News

In part 3 of the 2020 R-SPEC Writing Series, we will dive into plotting methods for your story or novel. Some elements, such as reading a lot in the genre you want to explore, are easy. While others, such as recognizing the essential narrative devices for anything you write, may take longer to embrace. Feel free to bring examples of your own writing or pieces you have read that demonstrate good story structure. Our goal is to share and discuss techniques to help you write a successful story.

• Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
• Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7:00PM start time to ensure you're connected.)
• Meeting Time: June 2, 2020 from 7-9 p.m.

Myriad Worlds of Possibilities – Read Your Work

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

UPDATE: We're not meeting at B&N. Please join us virtually on Zoom about 10 minutes before the regular 6:30PM start time to ensure you're connected. 

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

• Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
• Location: Zoom
• Meeting Time: May 5, 2020 from 7-9 p.m.

An alien lifeform, known to some as COVID-19, has invaded our world, forcing us to make a schedule change. Our April 7th Reading Meeting is rescheduled to May 5th. We hope this gives everyone more time to work on their stories or poems. We look forward to seeing you in May. Please stay safe and healthy during the alien invasion!

In part 2 of the 2020 R-SPEC Writing Series, we will look at bending (and breaking) the supposedly tried-and-true formulas and tropes found in speculative fiction. Just because “it’s been done before” doesn’t mean you can’t breathe new life into zombies, death rays, enchanted swords, talking dragons, ancient aliens, telepathic dolphins, waking up in a morgue, deflector shields, faeries, artificial gravity, FTL starships, and Babel fishes – just to touch on a dozen tropes at once.

We’ll discuss how to subvert these tropes (and many others) to help you create stories that will be engaging and interesting to your readers.

Writing exercises will be presented, so please bring paper and a stylus or, if you’re being tropey, bring your PADD.

Prework assignment:Bring one or more examples of a speculative fiction formula or trope that has been bent, broken, or subverted in ways that made the story, novel, TV show, movie, or game much more interesting.

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels

Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford

Meeting Time:March 3, 2020 from 6:45 – 8:45 p.m.

R-SPEC will be holding its Annual Board Meeting during the first half-hour of the February meeting. We'll review our accomplishments in 2019 and elect Board members for the coming year. This meeting is open to the public, but only paid R-SPEC members are eligible to be on the Board and to vote in the elections.

Then, we’ll sail headlong into the misty writing sea seeking that most elusive of creatures – the plot hook!

Yes, your story must have a plot, which includes all the events that will happen to the characters, but what captures the reader’s attention from the outset? What is the “hook” that metaphorically grabs the reader so they will keep on reading? You may think your “opening” – several paragraphs in your short story or several pages in your novel – is your hook, but it is often the first sentence you write.

We’ll discuss different ways to make that first sentence pull your story’s plot line and reel it in until the last page.

Moderators: Ted Wenskus andAlan Vincent Michaels

Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford

Meeting Time:February 4, 2020 from 6:45 – 8:45 p.m.

Myriad Worlds of Possibilities – Read Your Work

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 6:45 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator:  Alan Vincent Michaels

Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford

Meeting Time: January 7, 2020 from 6:45-8:45 p.m.

Myriad Worlds of Possibilities – Read Your Work

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 6:45 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator:  Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: November 5, 2019 from 6:45-8:45 p.m.

Time. There's too much and never enough of it. It can be a writer’s friend or mortal enemy.

The truth is we can’t manage time. We can only manage our tasks. So, how do we get our writing done? It’s easy. We write. Pen to paper, fingers on the keyboard, or recording our voice. Easy, yes? Except, there are so many things that get in our way.

Our October roundtable will be about how to remove roadblocks, what “hacks” other writers have used, and personal stories of what impedes a writer’s progress. Please join us for a lively discussion of techniques for getting our writing … done!

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: October 1, 2019 from 6:45-8:45 p.m.

Does your story seem stuck in place? Are you focused more on the idea of the plot or your story ideas, rather than on the characters and their conflicts?

During our September 3 meeting, you’ll learn how to go beyond just plotting out your story. You’ll recognize the experiential stages of your character’s journey, and the result will be a more satisfying story. When you focus on the underlying dilemma of your story, you’ll see what you’re really trying to express to your audience.

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: September 3, 2019 from 6:45-8:45 p.m.

Coming up next week at our monthly meeting: "The Future of Manned Space Exploration (Part III)", presented by Frank Glover!

As mankind celebrates 50 years since our first steps onto an alien world, billionaires, corporations, and countries are all vying to make the next big leaps into space. In our August 6 meeting, Frank Glover returns to present new insights and information about the United States’ manned space programs, including the vehicles and exploration plans currently underway at Bigelow Aerospace, Blue Origin, Boeing, NASA, SpaceX, Stratolaunch Systems, United Launch Alliance, and Virgin Galactic.

Presenter:Frank Glover
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: August 6, 2019 from 6:45-8:45 p.m.