Angles • 4
FIVE PLOT TYPES CWC DIGS UP ITS
to Shape Fiction SHINING ROOTS
and Nonfiction Stories WALKIN’ WITH
by Karin Ireland
JOAQUIN
“If Jack London was a founder of
You know that a plot tells readers what happens, when, and the California Writers Club, then
why. But did you know that there are five basic plot types, and Joaquin Miller is its patron saint.”
using one or more can make it easier for you to shape your story CWC Central Coast member
and more satisfying for your readers? Here’s how they work. Joyce Krieg shared this
Mistake/Discovery/Reversal perspective last spring on a
This is one of the most popular plot types, and you’ll visit to the California Writers
recognize it in a lot of books, movies, and nonfiction feature Memorial Grove in Oakland’s
articles. In this plot type, the main character (and maybe other Joaquin Miller Park. Joyce’s
characters or even groups) has a mistaken belief. Everything the statement followed her witty
character thinks, says, and does comes from this mistaken belief. tales of trying to find the
This behavior continues through most of the book, movie, or plaque in the Park that honors
article. California’s great writers. (See
At some point just before or after the climax, the main three bulletins starting July-
character (and maybe others) discovers that his belief is wrong. August 2008).
But it’s not enough to make that discovery; he must act on the Her work launched a quest to
new belief in order to convince readers his thinking has changed. find the trees and the plaque,
Most romantic comedies, and a lot of nonfiction life stories, fit which unearthed the rich
into this plot type. Remember Romancing the Stone with Kathleen artistic, civic, cultural, and
Turner and Michael Douglas? They hate each other on sight, and literary contributions of early
then decide, well, maybe not. By the end of the movie, we see that CWC members to Joaquin Miller
Kathleen Turner has reversed her mistaken beliefs about Michael Park and to California’s literary
Douglas because the romance book she’s writing, which is based and natural history. That
on their adventure, has the happy ending she longs for. He proves history will be celebrated in
he’s reversed his beliefs about her when he shows up in front of April as part of the first annual
her Manhattan apartment with a sailboat for them to sail away Friends of Joaquin Miller Park’s
together on. (FJMP) gathering, sponsored by
Try and Succeed the City of Oakland Parks and
In another popular plot type for fiction and nonfiction, the Recreation Department.
main character (characters or group) knows what he or she The CWC Central Board joined
wants and makes every effort to succeed at achieving the goal. Of FJMP last year. BB member
course, there are conflicts and blocks that cause him to fail. But Linda Brown represents the
he tries again, and again, each time with bigger efforts. With each CWC and is coordinating the
effort, he’s met with bigger conflicts or blocks. This happens at portion of the California History
least three times (since you don’t want to make it too easy), and Tour that recognizes and
eventually he succeeds—directly because of his efforts. Often, celebrates the CWC role, which
personal achievement stories, mysteries, and memoirs follow has become clear through the
this plot type. Sometimes, the main character doesn’t get what efforts the many CWC members*
he wants—remember William Macy’s character of the murdering who provided historical
husband in Fargo? But the writer has crafted the character in information. This Tour will show
such a way the readers and viewers are happy to see him fail.
continued page 10...
Wish Fulfillment *George Rathmell (Redwood Branch),
Think of Cinderella when you think of this plot type. She Dorothy Benson, Ray Faraday Nelson,
Dave Sawle (the Chapter History Project)
wishes and wishes, but she doesn’t do one single thing to get and Therese Pipe (all Berkeley Branch),
what she wants. The old Sandra Bullock movie, While You and Joyce Krieg (Central Coast Branch). AL
Levenson inspired the name of the event.
continued next page...

MARCH 2010 Write Angles • 5

PLOT TYPES continued...

