BB Feedback Group Schedule +Announcements 5/18-24
Book Buddies — hey hey!
I hope you all had a great weekend and if you’re in the New England/East Coast area are enjoying this first real taste of summer we’re getting. The Kill Your Darlings Reading Series this weekend was incredible. I hope to see some of you next time, on July 18. We’ve got Erin Somers, Natalie Lemle, and Sarah Browning reading. It should be great.
If you know anyone who isn’t yet a Book Buddy who you think would like it and would maybe wanna try, let them know! Here’s the link to register: https://www.katesenecal.com/store/p/book-buddies-gen-writing-single-session-drop-in. It’s $25 for a single session.
Mark Your Calendars! Summer Book Buddy Weekend is BOOKED!
Last year in August we had a lovely weekend extravaganza here in Easthampton starting with a daylong retreat on a Saturday then we gathered at Nonotuc Park for a little party on Sunday. Good news! We’re doing it again! I’ve just booked our usual retreat space for Saturday August 8th! Remember, you get a discount using the BOOKBUDDY10 code upon check out (10%), and if you’re itching to register early you can do so using this link. I’m in process planning a little party for us on August 9, but if all goes well, I’ll hold it this year at Darlings where we do the reading series in the afternoon. I have to be sure I can book the space, so I’ll get back to you once it’s secure, but it’s a little bar/cafe set up and is family friendly. They have desserts, coffee, cocktails, wine/beer, mocktails, and other snacks. My hope is that we can hang together, and then at the end have a little open mic! Stay tuned. Will let you know when that’s all settled.
If you hope to come that weekend and are traveling from outside of western MA, let me know! I might be able to help you find lodging.
Book Club
I’m moving book club back to Mondays! So this means our next one will be June 15th not the 16th. Garth is going to sub for me on 6/15 so I can attend Heather Abel’s book launch at the Odyssey Bookshop. Are you interested in coming to see Heather with me? Let me know, and register using this link (it’s free!)
For this one we’re reading Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate.But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.
I think it sounds rad and hope you read it.
Feedback Group Submission Schedules!
IRL Group Wednesdays @ beautyland 6:30-8:30: The next meeting is May 27 and Aimee and Rich are up for floor time, pages due May 20
Noon Crew Thursdays 12pm - 1:30: The next meeting is May 28 and Jill is up with pages due on May 21.
Weirdlings Wednesdays 12pm - 1:30: Ed has the floor for the May 28 meeting, pages due on May 20.
Kool Kids Thursdays at 7pm - 8:30: Our next meeting is May 21, and Rebecca has the floor. Her pages are already in, and don’t forget we have time to do some craft geeking out so come with questions/discussion topics! The meeting after that is June 4th and Morgan has first dibs at floor time if she’s ready. If not, we’ll work in the schedule next time!
OG Crew Thursdays at 7:30pm - 9: The next meeting is on May 28. Malavika and Garth will have floor time in honor of Malavika’s last meeting before she’s traveling this summer. Pages are due May 21. The following meeting is June 11 and Danae and Kristina have floor time then.
Saturday besties 12:30pm - 2: The next meeting is May 23 and Ali and Georgia have the floor, pages due ASAP
Gen writing Prompt for this week:
Two Sides of the Story
We talk a lot in the writing world about unreliable narrators, and when this label comes up it’s typically in reference to a narrator who owns the story but straight up lies sometimes. A narrator who lies might do so in order to create a surprising reveal at some point in the story, or to create tension between two characters who have a different understanding of what’s true. In some ways, every narrator is unreliable in the sense that the human who is telling the story always brings their own filter, their own experiences, their own perspective to the table; and so the story will always bend to their particular spin. This is different than telling an outright lie, which some deeply unreliable characters do, but any first person narrator/very close third person narrator brings some unreliability to the page.
I’d like to play with unreliability in a super direct way this week by pitting two characters’ versions of the same story against each other.
Here’s how:
Begin a new piece in the genre of your choice or scene in a WIP by writing a scene that involves two people from the first person POV of one of them. In the scene they should have a disagreement, and their belief in their side of the story should inform how they will behave in the next scene. After you finish writing the scene from that first character’s perspective, write it again in the others’ and make sure their take has at least two points of wild differentiation from the other characters’ opinions/perception/remembrance of “factual” events. Anything can happen in the scene and here are some ideas of what the relationship between the two people could be:
First date, match made on the apps
A parent and their adult child who have thus far been estranged and are reuniting/parent and their adult child who see each other often
Job seeker and potential future boss
Two longtime best friends
Two people present at a bank robbery or some other public and jarring event
Therapist and client
Siblings of any age
Coach and player
Neighbors
Thats all for now folks! Keep after it! Can’t wait to see you all this week.
Your bestie for life —
Kate
