• ✍️ WORDS ✍️

    Welcome Guest!

  • Words Moderators: deficiT

let's have a writing workshop

hydroazuanacaine said:
it seems you still own anything you upload on scribd, but i'd still be more comfortable with a dropbox--like dropbox.com--we all have access to or just using email. maybe. scribd is overwhelming and i can't quite figure out what it is. maybe it's perfect.

quoting a specific passage in the thread during a critique sounds reasonable, but i don't think pasting their entireties into a post is how we want to get the pieces to one another.

edit:
rtf files look weird. there are visible lines going down and across the page to mark the margins that were used. whether or not we use scribd, let's use pdf files. if you have Word, you can just save it as a pdf. i imagine a lot of the other text editors can do the same. if you can't figure out how to make a "print-to-pdf" file, scribd was nice enough provide a link to a free source... pdfforge.

adobereader is free too. you can highlight and copy text using it.
Click to expand...

So have we come to an agreement that dropbox is what we'll be using?

Everybody PM me before signing up so I can send you a proper invite.

=D
 
And yeah ForEverAfter I was thinking a different thread for each category with like an agreed upon division of attention among the reviewers. Like If max reviews the essay, he wouldnt do the poem, etc. Ya know?
Click to expand...

No, I'm not really following you. If there's multiple workshop threads, then are we doing one of each per week? One poem, one story and one essay? I think it makes more sense to just have one general workshop thread for all categories. If hydro is lined up to do a poem one week, and max is doing a story the following week, I don't see the issue. There's no need to have multiple threads unless we are doing poems and stories simultaneously. I think it's best, to start of, to just have one workshop thread and see how that goes.

The Raven is 108 lines. Howl is 78. I can't really imagine anyone writing a longer poem than The Raven, but - in case they do - how about a line limit of 10-150?

I'm thinking of making the workshop thread a sticky. Thoughts?
 
Since there's all this emphasis on document format consistency why not just set the limits by the page? Say limit stories to 2 or 3 pages in size 12 font with paragraphs, for example. The shorter the limit, the more it forces us to choose our words carefully and edit carefully to fit in all that needs to be said. That said, there should some themes or objectives to each assignment. If we all just wrote what was fun then is there really any point in workshopping? I thought the point was to have us dig deeper and learn something that can make our writing better in the future. Often the best lessons come not from the critique of others but from what you learn in the process.
 
ForEverAfter said:
No, I'm not really following you. If there's multiple workshop threads, then are we doing one of each per week? One poem, one story and one essay? I think it makes more sense to just have one general workshop thread for all categories. If hydro is lined up to do a poem one week, and max is doing a story the following week, I don't see the issue. There's no need to have multiple threads unless we are doing poems and stories simultaneously. I think it's best, to start of, to just have one workshop thread and see how that goes.

The Raven is 108 lines. Howl is 78. I can't really imagine anyone writing a longer poem than The Raven, but - in case they do - how about a line limit of 10-150?

I'm thinking of making the workshop thread a sticky. Thoughts?
Click to expand...


Yeah, now that I've just got done with some more of my own writing and have cooled off my mind a little, the idea of tackling as many pieces is a week as I originally thought doesn't seem so appealing. I still think the idea can grow eventually, but for now let's get it off the ground. I'm totally with it.

Damn howl's only 78 lines? I thought it'd be way more.
Yeah I'd say a 100 line limit would suffice then, with a little wiggle room of course, like maybe 10 lines over at the most.
 
I'm in favor of putting poetry on the back burner until we have a few rounds under our belts, but again; I'm no poet.

This would of course be only unless someone was in favor of using his poetry, then I'm all for it. I'll be reading up on the field so as not to come to the critical plate with little to offer, and I do love great poetry it's just not a big priority of mine and I'm a bit picky about some of the stuff I've come to enjoy.

I think essays, short stories, and selections fit to requirement are the way to proceed in the early rounds.

My 2c.
 
Word limits are more traditional than page limits. With page limits, you need to specify spacing (double, single, etc) plus font and font size. Double spaced Times New Roman is obviously much larger than single spaced Calibri, regardless of whether or not it's two pages. It becomes unnecessarily complicated. Word limit is better, I think. It's traditional for a reason.