Member
anything (I mean, look at her—she’s a wreck) to make her wish
happen. She and Cinderella get their happy endings because of
who they are, not what they do.
Stream of Consciousness or Excursion/Adventure
News
In this plot type, readers are dropped into a story and follow CWC BERKELEY BRANCH
a character (or characters) until some logical stopping point. The MEMBERS: Please send Write
character isn’t necessarily trying to accomplish anything, and Angles all the news about
there aren’t necessarily any challenges unless it’s an adventure. your life in the world of art,
There doesn’t have to be any character growth. The movie letters, and literature, however
Mission Impossible uses this as one of its plot types. So do some it expresses itself. Your efforts
children’s books, memoirs and self-help books. and accomplishments inspire
courage in others. writefox@aol.
The X Plot com
In a plot whose shape resembles the letter X, a character or
group starts out on top and falls to the bottom, while an opposing
On 3/6/10 at 3:30 p.m. JoAnn
character or group starts at the bottom and rises to the top. The
Smith Ainsworth will sign at
Firm is an example of this plot type, with the firm of attorneys
the Black Diamond RWA &
starting with all the power and the Tom Cruise character starting
Sacramento Valley Rose RWA
as an idealistic new lawyer. They engage in conflict, and the Tom
writing event and booksigning,
Cruise character emerges to take power against the defeated
CAPS Restaurant, 144 Oak Street,
attorneys.
Brentwood, CA 94513, 2nd Floor
Banquet Room.
Some books and movies have two or more plot types woven
into the story. In Romancing the Stone and The Firm, both have Kristen Caven kicks off publicity
characters who demonstrate the plot characteristics of Mistake/ for her new memoir, Perfectly
Discovery/Reversal, and Try and Succeed. Revolting: My Glamorous
Just a thought: Plots are satisfying when they go full circle. Cartooning Career, on March 14
In Fargo, the police chief is in bed talking to her husband when with a tea party at Mills College.
the movie starts, and they’re back in bed talking when the movie (RSVP to 510-430-2123 by
ends. Mission Impossible begins and ends in an airplane with a March 8 if you wish to attend.]
flight attendant giving the MI leader a DVD describing the next The book is about her journey as
mission. a young artist and scholar and is
Subplots (aka secondary plots) weave in and out of the illustrated with over 100 of her
main story to add complexity and dimension to fiction and cartoons. The narrative concludes
some nonfiction. They can provide relief from drama, add with a reprint of Inside the Mills
complications, and give readers more insights into the characters. Revolution, her award-winning
The same subplot can affect many or most of the characters, or (AND banned) cartoon account of
each can have his or her own. the student strike at Mills twenty
The back story (aka back plot) can also help make the story years ago this spring. www.
interesting. When you, the writer, know what happened to your kristencaven.com
characters before the story began, you’ll know how he is likely to
Exciting reading about Barbara
behave in certain situations. Sometimes you’ll show some back
Ruffner in Dave Newhouse’s
story in order to make your character(s) believable; sometimes to
Oakland Tribune column of
make them vulnerable. Some characters will do anything to hide
February 28, detailing her fifty-
their secrets.
eight years membership in
In closing, it occurs to me that we live our lives in these plot
the League of Woman Voters,
types—weaving in and out, sometimes changing one for another.
an organization that educates
Maybe that’s why we find them so satisfying when they’re part of
about nonpartisan issues and
the stories we read.
U encourages people to vote.

continued on next page...

