The SCWW Board of Directors will hold their first meeting of the year on Saturday, January 13 at 11:00 in the downstairs meeting room at the Lexington County Public Library - Cayce, 1500 Augusta Road, Columbia. Any SCWW member who desires is welcome to attend.

Despite copious amounts of begging and pleading on the part of the current chapter president, no one else has volunteered to run for the office. Congratulations, and thank you, to John Migacz for agreeing to serve another term.

Author and Greenville chapter member Bob Strother launched his new website, www.bobstrother.net, last month. It looks great! It features Bob's book, Love Among the Greeks, short stories, news, and an author bio.

Acting on the recommendation of fictional literary agent Miss Snark, Susan Boyer entered her story "Hogwash" in the Spinetingler Magazine Cozy Noir competition. Not only is her story appearing in the winter e-zine issue and the printed version, Susan is being paid for it!

Bob Strother was interviewed this month by Judyth Piazza on "The American Perspective," a "cutting edge radio program that is full of inspiration and information. It's intended to help people succeed in life. Each week the American Perspective features celebrity guests from around the nation such as Zig Ziglar, Yolanda King, Tony Little, Mark Victor Hansen, and Dave Ramsey."

An article about Bob, including a transcript of the interview, is available on-line at www.thesop.org/index.php?id=3523 and the podcast is at www.thesop.org/index.php?id=3407.

The Writing Room, sponsored by the Emrys Foundation, is now offering a second round of workshops and seminars for writers of all levels in the Upstate. There will be workshops for writers of fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, poetry and writing for children. There will also be several Saturday seminars. For a full description and schedule of all the Writing Room's workshops and seminars, visit www.emrys.org. Click on one of the links under "New Program: Writing Room Winter/Spring 2007" at the top of the Emrys home page.

Previously unpublished short stories up to 2,500 words are sought in this annual competition sponsored by "The Post and Courier" and the South Carolina Arts Commission. Entry fees: None. Deadline: January 15. Prizes: Twelve cash awards of $500. Open only to residents of South Carolina. See their website at http://www.southcarolinaarts.com/fictionproject

The Iodine Literary Conference, "Bringing the Publishers to the Writers," will be held in Beaufort, SC on January 26 and 27, 2007.

SCWW Advisor Bob Mayer will be presenting a "Writer's Boot Camp" with Nadia Cornier of the Firebrand Literary Agency of New York.

For more information, see the Iodine Literary Conference website.

They may appear normal on the outside — like the friendly pharmacist at CVS, the helpful real estate agent, or the guy who relines your brakes — but make no mistake about it. Would-be book burners walk among us! Nowhere is that threat more evident than in Pat Stewart's latest essay, "More On Banned Books."

Fortunately for those of us who aspire to authorship, Pat is a member of the "Elementary Material Review Committee," a group that meets to review books some parents want removed from school libraries. Her essay recounts efforts to forever ban a number of well-known authors' works: Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic, Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness, and Alvin Schwartz's More Scary Tales to Tell in the Dark.

This is not to say that Pat takes the same polarized view as the wild-eyed zealots who foam at the mouth about a drawing of a "Man showing naked buttocks." She doesn't. Rather, she appears to exercise a healthy modicum of reason (something unheard of in certain circles) when recommending whether a book stay on the library shelves — or be flung onto the flaming pyre.

Enough about the premise! Panama's righteous indignation was about to get the best of him. On to the critique! We loved Pat's opening line — "Banned books are among my favorites!" We also liked Pat's "linear" layout of the story. Suggestions included some sentence restructuring, removal of one unnecessary piece of information, and clarification of a couple of contradictory or confusing statements.

Obviously for this reviewer, book banning is frighteningly similar to book burning, and as someone once said — "Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." Hang tough, Pat. We need you!

John Migacz continues with Jolly and Becky in a discussion about whether women are subservient or think they are subservient. Becky's conclusion, "You're forgetting the simple fact that all men are pond scum," makes her point. The conversation is fast paced and good writing. A few of the group felt that it did need some action. Give us a little movement in the space.

In the second scene, Jolly was waiting in the lounge of the women's dorm. It was obvious that the women passing through were checking him out. Jon seemed oblivious to their glances. We think he would have been aware of their staring at him. Jon is the kind of guy who would revel in being ogled by college coeds! Give him the chance to feel their interest.

The group had a few technical comments to make it better. Avoid using "ing" words, especially to start a sentence. Two sentences began with "It was." We read radiance and radiant on the same page. These are picky points, but ones I myself appreciate hearing to make my writing better.

