Dogpatch Writers Collective

by Laurel Leigh | February 17, 2013 · 2:58 pm

What a Feelin’!

Happy 30th!

It’s been three decades since director Adrian Lyne brought us the film Flashdance. In case you missed it (or were just a playful glint in some hot postman’s eye when it premiered), you can relive the same story structure in Coyote Ugly from 2000, directed by David McNally and featuring a gutsy blonde wannabe singer instead of a gutsy dark-haired wannabe dancer.

In celebration of Flashdance, my favorite-ist film ever, until Jan de Bont gave the world Speed in 1994—here you may be excused if you are now bored out of your skull, but the film Speed beautifully illustrates three-act structure, and you can learn a lot by watching it 50 or 60 times. Plus, whichever way you swing, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are easy on the eyes—anyway, I put on my well-used Flashdance CD and started dancing around my bedroom in the shirt I’ve been wearing for 48 hours and my long underwear, doing my best Jennifer Beals imitation—or for any of you purists out there, my best Marine Jahan imitation. Continue reading →

16 Comments

Filed under Rants

Tagged as Coyote Ugly, Dirty Dancing, Eighties, Flashdance, Leg Warmers, Speed, Staying Alive

by Dogpatch Writers Collective | February 8, 2013 · 9:44 pm

Group Writing Critique: “Holiday Parade” by Lisa Lynne Lewis

Welcome to the dogfight! Dogpatch Writers Collective occasionally posts excerpts of our group critiques of work in progress, and your comments are welcomed! For this round we requested a story from Southern California–based writer Lisa Lynne Lewis (see her bio below). We very much enjoyed reading “Holiday Parade” and give our thanks to Lisa for being part of this forum. This was a particularly interesting endeavor for us, as we all had a slightly different takeaway from the story, which made for a thoughtful as well as enjoyable discussion. You can find more of Lisa’s work at Literary Mama.

From “Holiday Parade”

Emily held her pink-mittened hands over her ears. “Why do they have to do that? It’s so loud!”

Debra looked at her daughter, hands still over her ears, her light-brown hair spilling over the fake fur hood of her silver parka. She’d seemed pretty unconcerned about the lockdown when Debra had picked her up after school on Monday. “It was gross when they made the boys pee in the trashcan,” she confided in Debra. “Mitchell and Ben really had to go, but the teacher wouldn’t let them out to go to the boy’s bathroom.”

“That is kind of gross,” Debra agreed.

“But it was in the corner and she put the flip chart in front of it so we couldn’t see,” Emily added. “So it was OK.”

Comments from the Dogpatch:

Thanks for the story, Lisa! Here are my thoughts: This piece is about being safe in the world and the folly of thinking we can be “safe” anywhere. This delusion is and should be owned solely by children. Being a parent, I identify with this theme as my son gets older and loses his innocence. And I see this in action when parents move out of the city to the “safe” suburbs or small town rural areas. It’s a timely topic, given the recent massacre on the East Coast. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under Craft, Dogfight

Tagged as group writing critique, Lewis Buzbee, Lisa Lynne Lewis, Literary Mama, lockdown, Modern Love Rejects, Sophie's Choice

by Jilanne Hoffmann | February 8, 2013 · 2:42 pm

The Grapes of Mocking

I had to re-blog this from 101books.net. It is just too hilarious. Thank you, Robert!

Steinbeck Mocks the Publishing Process

Pack News

Welcome to another year in the Dogpatch! 2013 marks our fourteenth year as a writing collective and second year as a group blog. Here are some quick updates from members of the Pack:

Going forward, Eamon will publish on this site under his pen name, Wes Pierce, the name under which he writes and submits.

Laurel Leigh is really happy to be a member of the Dogpatch Writers Collective, which has outlasted her dental work, a couple cars, and most of the pairs of shoes she owns. She invites you to join her at Village Books in Bellingham the last Monday of each month for writers’ open mic. As emcee, it is her mission to make you feel welcome at open mic as well as let you sleep on her sofa if you travel more than 1,000 miles to attend. (Be advised: Her dog may sleep on your feet and snores.) She will again teach Knockout Editing and co-teach Writing Children’s Literature for Western Washington University’s Continuing Education in the spring and will guest teach a Pitching 101 session at the Chuckanut Writers Conference in June.

Jilanne Hoffmann is busy revising a picture book trilogy in preparation for pitching at the SCBWI regional conference (Asilomar) at the beginning of March. She will also be applying for the Squaw Valley Writers Workshop held this year in July. Jilanne has a few other marshmallows browning over the coals; maybe someone will catch them before they fall off the stick and into the fire.

David Marx will provide updates when he returns from his “fishing” trip.

He’d better come back with a ton of words on the page.

Dogpatch Writers Collective is seeking occasional guest bloggers to write posts about steering the writing craft. Please reply to this post if you are interested. We will need to know the topic of your proposed post and that you have an active blog.

To all of our readers and fellow writers, thank you for reading and best of luck with your projects in this new year!

—David, Jilanne, Laurel, and “Wes”

Cate Perry on Hooking

Dogpatch Writers Collective welcomes guest contributor Cate Perry.

Angela sat on the edge of the hospital bed, letting the news sink in: Her own heart was a ticking time bomb.

Now that I’ve got your attention, allow me to take a step back and tell you Angela’s life story in 100% exposition. She was born on May 7, 1985. She had blonde curly hair that turned brown over time. She never caused her parents any trouble. Now she works as a receptionist for Happy Days Travel Agency. Every day at breakfast, she eats an apple and blah, blah, BLAH!!!