MARCH 2010 Write Angles • 6

MEMBER NEWS
Continued....
Charlotte Cook has joined
award-winning screenwriter
Jon James Miller on the blog
“Adapting Sideways” (adapting-
sideways.blogspot.com), which
chronicles their work adapting
his screenplay into a novel and
precedes the already agented
book of the same title. Also
look for “Adapting Sideways”
workshops scheduled with
several Northern California CWC
groups.
Latest news about Francine
Thomas Howard: Her novel,
Page from a Tennessee
Journal, will be out in hard
cover on March 16. This is
the first of AmazonEncore’s
original manuscripts to be
released. Find out more
at francinethomashoward.
wordpress.com Look up Page
from a Tennessee Journal on
Amazon.com for the Francine
Thomas Howard page.
—Anne Fox  is your story, how unique or original, does it connect with the
Member
Profiles
The writers and members of
the CWC-Berkeley Branch are
as diverse as the East Bay
community. We continue our
monthly presentation of CWC-
Berkeley members in their own
words. Thomas Burchfield
is currently soliciting profiles
from club members so we
can get to know one another
better. Each month, we will
include four or five profiles in
See You There!
members’ own words. If you
would like to share your profile
(150 word limit) and want more
continued on next page...
MARCH 2010
CRAFT, STORY AND VOICE
by Rachelle Gardner, literary agent
Courtesy of Rachelle’s Rants & Ravings blog at wordserveliterary.com
One of the most common things I hear from writers lately
is, “You’ve told us a lot about what makes you say no to a book.
Now tell us what makes you say yes.” So yesterday I wrote that I
love when I can sense the writing is authentic and true.
Today I want to take it further and identify three basic
things that are immediately apparent to agents and editors when
we read and evaluate your work, and they make the difference
between yes and no.
Craft.
. . . . Story.
. . . . . . . . Voice.
Of course, the elements are intertwined, but it’s helpful to
artificially separate them in order to understand why a book is
either working—or not.
Craft refers to the mechanics of fiction: plot,
characterization, dialogue, pacing, flow, scene-crafting, dramatic
structure, point-of-view, etc. I think craft is pretty easy to teach
and it’s easy to learn. It’s technique, the foundation upon which
writers use their artistic skill to build their story. Knowing the
mechanics of craft enables you to use it to create the effect you
want.
Story refers to the page-turning factor: how compelling
reader, is there that certain spark that makes it jump off the
page? Is it sufficiently suspenseful or romantic (as appropriate)?
Does it open with a scene that intrigues and makes the reader
want to know more? Story comes from the imagination of the
writer and is much more difficult to teach than craft (if it can be
taught at all).
Voice is the expression of you on the page—your originality
and the courage to express it. Voice is what you develop when
you practice what we talked about yesterday—writing what you
know. It’s the unfettered, non-derivative, unique conglomeration
of your thoughts, feelings, passions, dreams, beliefs, fears and
attitudes, coming through in every word you write.
Without a doubt, whenever I read a new manuscript and
fall in love with it, the deciding factor most of the time is the
voice.
So how do you find your voice? You can’t learn it. You can’t
copy it. Voice isn’t a matter of studying. You have to find it. And
the way to do that is by writing, and experimenting, and seeing
what kind of response you get from others, and writing some
more. And some more.
Putting it All Together
I receive numerous projects that show strong technique,
continued next page...
Write Angles • 7
CS & V continued ...
but no originality or heart. In a way, this is good because it shows MEMBER PROFILES
Continued....
that writers are paying attention to their craft. They’re taking the
time and making the effort to learn to write, which is fantastic. information on what we’re
But some of them lack a strong story, and others don’t have looking for, email Thomas at
a compelling or unique voice. These writers just need to keep tbdeluxe@sbcglobal.net. We
working on it. look forward to hearing from
I think some writers find craft easier, and others find story you!
comes more naturally. A few writers have a strong voice right out
of the box; most writers have to work for years to develop one. Tanya Grove
When you read published books that don’t seem to “follow I write short stories, personal
the rules” of craft that you’ve worked so hard to learn, instead essays, and humorous children’s
of getting mad and throwing the book across the room, try to poetry. Currently, I’m working
determine if maybe that book got published because of the story, on my first novel for girls in
rather than technical perfection. Ask yourself whether the author grades six to nine. I joined
has a pleasing or compelling voice that makes you want to read, CWC in November 2009 with
despite technical imperfection. the notion that becoming part
If your storytelling and/or the voice is powerful enough, of a writers’ community might
readers will forgive an awful lot of flaws in technique... and so will make me feel more like an
agents and editors. On the other hand, all the perfect “craft” in actual writer. I live in Berkeley,
the world can’t make an unimaginative book shine. and my day job is copyediting
If editors and agents are looking at your samples and and proofreading books in a
immediately criticizing your craft, be aware this means they aren’t wide range of topics, including
able to see a fabulous story in there and they’re probably not business, health, and politics.
compelled by your voice. Either it doesn’t exist to begin with, or Over a year ago, I “retired” from
it’s camouflaged by your lack of expertise in fiction technique. teaching elementary school—
So craft, story and voice all work together to create a winning think hostile takeover—and ever
work of fiction. Of the three, story and voice are my primary since then, I’ve been writing with
considerations when searching for new writers. the goal of being published. My
g file of rejection letters grows ever
fatter, but my determination
has not diminished. On Tuesday
SHOP TALK #2 mornings, I am a writer coach
at King Middle School, where I
THE STORY OF A NOVEL:
WRITE BADLY
praise, cajole, edit, and make
suggestions to eighth graders. My
literary heroes are Eve Bunting,
Shel Silverstein, Barbara
by Thomas Burchfield Kingsolver, and Dr. Seuss.