John graciously agreed to lead the SCWW for another year. This is beyond the call of duty and I really appreciate his style of leadership. He keeps a good rein on the time and sees that everyone who signs up gets time. Thanks John for a job well done!

Marcia is part of the Migacz team who keeps the SCWW meetings in order and does a wonderful job of preparing and emailing the newsletter every month. Thanks to both of them.

What must be explained in a historical novel and what can the author expect the reader to accept?

Homey Jones by Steve Stewart is set in South Carolina in 1840-42. Homey is the capable house servant of Mr. Bailey. Previously, readers had learned of the violence in Homey's world.

In chapter three, Homey meets Steven, a gentleman from Charleston who will become a major landowner in the Upstate area. Steven's carriage breaks down. He examines the carriage then goes to the Bailey house asking for assistance.

Readers at Thursday's meeting wanted to know if a gentleman would step from the carriage and examine its underneath. Wouldn't he order his servant to do this? Readers must learn more about Steven to accept this behavior in a southerner of wealth.

When Steven asks for help at the Bailey house, Homey comes to greet him by stepping from behind a screen door. Were there screen doors on southern houses in 1842?

Author Stewart must also decide as to the amount of dialogue he will use. How much slang and colloquialism does the novel require to give it an honest ring?

Point of view is not clear in chapter three. Is this to be so in future chapters? The author's voice? Stewart must decide who will be telling the story.

The first two chapters of Homey Jones go down easily. Now, Stewart must re-focus and come back to Homey as the center of the book. I suggest that readers see Steven, Mr. Bailey, and others through Homey's eyes.

In "Turgid, Juicy and Flamboyant," Phil Arnold delighted his audience with another entry from ElvisBlog. Here he pokes fun at New York Times critic Bosley Crowther's review of Elvis Presley's first movie "Love Me Tender." I had few complaints about Phil's writing, but the eight sentences that Phil quoted from the critic illustrate several intriguing writing techniques.

In Crowther's eight sentences appeared only one strong verb — "heave" — which, as Phil pointed out, was used once as a verb and once as a noun. I like Phil's rebuke, "Can't use a nifty word twice in the same story."

Instead of strong verbs, the stuffed-shirt critic relied on interesting adjectives, such as the ones in Phil's title, as well as frenzied puffing and grotesque singing. Does the combination of weak verbs and strong adjectives necessarily translate to telling instead of showing? "Grotesque singing" is undoubtably Crowther's honest opinion, but does it "show" how Elvis sings?

In addition, Crowther writes pompous phrases, such as "is not a great deal more impressive" and "none too melodic tones." I'm surprised Microsoft Word didn't decorate those pretentious phrases with wavy lines.

However, Crowther adhered to the Times style guide by always referring to the castigated singer as "Mr. Presley." I wonder if that stuck in Crowther's craw.

Jim McFarland treated us to Chapter 4 of his novel Penelope, in which he skillfully weaves history and genealogy with a rich measure of fiction to make the characters come alive. The novel's namesake and Matthew, to whom she is betrothed, are a believable couple, struggling to walk the straight Puritan path within the secular liberties of 17th century Amsterdam. The chapter details the tragic loss of her father in a shipwreck which also dashes "her dreams of voyaging with him, of seeking adventure.... [Without a man] to accompany her, her opportunities for voyaging had ended." But Matthew, with designs of becoming a ship's carpenter and sailing to America, steps in to fill the role and they set their sights on a common future.

Chapter 4 reveals essential information on Penelope's history which, through tragedy, brings her together with her future husband. However, it is largely a flashback which causes a bit of time warp. Chapter 3 ends with the two standing before her home, as they are at the end of Chapter 4, with over three pages of Penelope's reflection standing between. One possible solution would be to change Matthew's rather technical estimation of the house which ends Chapter 3 with Penelope pointing out to him the home as it is and as it was five years before. Much of the same information could be converged, concluding with a much briefer reverie.

Bob Strothers' continuation of his "Hungry," as all his writing, kept his audience entertained. I find myself wondering if Bob's writing is as good as the many praises or does his rich southern voice and delivery simply set our imaginations aloft. I wonder if he could perform a dramatic reading from the Nutrition Facts panel from any store-bought food product and receive blank stare nods of approval from those present. But then I decide — no he just has a great one-two punch.

Speaking of punches, Bob's central character, Shard McConnell, an overweight, aspiring journalist receives his KO from an eight-pounder while rooting through a mountain family's home-style slaughter house chute. Now he wasn't negotiating the fat man's squeeze for personal conditioning but pursuing fifteen year old, curvaceous, Hannah in hopes of that mountain tradition of statutory pleasures.