We’ve all heard the bleak news about slush piles. Agent panels at writers’ conferences around North America tell us 95% of their submissions are crap, while 5% are decent enough to read past the first couple pages. And when we hear this, we simultaneously ask ourselves the same, pleading silent question: Would my work merit that 5%?

When I started as an intern for a literary agency five years ago, I got to answer that question for myself. Moreover, I got to see the 95% who got rejected and why. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under Craft, Publication

Tagged as agenting, Cate Perry, creative writing, getting published, story hooks

by Dogpatch Writers Collective | January 15, 2013 · 5:09 pm

Cecile’s Writers in The Hague

Dogpatch Writers Collective salutes Cecile’s Writers in The Hague. We hope you all go there—virtually at least. Cecile’s Writers is a quartet of talented writers that has launched a literary journal called Cecile’s Writers’ Magazine, publishing work by intercultural authors. Check out their awesome blog as well as submission guidelines at http://cecileswriters.wordpress.com/.

Props to this hardworking group—Sofia, Samir, Vanessa, and Cecile—for expanding the conversation within the world writing community and working to offer a platform for other writers to showcase their work.

As the writing god Steve Almond would say: Carry on, comrades!

2 Comments

Filed under Publication

Tagged as Cecile's Writers, Steve Almond, submissions, The Hague

by Jilanne Hoffmann | January 5, 2013 · 12:08 am

Composting 101

Symptoms	Problem	Solutions
Story has unpleasant odor.	Not enough air due to overwrought word choice or compaction. If there is an odor of ammonia, too much pure crap is standing in the way of the real story.	Strip the pile of its dense, soggy materials and replace with crisp, crackling prose to soak up excess bulls#!t. Turn the pile, add fresh material, and move narrative elements around to aerate. Cover pile (put in drawer to rest) until inclement weather subsides.
Story is rich and warm only in the center. Failure to build heat/tension.	Pile is too small. Narrative elements are missing. Insufficient conflict. Not enough air. See first symptom. Lack of nitrogen. Rich material is superficial. Go deeper.	Make pile bigger. Identify missing narrative elements. Add water by sticking a garden hose into the center in several locations. Turn the pile to aerate narrative elements. Mix in nitrogen, otherwise known as conflict. Add or remove backstory. Toss and start over!!!!
Story temperature exceeds 160°F.	Not enough air, lack of carbon, prose is turning purple.	Turn the pile to aerate. Mix in 2 parts Hemingway for every one part bad Faulkner.
Large, undecomposed items remain in the story even after considerable time has passed.	Ya got some clunkers there.	Read to friends and remove sections that make them grimace. Shred clunkers before adding new material.
In the middle of the night, rodents, coyotes, and raccoons lurk in the shadows near the story, waiting for a chance to raid the juicy bits.	Your prose is attracting aggressive nocturnal elements.	This is usually a sign that the writing is going well. Animal-proof your work area only if this bothers you.

5 Comments

Filed under Craft

Tagged as compost, compost pile, composting, conflict, craft, Faulkner, Hemingway, my story stinks, narrative elements, nitrogen, organic matter, purple prose, rough draft, tension, unpleasant odor, writing

by Laurel Leigh | January 2, 2013 · 7:45 pm

Too Much In the Sun

Dear Writers:

The behavior of couples in coffee shops is endlessly fascinating to me. There’s the match/e-harmony/zoosk/cupid.com-type coffee dates, all pressed and dressed and cute and eager, one of them hoping for 25 years of loving matrimony, the other angling for 25 minutes in the sack; the omg-we’re-soooo-in-love-and-have-pet-names-for-each-other-that-seriously-annoy-everyone-else-as-if-we-all-haven’t-had-our-own-schmoopie-at-one-time-or-another cuddly pair; the “study” dates, where he’s clearly enamored with her and she thinks of him as her practically-a-girlfriend-who-happens-to-be-really-good-at-chemistry or vice versa; the been-together-too-long-and-could-barely-stand-each-other to-begin-with ones, and my personal faves, the too-quirky-for-a-category couple. Of course, I eavesdrop on them all, because you can pick up really good dialogue to use in stories, plus I’m nosy as hell.

The last pair I observed had difficulty agreeing on where to sit. She unloaded her coat, ample purse, phone, bagle, napkins, and latte at a table by the window, but her mate protested:

Him: Not that table.

Her: But I already put my stuff down.

Him: But do you remember, how we were sitting there and the sun got in my eyes?

Her: Yes, but the sun isn’t shining.

Him: But do you remember how it was?

Her: Uh-huh.

[Repeat the “Do you remember” “Uh-huh” bit a few times with increasing plaintiveness on his part and increasing annoyance on hers.]

Her: Okay, but like I said, the sun isn’t shining.

Him: But it will be eventually.

Gotta love a guy who can efficiently anticipate peril, get being upset done with in advance, and get his gal to sigh loudly, scoop up her coat, purse, phone, bagel, napkins, and latte and relocate to another table four feet away to avoid a problem that hasn’t actually happened and by the look of the sky ain’t gonna. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under Craft, Notes from the coffee shop

Tagged as character obstacles, coffee, coffee dates, creative writing

by Laurel Leigh | December 20, 2012 · 2:11 pm

A Writer Becomes an Orphan by Jilanne Hoffmann

Dear Writers,

Our pack member Jilanne Hoffmann posted this moving piece on her personal blog. Indeed, it is the writer’s gift and burden to be able to write about something heartbreaking in a beautiful and passionate fashion. Thank you, Jill.

http://jilannehoffmann.com/2012/12/18/a-writer-becomes-an-orphan/#more-783