I, too, think poetry should be left to later. I think we should start with a workshop dedicated to prose and then introduce a poetry one later on. They don't really fit together. People who aren't into poetry might not become involved. I also am not sure about the essay, honestly. I don't really want to workshop essays. I'm not that interested in non-fiction. It seems like most people who have signed on want to do prose/poetry anyway. Does anybody want to do an essay?

Howl, Part 1, is 78 lines. But the lines are really long. The whole thing (Part 1) is over 2,000 words which is massive for a poem. Let alone a third of a poem.
 
I'd write an essay if it was my turn to do so, but I'm proficient in essay writing and subjecting myself to some research and the like, finding a decent topic, etc. aren't what I'm into at the moment. Again, I'll write up a king hell one if the great roll calls upon me to, but I've little experience with fiction, via short story or novella, or novel, and I joined so I could not only have incentive to write excessively and from the heart, but to finally start after years of stagnancy but plenty of firm resolve, and quite a bit of novels consumed over my years on this earth, I think it's time to bite the bullet and begin. Even dwarves start small, ;).

I've an outline written up, it was rather uplifting once I started seeing some of the conditions I started to envision for my characters, a lot is clearly autobiographical, and I've some pretty wildly imaginative parameters worked out, I plan on going at it full bore tomorrow morning and creating the character outline, and completing it. I've my protagonist as yet nameless, but very promising and some very interesting paranormal abilities that will drive a bit of the story a long. Lots of mystic (as well as plain cold science) stuff along with some of the ruling class fairly well outlined, as well as a truly subversive and superior group, more protagonist in nature and the folks who'd make solid fun in rooting for. Also developed some fanciful and clearly satirical sociological disorders reaching 'epidemic' levels, as the greed junkies who control most of the population must address.

Using a lot of Symbol oriented themes with obvious root in a few of the nastier things we've been dealing with since the age of television and conditioning, ala Choamsky's 'manufacturing consent' to some degree, but based very loosely. My goal is turn the thing into a moderately science fiction piece, more along the lines of the Dune Series, and to a lesser but livelier extent vaguely reminiscent of a Vonnegut style of imagination. Ugh, its a complex one, I'll have to be subtle and fierce to get away with it me thinks.

I've been putting off writing dialogue as I've some fear since I've not done it before, but the greater fear is the prose driving the characters and their dialogue, as I'm terrified I'll happen to inadverdently take on a tone similar to many of my most revered and studiously read authors, on a daily basis. This shouldn't be a problem as I've so many influences I can't imagine one channeling themselves through mine, but even so, I'd notice it immediately. Plus I know my voice, and I've faith it will make the grade, not to mention a knowledge of my favorites bordering on obsessive, whereby I'd certainly notice something blatant, subtle, or otherwise intruding more than I'd like them too (their spirit and legacies no doubt drive the whole damn thing, and their numerous on a level that I doubt a single one would get past my heightened guard.

I had an ex girlfriend who wrote a terribly libelous work, of which I was occasioned to read some of it now and then out of obligation and some curiosity, but didn't like the prose and, it being a fantasy piece written for a youthful/child demagraphic, with unoriginal characters and settings, and even using character names borrowed from other books, which I found not just wrong because of the plaegeristic (sp?) potential, but quite simply for lack of imagination to name your own characters proper. I don't know, it was a long time ago and I've a reasonable bias, but the facts remain.

It wasn't until years later long after our literal withdrawal from one another, where I'd trying to read a Paliunuk novel for the first time, did I notice one of the more blatant and accurate examples of full-bore theft in terms of prose I'd ever encountered. I don't think it was intentional, but served me up a valuable lesson among cautionary warnings to avoid that at all costs. I couldn't even get through the first paragraph as it was a particularly trying/abusive relationship and conjured up bad memories, but was the exact style of writing, which I didn't care for regardless of who'd done it. I'll never be able to read a single work of his (wasn't in any hurry, anyhow) because it's just too weird to stomach. "Sorry Chuck, maybe in some other reincarnation."

