February 12, 2010 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Books Nominated For Peace Corps Awards, (So Far)

Feb 12 2010

It is time to nominate your favorite Peace Corps book published in 2009. Send your nomination(s) to John Coyne at: jpcoyne@cnr.edu. You may nominate your own book; books written by friends; books written by total strangers. The books can be about the Peace Corps or on any topic. However, the books must have been published in 2009. The awards will be announced this coming July. Thank you for nominating your favorite book(s) written by a PCV, RPCV or Peace Corps Staff. When sending in your nomination, please cite for what prize, and give the full name of the book, the full name of the author, plus the country and years when the RPCV served. These are the only books nominated so far. Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award Heat, Sand, and Friends by Allen W. Fletcher (Senegal 1969–71) First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria Eve Brown (Ecuador 1988) Maria Thomas Fiction Award Islands . . .

100 Days (Or Less) Part Twelve: Day Seven

Feb 12 2010

Day Seven When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away-even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time. Kurt Vonnegut Figure out who you need in the story and what they do together or to one another, and what the story does to them. Are they all pulling together in one direction? Are they pulling in six different directions? Ask yourself the critical question: Which would be most interesting to the reader? That’s the real litmus test of character development and plotting. Will the reader be interested? Will the reader care? To be successful in character and plot development, you need to make hard choices. You need to be ruthless with your characters and your story. Who’s in, who’s out? What’s in, . . .

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