Greetings, and thank you for reading this. What follows is Jeffrey Kingman
the second in a series of essays on the writing of my recently I have two degrees in Music
completed novel, Dragon’s Ark. Composition, but I switched from
writing music to fiction about
As I read the first draft of my novel Dragon’s Ark for the very twelve years ago. My novel, Moto
first time, the voices of angry critics rumbled through my brain: Girl, is a family drama about
“Worst novel I’ve ever read! I’ve always been a First Amendment a twelve-year-old motorcyclist
stalwart, but this vile excrementive pile has changed my mind!”. in a desperate situation. A
—San Francisco Chronicle. book trailer for Moto Girl will
be posted on Youtube soon.
“It wasn’t until I closed the book and threw it in the incinerator that
My other book is called Two
the stench that permeated the room faded away.”.
—The New Yorker. Mountains and Other Stories;
two of the stories have been

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MARCH 2010 Write Angles • 8


published. A third story will
be published this spring in
the Schuylkill Valley Journal.
I recently joined CWC and
have already met lots of great
folks. I highly recommend it.
I work at the reference desk
at my local public library. I’m
lucky to have a job where I’m
surrounded by books. I like
the way books look, feel, and
smell. (If you haven’t yet had
a chance to smell a Kindle, get
ready for a disappointment.)
You can find me here: www.
jeffkingman.com, www.
redroom.com, jkingman@
mindspring.com.
Janell Moon
Janell Moon’s memoir, Salt
and Paper: Creative Aging,
is forthcoming in the fall of
2010 by RAW ArT PRESS.
She is the author of ten
books of spiritual nonfiction
and poetry. Stirring the
Waters: Writing to Find the
Spirit (Charles Tuttle) was
nominated for the Nautilus
Prize as one the five best
spirituality books of 2002;
The Wise Earth Speaks to
Your Spirit was voted one of
the best spirituality books of
2005 by Health and Nature
Magazine. Of her six volumes
of poetry, one won the
National Stonewall Prize and
another, Riding Free in a New
Studebaker, was published as
Editor’s Choice in the Main
Street Rag’s National Poetry
Contest.
—-Thomas Burchfield
T
MARCH 2010
WRITE BADLY, continued...
“I can’t take it anymore! Hand me that revolver!” .
—Publisher’s Weekly (deceased).
OK, it wasn’t that bad...but reading Draft #1 of Dragon’s Ark
had all the pleasures of a bad high school memory: a sour sauce
of embarrassment and anguish. Once in awhile, say every ten
pages, I glimpsed life glittering on a black mysterious pool and
sensed a sweet supernatural twinge; more often, the prose was
rotting algae on a deoxygenized pond. In places, I hadn’t a clue
about what I was doing. Toward the end, I saw I’d neglected an
important character and then spent fifty pages fleshing him out.
Draft #1 was exactly the bad, unpublishable mess I
expected: With so many loose ends, it rolled around like an
octopus trapped in a front-loading washer. But you know
something? Big Effing Surprise. I felt no guilt or paralysis. Why?
Because I hadn’t shown it to anybody! Not even darling
Elizabeth. My mistakes were mine alone to suffer with. I found
out many years ago that the only thing I ever learned from
showing a first draft was the most obvious one: “Your book
sucks!” Usually, this news comes flavored with schadenfreude
and resentment (“You’ve wasted precious moments of my life!”)
that crush the morale needed for the second draft, which, if ever
finished, is written so as not to provoke more anger. It ends with
a book that is nice, formulaic, and safe. Or never finished at all.
This is my problem of course. I’m too sensitive. Yelling has
never worked with me, especially over something as unimportant
in Life’s Scheme as a novel. Back in the old days, I also believed
that perfect sentences always fluttered like lovely lightning bolts
from the fingertips of the great; that inky pearls of beauty poured
from Shakespeare’s pen with every second he spent at his writing
desk. Do-overs were for losers! First thought, best thought!
Otherwise, keep it to yourself!
I had to get over that and learn to be alone with my work;
to be my own best critic: sharp, hard-nosed, but humorous and
patient patient patient in the faith that somehow I would make it
better. The point is not whether I write badly. The point is that I
recognize when the writing is bad and then make it better.
Despite the flat characterizations, rushed, weedy,
storytelling, dithering plot lines and paucity of convincing detail
in the first draft, the basic story of Dragon’s Ark still seemed
sound. The ending seemed especially good, which I don’t see
often in supernatural novels. Many of them, even after the most
evocative and exquisitely poetic buildup, often collapse in a
confusion of blood and fire.
Draft #1 came out around five hundred pages. Some months
later, Draft #2 came in longer by ten chapters and a hundred-
plus pages. (Three of those chapters were ripped from that fifty-
page monster I wrote in the first draft.) But that was not a bad
thing. It was longer, I suspected, because I knew and understood
more.
By the time I’d started Draft #2, I’d drawn a crude map
continued on next page...
Write Angles • 9
WRITE BADLY, continued