All tangents aside, don't mind me I'm just musing and am in a chatterbox of a mood.

Back to the work at hand. This will be set in the future, but not far off, and is only scifi in the sense of the setting being some years ahead of us now, but history will be same as ours. Set in America with a few ventures outside, but as an American writer I must write from my point of view. I've never had anything quite this heavy on my hands, but its all my own and I'm ready to carry it out as far as it takes me.

Thus why it will likely be a chapter/selection of this largely complex framework I'd like to include first, since I've read and reread my rough outline and was surprised to be delighted to know that it wasn't a throwaway, but had serious promise and I've gone so far as to enlist a trusted friend (only one i trust, period, to put it country simple) read it and she doesn't normally read fiction but complex non, and her honest reply brought a tear to my eye, throwing me off guard, as her take on it was so honestly one of subdued respect hardly concealing her excitement gained from reading this vague outline without dialogue even, and she was being objective in full force.

This is a big fear I've long in facing, as I hate quite a bit of what I type, and was terrified of having that feeling upon a sober second read a few days later whereby I'd have to morosely tear it up into many small pieces and start again. Yes, I'm irrational. To my dismay, it just goes with the territory of an existentially bemused man who's indifference to the dominant culture has led to nothing but hardship in trying to survive and make a living without jeopardizing mental health. Sorry, just had to get that out there as I'm sure there are others who may have experienced a similar roadblock.

Think I might go off to write some characters. Wish me the good stuff.

Thanks too for reading, ;) I didn't mean to get so heavy into it, but alas, can't be helped.

Thou
 
Last edited:
drop fear, drop procrastination, drop being terrified. this is one of the most supportive possible places for working shit out. Just do it.
 
ForEverAfter said:
Word limits are more traditional than page limits. With page limits, you need to specify spacing (double, single, etc) plus font and font size. Double spaced Times New Roman is obviously much larger than single spaced Calibri, regardless of whether or not it's two pages. It becomes unnecessarily complicated. Word limit is better, I think. It's traditional for a reason.

I, too, think poetry should be left to later. I think we should start with a workshop dedicated to prose and then introduce a poetry one later on. They don't really fit together. People who aren't into poetry might not become involved. I also am not sure about the essay, honestly. I don't really want to workshop essays. I'm not that interested in non-fiction. It seems like most people who have signed on want to do prose/poetry anyway. Does anybody want to do an essay?

Howl, Part 1, is 78 lines. But the lines are really long. The whole thing (Part 1) is over 2,000 words which is massive for a poem. Let alone a third of a poem.
Click to expand...

Me gusta. 100% agree and what not. I assume Thou's following post be his first entry since it looks to be about novella length :p
 
^that's a really tight cap for short stories. like 4 double-spaced pages. i can see the incomplete story arcs now.
 
I like the 1500 word limit, 4 pages is more than enough. Again, if the limit is a bit under then we're forced to put a real effort in to figure out what is necessary to tell our stories and what can be culled. I dunno about you but I'd rather read something that was trimmed down to the essence instead of something that was stretched with filler to meet a larger word quota.
 
okay, dropped off the face off the earth via a mixture of midazolam, gbl and acid. from the short story i specifically started for this little project of ours, i've already written 5 pages in 10 font, and will need at least another three to four to roughly finish the arc i set up. i think 10 pages is realistic for a rough draft, 7-9 for a more revised, polished version. rough draft should be done in three days, for a decently edited and halfway polished version at least two more. the story i've written is pretty fucked up and probably not for the easily offended.

edit: four pages is definitely not doable unless i start over from scratch and since i actually halfway like what i've written so far i absolutely don't feel like doing that. plus i should finish up soon since i volunteered to go first and shouldn't hold things up for too long by fuckin' around with what i've written.
 
^sit with for a while. try to get down to around 4,000 words in its complete form. send it to us the second of next month.

someone already have a story they've been working on for this thread and will be done this coming monday?

there is no 4,000 word quota, thoujone. that's a maximum.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top