Category Archives: character

What Novelists can Learn from the Movies—presentation by Cindy Brown, 2023 02 19

Cindy’s presentation can be found on our website at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/What-Novelists-Can-Learn-from-the-Movies-4.pdf : Please don’t share the link.

She gave us a very clear explanation (with examples) of the 3-act plot structure, which, apparently, dates from the time of Aristotle. If it’s lasted this long, as a way of telling stories, there’s got to be something to it!

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Mystery Writing Workshop with Cindy Brown May 21st2021



Cindy Brown is the author of some wonderfully titles mysteries, MacdeathThe Sound of MurderOliver TwistedIvy Get Your GunThe Phantom of OzKillalot, … She’s been writing professionally for 20 years, starting with playwriting (hence her interest in the relationship between plot and dramatic structure), then screenwriting, and then… She fell in love with mysteries as a child – loved Nancy Drew, was introduced to John D MacDonald, and finally started reading Sue Grafton and decided she wanted to write like her, especially as her books are set on the West Coast! So… here’s how she led us in understanding more about genre, character and plot.

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Writers Mill Minutes 202103

Members from around the world and from around Cedar Mill met together for Cindy Brown’s mystery writing workshop in March, and Sheila did her best to take good minutes for those who couldn’t make it. Apologies to those who had problems with the email link – in general, if a link doesn’t work, you need to cut the whole link – or, as one member put it, the whole set of gobbledygook letters and numbers – and paste it into your browser. Judy has kindly offered to field requests for help if anyone has problems with the link at future meetings, thus freeing Sheila to continue to take minutes, so please remember: If you can’t cut and paste the whole link, email Judy for assistance!

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Writers’ Mill Minutes September 2020

September’s Writers’ Mill meeting was well-attended with around 24 members sharing space in the Zoom Room provided by Laura at Cedar Mill library. We enjoyed a particularly good speaker, Erick Mertz, announced contests, discussed the anthology, and generally had a very successful time. If you missed the meeting, do try to join next time.

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Mystery Workshop with Cindy Brown July 19th 2020



Mystery Workshop with Cindy Brown

Writing Character-Based Mysteries
Cindy Brown
cindybrownwriter.com
info@cindybrownwriter.com

Books: Macdeath, The Sound of Murder, Oliver Twisted, Ivy Get Your Gun, The Phantom of Oz, Killalot, Murder Most Theatrical (Anthology – August 2020)

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Writers’ Mill Minutes 201803

Writing Exercise (from Teri Brown): Teri handed around scent vials during our meeting. Maybe just stand at an open window (on this lovely spring day) and see what smell reaches your nose. Then write for 10 minutes and see what story reaches the page. Continue reading Writers’ Mill Minutes 201803