of the location. The real Alpine County, where my story and I Positions

OPEN
met, turned out to be too underpopulated and lacked certain
geographical features I needed. I created an imaginary county,
though I left some local landmarks with new names. In addition
to new geography, I built a whole new town.
As I marched through Draft #2, I constructed an “events
calendar.” As I finished each chapter, I entered the following
information:
CHAPTER NUMBER A club position looks great
TIME/DATE(S) on your writer’s résumé!
LOCATION(S) ANOTHER INTERN needed to
CHARACTERS help with the WestSide Story
PLOT/STORY Contest. Contact Tatjana Greiner
This was only one step in that bureaucracy I mentioned in at wordshop@mac.com
last article. The creation of this Monster Bird’s-Eye view helped
establish a window of time within which the action takes place. MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
It assisted with plot, continuity and pacing, and the analysis and members needed to:
cutting and rejoining chapters and scenes. • Chair committee and attend
I also settled the point of view (POV) issue, a crucial decision board meetings
in all fiction. Genre fiction is often told in the first person.
Dracula famously did this through diaries, letters, and articles, a • Help make people feel
technique that allowed Bram Stoker to flit in and out of various welcome and follow up with
POVs. Peter Straub’s most masterly Ghost Story goes in and out inquiries and drop-ins.
of first and third without using media.
• keep track of member list and
I chose to tell Dragon’s Ark in the third person, with
contact information.
multiple singular POVs: two major POVs and four or five minor,
one POV per chapter (with one or two exceptions). I considered Contact AL at calwritersclub@
cutting down to two POVs only. While this might have created a gmail.com.
more intense experience, it would also create a claustrophobic
subjective experience, similar to stories written by the English PROGRAM CHAIR Contact AL at
master Ramsey Campbell. But I wanted to read something more calwritersclub@gmail.com.
epic. * * *
Before I waded into Draft #3, I took only two weeks off. Time
to get on with it. “I think you’ve got something here,” the Muse Thank you to Lloyd Lofthouse,
had whispered the first time. Now her voice had grown urgent: our new Vice President
“Wait no more! Go on! Write badly!” of Marketing and Website
t coordinator! Send Web updates
to Lloyd at LFLwriter@sbcglobal.
net.

WALKIN’ continued from p. 5... Thank you, Alison Huetter, our

new WA designer-in-training!
how much the vision of one writer shaped the landscape and the culture
of our vibrantly eclectic city, and how our club expanded Miller’s vision * * *

W
to create a special place for many people to enjoy and find inspiration.

Please join us for the first annual gathering of this group on elcome
Sunday, April 25, from 10:00-3:00 pm at Joaquin Miller Park in
Oakland. After the meeting, BB member Kristen Caven will lead the
New Members!
group in a singalong of her song, “Joaquin Miller Went Walkin’,” and
(handicap accessible) tours of the park will begin. Each self-guided tour Alysa Chadow, Kymberlie
Ingalls, Trena Machado, and
will feature docents from different groups who have a stake in the park.
John Q. McDonald!
Volunteers from the CWC are needed to read literary excerpts from early
CWC members as well as their own works.
continued on next page...

