AGT Monthly Meeting for November 2024

 

The Authors Guild of Tennessee held its monthly meeting on Thursday, November 7, 2024, at the Faith Lutheran Church in Farragut. Social time started at 10:30, and the business meeting commenced at 11:00.

 

The following members were present:

Linda Allred, Bill Barbour, Bobbi Chapman, Deana Charcalla, Gayle Curtin, Laura Derr, Danita Dodson, Russ Fine, John Forcum, Kaye George, Brooke Gilbert, Leoma Gilley, Wes Hibbert, Ernie Lancaster, Sean Mitchell, Jerry Morton, Kathy Parr, Cheryl Peyton, Nancy Pressley, Ron Pressley, Stacy Rowe, Art Stewart, Jeri Weems, Joelle Whitewolf, and Victoria Winifred.

 

Visitors:  Sherry Fine, Jim Johnston, Kelley Key, Barry Rosen, and Chris Rowe.

 

Welcome – Cheryl.  Introduction of visitors and new members.

Welcome to Jim Johnston brought by Art Stewart. He was the previous owner of Celtic Cat Publishers. Originally from Belfast Ireland, he’s written 2 books: one of poems and a novel, The Price of Peace. He also published the Heartland series.

Victoria Winifred invited Kelley Key. She is an assistant principal in Bradley County.

Barry Rosen is from Knoxville and came after talking with Russ Fine in a Kroger store. He has written several books.

Sean Mitchell is a new member who worked as a CA highway patrolman. He wrote Spencer’s Shadow and then a book of short stories, Six Lane Highway. The Morning After is a novella about the widow of a law enforcement officer.

Linda Allred is a new member. She has a biography titled Journey to Lasting Happiness for which she studied the subconscious mind. She’s speaking at the Tellico library soon.

 

Victoria Winifred has three new childrens books.

Kroger is a very good option for December. Your fee will cover all of next year.

Art Stewart has a new book, Yes, But…

 

October Minutes:  Approved online.

 

President –            Cheryl Peyton

Treasurer              Russell Fine

Festival Co-Chair – Bobbi Chapman (to be added to ORNL debit account)

Secretary –            Leoma Gilley

 

Treasurer’s Report — Russ

Beginning balance          $2549.00

Ending balance               $2544.12

 

Donations                          $37.00

 

Book sales:

IGA                                    $81.60

Payments:

Author payments                 $24.00

DII Graphics                      $26.16

 

Pending Translations:

Author payments                $132.00

 

December dinner meeting – Cheryl. Instead of our usual meeting in December, we will meet at Mimi’s Café in Turkey Creek on Friday, Dec. 13 at 6:00. You can invite a guest. Let Cheryl know. The AGT will provide red and white wine. There will be no book exchange unless there are individual prearrangements.

 

Officers and Committee Chairs for next year:

President —

Vice-President –

Secretary – Leoma Gilley

Treasurer – Bill Barbour

Board Member-at-large –

Board Member-at-large –

Festival Facts – Bobbi Chapman and Nancy Pressley

Library – Laura Derr

Marketing –

Membership – Kathy Parr

Program –

Retail Stores —

Training –

Website – Bill Barbour

Taxes – Bobbi Chapman

 

 

 

Reports by members and Committee Chairs:

 

1. Festival Facts – Bobbi, Nancy P. Bobbi reported we have attended 33 festivals this year. She has sold just under 500 books. Sign up so you can sell your books. The next one is the Christmas Fair at the Expo center this weekend that has one open space. The cost is $58 for 3 days.

 

2. Writing Contest – Jerry. There will be an opportunity to donate to the writing contest along with paying dues for 2025. Art and Jerry will be meeting with Loudon High School to offer the contest there.

 

3. There are some left-over books for authors to collect from Ernie Lancaster.

 

4. The AGT website has a YouTube channel: authorsguildoftennessee. A link for this will be on the website.

 

Program 

Our speaker was AGT member Ernie Lancaster who reprised his presentation to the fall session of the Lenoir City High School Writing Classes competing in the Writing Contest we sponsor. His topic is the roles of goals, motivation, and conflict in character development in writing a novel.

Ernie retired as a captain in the Memphis Police Department. In his thirty-three years as a cop, he patrolled every corner of Memphis, responding to calls from seedy bars, hotels, squalid housing projects, and the mansions and recreational areas of the wealthy.

He walked the downtown night beat for two years in the mid ’70s when Beale Street was in decline, attracting unsavory characters. He also patrolled in ward cars, and worked Elvis’ funeral that attracted thousands. He edited the Memphis Police Association’s newspaper, acted as the union’s vice-president, and for twenty-six years held positions on the TACT Squad.

Ernie’s three crime/detective books are inspired by the triumphs and tragedies in his work. He is president of Sister in Crime’s east Tennessee chapter, The Smoking Guns. In 2023, he released his short story collection, Precinct Memphis Cop Tales. “The Shotgun and the TieTack” is in the November 2023 issue of online Killer Nashville Magazine.

Debra Dixon wrote best-selling romance novels. She started Belle Books. Hoopla and Overdrive are sites where you can download some of her books from a library.

There are two kinds of fiction writers: outliners and pantsers. Outliners produce character-driven stories. Pantsers kknow their story arc, but not particular scenes, preferring to write and see what happens.

Give your characters goals, wants, and ambitions. They don’t have something that they really want and they need it now. This is motivation; why they want it. Then there is conflict, what keeps them from having it? Different characters and their desires can come into conflict with the desires and goals of other characters. This conflict is the plot. Conflicts and motivation can be internal or external. If you have both internal and external goals, there is greater depth to the story.

Goals should be good enough so the character is willing to suffer difficulties and hardship in order to get them. It needs immediate attention NOW. If everyone has an agenda, then everyone is a player and the conflict drives the plot. Coincidence is not acceptable as a solution. Characters may act in reprehensible ways if there is sufficient motivation. Give the characters reason to do what will grab your readers. The outcome should be in doubt throughout the story.

Conflict means bad things happen to good people and also to bad people. The ultimate conflict is two dogs and one bone. What if one of them is a mama dog with puppies at home? Don’t overload conflict by adding too many at once. Make it clear and focused. Cowards make great heroes, readers love underdogs. The strength of the story is the villain. Conflict is NOT two people bickering at each other. That annoys the reader. Give clear winners and losers, not people in the middle.

Picasso said, learn the rules like a professional so you can break them like an artist.

 

Adjournment:

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 p.m. The next meeting is set for Friday, December 13th, at Mimi’s Café in Turkey Creek, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

  

Respectfully submitted,

Leoma Gilley, Secretary