A few suggestions were offered to tweak visuals and story line. On page 12 McConnell should sit "at" the center of the table, oppose to "in." The absence of meat at the evening meal was questioned as maybe a missed opportunity. Alluring Hannah's lips should have been of ripe "cherries" in lieu of "strawberries" on page 14 and on page 16 more monetary value would be achieved if the little car was "stripped and crushed." It was suggested the internal dialogue should be done in first person instead of third person and that the host Leatherby family didn't speak as true mountain folk.

Do you ever go back and read some of your early work? I do, and I just shake my head." Man, I thought this stuff was so good when I wrote it back then." Likewise, hardly a meeting goes by without one member of the group complimenting another on how much better his work is now. I've been coming to these meetings for twelve years, and I've seen every one of us produce stories far superior to the first one we read to the group.

Such will be the case with Russ Haddad. Sorry, Russ, but we're going to be picking on you for a while, starting with the fictional piece you read at the last two meetings. Parnassius is obviously an early effort in the writer's long journey. It is written in present tense, which is asking for trouble if you want it to get published. The unanimous opinion around the table was to change it to simple past tense. Another rookie mistake was the shifting viewpoints. We harped on that quite a bit.

Other comments included the need to get the reader hooked early so they will stay with the story. I would have dropped off about the time Russ wasted two paragraphs on page 2 telling the little flashback about the character's mom forcing him to fillet a fish he caught. Where's the tension, the action, the suspense? Why should the reader care about this guy and read on?

Russ, you are getting good advice from the group, and you are starting to accept and utilize some of it. Keep it up. Keep tweaking. Keep improving. Keep bringing your work to the meetings. We are all interested to see how your work evolves into the promised "love story with suspense."

Mack Clarke asked the table if his A Week of Foolishness should be from the narrator's POV or Uncle Juggzy's. Bistro-Less has some definite thoughts on the subject. First of all, as a reader, I never want to be in Uncle Juggzy's head. Theseus would have gotten lost in that labyrinth, string or no string, and no pursuing Minotaur can be scarier than Uncle Juggzy's thoughts.

For Bistro-Less, it makes sense to stay in the nephew's POV in the first person. The nephew's thoughts are funny enough ("It's still a mystery why Mr. Silver Badge asked me if I was drunk. I looked drunk, smelled drunk, and talked drunk,") but when coupled with the narration of Uncle Juggzy's actions, it's a winning combination.

The group also agreed that each story should be a different chapter and continue with the nephew as narrator. We all know that Mack only comes for the food, but Bistro-Less would like to see Mack compile a book-length manuscript filled with his unique, Mark Twainish tales. It would be foolish not to continue A Week of Foolishness.

Bob Strother came back to his novel, Burning Time. Alone in the house, Fannie overhears Jesse and Laurence talking about the girl that Fannie's husband, Will, got pregnant and on whom Jesse performed an abortion. Enraged, Fannie runs into Will's room and slashes his bed and the clothes in his closet with a kitchen knife. At Rosie's bar, Will's girlfriend dumps him, and he bumps his shin badly as he runs down the street after her. He ends up passing out in an alley and spending the night there. The next morning, Fannie waits in the window seat as Will appears limping toward the house. She tells the kids to go to the back yard, then picks up hand-sized chunks of jagged, rock-hard coal and lines the mantle with them.

Russ Haddad presented the next installment of his novel, Parnassius. Having arrived at his "secret" fishing spot and discovered a young woman already there fishing, Stuart Chapman strikes up a conversation. He meets her dog, Duke, and she says she's Serena Corbett. They immediately take a liking to each other - "she found herself oddly taken with curiosity and attracted to this gentle older fellow...She was utterly mesmerized by his youthful spirit." "Her dark exotic beauty and youthful appearance captivated him." They end up sharing his lunch and talking for hours. They arrange to meet again the next day for lunch, and he walks to his truck while she heads for the cabin she's staying in just beyond the hill.

Phil Arnold had two more blogs to read. "EPE Gives OK to ETA's" tells us about The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest to be held at the end of Elvis Week 2007. Phil says that tribute artists have been given a bad rap. "At the final stages of the competition... the ETA's are entertainers of the first order who know how to give outstanding performances." "Sure it's not Elvis. It's 30 years too late for him ... but if a fan wants to see what the live Elvis show was like, these guys can take you there. When the lady fans run up to the stage to get a scarf and a kiss and come back to their seats in radiant happiness, you know these guys have nailed it pretty good."