MARCH 2010 Write Angles • 10

 Member Marketplace BERKELEY CWC
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SERVICES FOR WRITERS
Saturday Literary Salons * President: AL Levenson
Weeklong Themed Writers
Studio Retreats Vice President: Dave Sawle
Community Ed Classes: Vice President/Marketing: Lloyd
Memoir, Fiction, Travel Lofthouse
Stories, Griefwriting
Writer Coaching: Secretary: Jane Glendinning
Approaches to Starting,
Overcoming Obstacles, Treasurer: Carlene Cole
Finishing Membership: AL Levenson
Manuscript Editing:
Developmental Feedback, Publicity Chair: Linda Brown
Hands-On Line Editing,
Proofreading Thomas Burchfield Program Chair: OPEN
Writer/Professor Marianne
Rogoff * morogoff@gmail. Editing & Writing Services Workshop Chair: Risa Nye
com * 415.455.0781 Newsletter Editor: AL Levenson
Tel. (510) 547-1092 • Cell (510) 541-1991
Copyeditor: Anne Fox
Cover image: “To Leon, Newsletter Design/Production:
from his battered [?] Kristen Caven
namesake, Harry Leon
Wilson.” Carmel, July 27 Webmaster: Lloyd Lofthouse
1925. Edward Weston,
1935 [photographer] Delegate to Central Board: Linda
Contributing Institution: Brown
The Bancroft Library.
University of California,
Delegate to CWC-Norcal: Lloyd
Berkeley. Lofthouse
5th Grade Story Contest: Lucille
Bellucci
WestSide Story Contest: Tatjana
WALKIN’ continued...
Greiner
Our volunteers will also educate participants about the CWC’s enduring
legacy of “Woodminster, the Cathedral in the Woods” dedicated to past
and future California writers, including the California Writers Memorial
Grove; Joaquin’s artistic retreat in the Hills; his “Temple of the Gods”
with the Cascades, pools, fountains, and outdoor amphitheater; and
the Fire Circle, where young writers of the future will read. The CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB
is dedicated to educating members
A display table will feature literary works by current CWC members and the public-at-large in the craft
before and after the one-hour morning business meeting. Please contact of writing and in the marketing of
Linda Brown at BrownCalifornia@aol.com if you would like to help their work. For more information,
visit our Web site at cwc-berkeley.
organize our efforts, be a docent, help at the display table, donate a com.
book, or display your marketing materials with the Club. Friends and
Copyright © 2010 by the California
members interested in reading the literary works of early CWC members Writers Club, Berkeley Branch.
and sharing their current work can contact Nina Egert (CWC-Mt. Diablo) All rights reserved. Write Angles
at ninegert@sbcglobal.net. is published 10 times a year
(September-June) by the California
—Linda Brown & Kristen Caven Writers Club, Berkeley Branch,
on behalf of its members. CWC
assumes no legal liability or
of the

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MARCH 2010 Write Angles • 11

 California Writers Club – NorCal Presents:

“Writing in the Redwoods”

Imagine yourself writing in the
beauty and serenity of a redwood
forest. Don’t just dream it, do it! The
Northern California branches of
California Writers Club are
sponsoring a three day retreat in the
Santa Cruz Mountains. This is the
perfect opportunity to polish your
novel . . . get started on your memoir
. . . finish that poetry chapbook . . .
far from the distractions of everyday
life, and with the companionship of
fellow creative souls.

When: April 5-6-7 (with option to stay at the retreat center through April 9)

Where: Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center, near Corralitos in the Santa Cruz
Mountains http://www.polmountainretreat.com

Cost: $206 for two nights, three days, including all meals

Facilitators: Volunteers from CWC will act as facilitators; however, the emphasis
is on quiet, independent time for writing. In addition to writing, there are walking
paths and an outdoor pool, as well as a meditation shrine and amphitheater
available for your use.

For More Information: Contact Dale King, deking8@msn.com

SOLD OUT
inquire to get on waiting list

MARCH 2010 Write Angles • 12