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let's have a writing workshop

hydroazuanacaine

hydroazuanacaine

bluelighter
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
8,497
the details do not exist yet, but i was thinking like a piece a week. when it is your turn, you submit your work close to on time. a few days are given for other participants to read and digest. then it is discussed in a thread for a period of time. then the next week--or whatever--it is someone else's turn. they submit their work on time. we go over it in a thread for a period of time. and so on. we could have revision rounds.

Max Power is down. that makes two so far. we'll need a few more. you do not need to be a Words regular. what you do need to do is participate once you are in. on both ends, critiquing and getting a polished piece of your own ready to be critiqued.

as far as structure and guidelines go, i figure we can discuss once we have a group. this would be a great opportunity for those who write short stories and/or personal essays, which are not so well suited for the typical Words thread. though poets are welcome as well. how specific the guidelines and how much they change each round can be decided later.

this will make you produce work. your portfolio will grow. let's do it.

yeah?
 
The best part is that you're free to use the letter 'e' to your heart's content! Let's do this. If you're reading this and are even slightly interested, just make a quick post saying so and we'll work out the details later.
 
i want to do it, too. as long as i can get at least two wks notice when my turn is to come i can commit to it.
 
cool. at least two weeks notice shouldn't be a problem. i imagine there will be some juggling of turns, but if we pick an order and roughly stick to it, everyone will have a few weeks of notice. again, nothing is set, but i think adequate prep time is something everyone will want and will not be hard to create.
 
I've desperately been seeking a responsibility to write something worthwhile. I know I'm not a regular here, but I'd like to contribute on the grounds that I get 2 weeks notice as well.

I'm subscribing to this thread.
 
i'd say we have already met the minimum number of required participants. we can start hashing things out and others will still be able to join in. i'm just brainstorming to get this thing actually going. feel very free to add your own ideas and say which of mine are shitty.

have people ever done something like this before? either online or in a classroom? having your piece critiqued is fun and somewhat helpful, but the biggest plus of a creative writing workshop is that it creates obligation--we all gotta close read each other pieces; we owe it to each other to invest some effort into writing them. new work. don't submit something you've already written; that's not being productive. and don't write the piece for yourself. keep the poetry about how you felt yesterday in your journal. for a workshop, write to be entertaining. you have a captive audience; don't torture.

i still like the sound of a one piece at a time, one a week. so it would be two weeks after establishing at least the beginning of the schedule before we could start. unless whoever volunteers to go first says they only need a week. i've never done this online. if someone thinks they have a better system, cool.

do we want to keep the rounds completely open? do we want to alternate between prose and verse rounds? maybe a verse round every third, and two prose rounds where short story or personal essay is up to the writer. or maybe rotate between a prose round, a verse round, and an open round. that way those who really want to focus on their poetry don't have to write 2/3rds of their entries in prose. and those who are less interested in verse don't have to write a poem every other round. but i like the idea of being forced. and it's fun to read poet's short stories and vice versa.

then what? just a cap on length? have lightly themed rounds? maybe not in the first few rounds, and then suggestions could start getting thrown out there down the line. and i don't mean restrictive themes. i mean things like "pick a serial publication you would like to see your work in, and then try to write a piece specifically for them." things that would create focus and new ideas about how to target, expand, and get your stuff out there.

and does everyone have microsoft Word or something compatible?
 
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count me in. .rtf would be a good format to use as it can be opened on virtually every computer.
 
cool. i'm not very tech savvy, and it sounds like you are. we just need a way of sending each other the pieces that will preserve the format they were written in. sounds like .rtf will do just that.

so that's seven already. let's decide how we are going to do this first round and start making a schedule. a volunteer for going first?
 
fuck it. haven't written a short story in ages. i'll go first if no one else wants to.

essays and prose i have no problem with, but i cannot and will not write verse.

edit: i guess i could give it a shot, but it will be horribly embarrassing.
 
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badass.

1. xxxyyy
2. i'm signing Max up for second. he can trade if he wants, but as he brought this idea up months ago...
3. i'm signing up for third, because i'm selfish.
4. ...

or, if people are already started to feel cheated, we could have xxxyyy first because s/he had the balls to volunteer, and then throw the rest of the names into an online randomizer.

we will switch from numbers to dates as soon as we work those details out.


xxxyyy said:
essays and prose i have no problem with, but i cannot and will not write verse.
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the fuck you won't. we'll get a poem out of yea. that's the thing, if we have specified rounds, you can write a poem and not have to be anxious about it being no good. long as a real effort is made, others have to understand it is not an area of writing you are particularly comfortable with. you have to cut yourself a break for the same reason. it's forcing you to try your hands at something. plus poems get published like all the fucking time and everywhere. though i will be completely understanding if outvoted on that one. if we want every round to be free, so be it.
 
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xxxyyy said:
edit: i guess i could give it a shot, but it will be horribly embarrassing.
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beautiful. and if we do alternate between rounds, i'd say whether we start with open, prose, or verse should be up to you. or if that makes people nervous, maybe we should just start with an open round.
 
xxxyyy said:
count me in. .rtf would be a good format to use as it can be opened on virtually every computer.
Click to expand...

I was going to suggest this it's a common 'wordpad' document. I don't quite like Microsoft Word and it's likely many have restrictions on the program that require you to buy a license after you've bought a pc (my mothers computer has this). Wordpad is a welcome and simple, typewriter-esque program.

I like your ideas so far I'll expand on what I can in a little while, after a few more drinks work their brutal Hemingway magic on my ill-bred focus.

I'd rather not have to write a poem for my first entry as I don't write poetry at all and I'm just getting entirely started in fiction. Most of my experience is in essay format and social criticism. I will if I have to but it'd be nice if fate dictated the favored outcome.
 
hydroazuanacaine said:
the fuck you won't
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oh, hydro. Have you been drinking again, my dear?

I enjoy writing poetry. I enjoy reading poetry. I'd rather not waste a chance at a critique having one of my shabby poems broken down. Not sure how many of our volunteers care for poetry anyway. I could be wrong, so please speak up if I am.
 
okay. got the basic idea for a short story down, wrote two paragraphs. any restrictions on length (min/max)?
think i can finish it in a week if the deities of creativity are smiling benevolently at me at the moment. if not i can definitely finish it in ten to fourteen days.

(also it's he)
 
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Likewise xxyyy, although I think mine might develop into a novella or novel not quite sure 2 hours of drunken/benzo-deprived neurontin induced mania have bred quite a gem.


What about chapters or 'selections' from potential novels? Would this be appropriate for submissions or is the fiction being shrewdly interpreted? ;)
 
yeah gabapentin is really good to write on. pregabalin not so much. wonder why that is.
 
Thou said:
What about chapters or 'selections' from potential novels? Would this be appropriate for submissions or is the fiction being shrewdly interpreted? ;)
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Yeah, that's acceptable. Minimum should be around 2 pages, imo.
 
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