The second blog piece was called "Elvis Candy / Elvis Racecar." For Elvis Week 2007, the Hershey Co. will be coming out with a limited edition Reese"s Cup inspired by Elvis: "Peanut-Butter-and-Banana-Crème." These candies will include an under-label instant-win game and the grand prize will be a limited edition NASCAR car featuring the Reese's Cup logo and Elvis' picture. So "next year you can tune in and root for the Elvis Car. While you are doing it, you can enjoy a delicious Elvis Candy. I'll give it a try, but you know what would go even better? Elvis Beer. NASCAR and Elvis Beer. Now that sounds like a winning combination."

Kevin Coyle's Snorri the Priest continued after the arrival of the Skraelings on the Icelanders' beach. The Skraelings approach to within ten paces of the Icelander's shield wall, then one who appears to be their chieftan steps forward and shouts, "Túckiu sáchim?" Guessing that they're looking for the Icelanders' leader, Snorri moves close and accepts a snakeskin-wrapped bundle containing four flint-pointed arrows from the Skraeling. It looks like there might be a battle until Geirhild the Witch-Woman charges at the Skraelings on a galloping black horse and chases them back into their boats. Later that day, Steinraud the Strong and forty oarsmen/warriors take a longship to the closest Skraeling village. Forming ranks at the high-water mark on the beach, Steinraud steps forward and repeats the words of the Skraelings, "Túckiu sáchim?" One of the painted warriors steps forward, and Steinraud hands him the snakeskin bundle, which now contains five of the Icelanders' steel-tipped arrows. "Without another word, the Icelanders returned to their longship... For the rest of that summer, the Icelanders saw no more of the Skraelings."

John Migacz read from his novel, A Second Chance. Jolly has just picked up Sara for their first date. On the way to the car, Sara is roughly accosted by an ex-boyfriend, and Jolly uses his martial arts skills to send the boy packing. On the way to the restaurant, Jolly tries to distract Sara from her distress at putting Jolly in harm's way. He asks her if she has a cat. "You know. A furry purring machine with a mind of its own." She begins to relax - "his silly question had done its work." As they talk and drive, "the headlights from passing cars shone on her face, giving him a moving lightshow of her profile. She was beautiful." Jolly wonders "if it was just the climax of getting to this point after so many years. With a glace at her profile, that rush of feelings once again stole over him. Nope. It wasn't just hype. There was something there... He would have to take it slow...Slow-down became his new mantra."

Mack Clarke finished up the meeting with another selection from his collection of vignettes, A Week of Foolishness. Uncle Juggzy and the narrator are temporarily distracted from their quest to buy a car when Juggzy is asked to perform at a bachelor party. The narrator tells Juggzy that he'll stay in the car during the party, and Juggzy replies, "That's a fine idea. One of us must stay sober in the midst of unseemly company." When they go car shopping the next day, they find a filthy, smelly van and its owner. "Juggzy looked at the woman ... as though she were a swimsuit model... I saw an over-the-hill hippie, pony tail in a leather strap, denim skirt to the ankles." "Juggzy jumped on her like a gnat on a scab. 'Ma'am it's been a long time since I've seen a van look as original as this one. I'm certain you designed the interior.'" The woman "fell smack under the Dead Elvis charm and confessed her life story, her baby sister's, and her mother's before he asked if the van would crank."

The next meetings of the Greenville Chapter of SCWW are as follows:

• Thursday, January 4 - First Thursday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book
• Tuesday, January 16 - Third Tuesday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book

All genres welcome at both meetings. Suggested limit for reading selections is five double-spaced, typed pages, although longer selections may be possible if time permits.

The Open Book, 110 S Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville, SC

The New SCWW Website "Chapters" Page

The new statewide SCWW website www.myscww.org came on-line last month. It includes all the great features of the previous website, plus some exciting new ones.

The SCWW website is a great place to find information about the organization. The "Chapters" page lists each chapter in the organization, the times and locations of their meetings, and the contact info for their chapter presidents. If you are interested in starting a new chapter in your area, click on the "No chapter in your area?" link near the top of the page to download a Word document called "Guide for Starting an SCWW Chapter Critique Group."

Printed Matters is the newsletter of the Greenville Chapter of South Carolina Writers Workshop.

Thanks to our contributing writers and news reporters:
Bob Strother, Pat Stewart, Mack Clarke, Jim McFarlane, Leland Beaudrot, Steve Stewart, Phil Arnold, and John Migacz

Copyright 2007 by Marcia Migacz, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work.

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