October 28, 2009
November 2009 Meeting
Saturday, November 14, 2009
9:00 a.m. — 11:00 a.m.
Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500
What Next?
- So you’ve finished your manuscript and you’re wondering: What next? Do I revise? Do I work on something else? And then, after you’ve worked on polishing that manuscript for a while, you wonder: Is it ready to submit? How do I figure out whether to submit to a publishing house or an agent? This month, we’ll be trying to answer some of these “what next?” questions when it comes to writing/publishing.
August 1, 2009
August 2009 Meeting
Saturday, August 8, 2009
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500
Discussion Topic: Plot or Plod?
- This month, we’ll be trying to answer some of the following questions:
- How much action/tension should a book have?
- How do you deal with a “sagging middle”?
- How often and how long should you let your readers “rest” between conflicts?
- How do you keep the momentum going in the story?
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For more information about MTCW, click here.
July 8, 2009
July 2009 Meeting
Saturday, July 11, 2009
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500
Discussion Topic: Scenes, Disasters, and Consequences: Hooking the Reader
- To continue with our discussion begun so wonderfully by last month’s guest speaker, Tamara Leigh, on Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts, this month, we’ll be looking at how to write scenes that propel the story forward and keep the reader hooked, while also incorporating those character goals, motivations, and conflicts we’ve been learning about.
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Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each October, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.
For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.
April 26, 2009
May 2009 Meeting
Saturday, May 9, 2008
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500
Discussion Topic: Using Point of View to Deepen Description & Character Development
- To wrap up our three-month series on Description, we’ll look at how to use Deep Point of View to craft descriptions of setting and characters without garnering comments like “telling” or “author intrusion” from critique partners, contest judges, and editors. We’ll look at how determining each viewpoint character’s unique internal language can add depth and layer to descriptions, and we’ll also discuss how to show and not tell what things/people look like from our character’s viewpoints.
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Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each October, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.
For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.
April 1, 2009
April 2009 Meeting
Saturday, April 11, 2008
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN TIME!
Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500
Discussion Topic: Character Descriptions & Development
- We’ve all been told “don’t overdo the descriptions” when writing. But how do we know how much is enough and how much is too much? We’ll be looking at how genre affects the technique of writing descriptions of characters, along with looking at some classic and some contemporary examples of how published authors handle it. If time permits, we’ll also discuss how we develop characters and look at some ways to develop quirks and mannerisms to make our characters unique.
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Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each October, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.
For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.
March 6, 2009
March 2009 Meeting
Saturday, March 14, 2008
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN TIME!
Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500
Discussion Topic: Writing Descriptions
- We’ve all been told “don’t overdo the descriptions” when writing. But how do we know how much is enough and how much is too much? We’ll be looking at how genre affects the technique of writing descriptions of settings and characters, along with looking at some classic and some contemporary examples of how published authors handle it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each October, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.
For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.
January 27, 2009
February 2009 Meeting
Saturday, February 14, 2008
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN TIME!
Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500
Discussion Topic: The Dreaded Synopsis
- Writing the synopsis can be one of the most dreaded tasks for a fiction writer. This workshop will provide strategies and tips to help make it a little less dreadful, by covering the following:
–Clarity: figuring out what you wrote (are going to write)
–What Is Your Story About? (theme and conflict)
–What Is Your Plot?
–Stakeholders (main characters)
–The Seven Story Beats
–The Long and the Short of It (long vs. short synopses)
–Writing and Formatting the Synopsis
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Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each October, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.
For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.

Debora Coty is a mother of two, the wife of one, and the primary zookeeper of a myriad of Coty creatures. In addition to her prolific work as an internationally published freelance writer, fiction author, event speaker, and newspaper columnist, Deb is a piano teacher and an occupational therapist. She is the author of The Distant Shore and Billowing Sails, historical novels for young adults. Visit her online at 