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let's have a writing workshop

i don't think i can shorten the story to 4.000 words. it's already at 4.300 and nowhere near done. like i said, i'd have to completely rework the arc i sort of envisioned, change it a lot to work in that space. and i'm not really willing to do that, now that i've started the fucking thing.
 
i'll give it a shot. it will be nowhere near 4000 though, that much i can say right now. i'll try to trim it down as much as possible.
 
thujone said:
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.
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I tend to agree with this because my favorite type of literature is terse (a la Hemingway) and in turn my own writing reflects that. Not to say I write like Ernesto, but you get my point. But, there's more than one way to skin a cat, so if lengthy prose is your M.O. perhaps splitting up the story into more than one workshop is best in order to preserve one's 'artistic integrity'.

It would be neat to have a 'theme' of sorts, though it's prbly too late. Seeing where everyone takes it would make for interesting banter. e.g. write a short story where a red vase makes a pronounced appearance or role. I dunno, just thinking out loud. Like I said, prbly too late.
 
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Max Power said:
I tend to agree with this because my favorite type of literature is terse (a la Hemingway) and in turn my own writing reflects that. Not to say I write like Ernesto, but you get my point. But, there's more than one way to skin a cat, so if lengthy prose is your M.O. perhaps splitting up the story into more than one workshop is best in order to preserve one's 'artistic integrity'.

It would be neat to have a 'theme' of sorts, though it's prbly too late. Seeing where everyone takes it would make for interesting banter. e.g. write a short story where a red vase makes a pronounced appearance or role. I dunno, just thinking out loud. Like I said, prbly too late.
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It bugs me that I can't think of the name for this but it's a fundamental writing principle to have a seemingly meaningless object that is given an inordinate amount of focus and meaning. Also, I adore Hemingway. I look forward to what you will think of my sub(s?).

Well, x3y3, I guess you could try to trim your story to within a hundred or two words of four thousand? Before we get ahead of ourselves I'm not understanding what's going on here. x3y3 is already working on a story but we're still hashing out how the workshop will go? Will there be rules set or are we just freewheeling?
 
1500 is too short. Some stories need more space than that. It's not a question of cutting what isn't needed. You can't trim Metamorphosis down to 1500 words. If you did, I'd rather read the long version. Having the limit broader, 1,000-3,000/4,000 allows people not to compromise their stories if they require the extra words. I've written about 200 stories in the past three years. Some of which have been published. Very few have been under 1,500 words. With a larger limit, you can do both. You can write a short story or a long short story. Is the issue that people don't want to read and provide feedback for something that's lengthy?

A good idea I've encountered in workshops is for the person who wrote the story to define, to some extent, how it will be work-shopped. Some people have thicker skin than others when it comes to feedback, so maybe the submissions could come with a short comment about the balance of positive to negative comments and where they think the story needs work. I've seen people get really upset before. Burst into tears, even. Some of the feedback I've witnessed has been downright brutal. Obviously we want to avoid that. There should be a balance of praise and criticism. Too much of either tends to, sometimes, disrupt the potential for improvement.

Personally, I want as much negative comments as possible. They are the most beneficial to writing. But I've been writing for a long time, and I'm used to it.
 
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I hate to say I told you so, but I did. Having one workshop per week, this is bound to happen.

let's see if we can get one piece a week before we try for four?
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It's more likely to work if you have multiple workshops per week, like I said earlier. People are going to miss their deadlines and get sick and have to work and look after their kids, etc. If you have 2+ workshops, then - the odds are - you'll have someone submit something...
 
first deadline is the 2nd. we are expecting xxxyyy to have an appropriate piece to submit on that date.

and yes, on bluelight, there will be weeks where individuals fall through.
 
I'd really like to get started on my sub to avoid a crunch, but I have no idea what's going on. x3y3 is already writing something but I have no idea what it is except for something in the range of 4000 words. I'm either missing something or details are scant. Can we please get proper coordination on this? I know that I'm an impatient person but this far into the discussion I would at least expect PMs to participants trying to get dates hammered out so we can have a list as to who goes when and what kind of work is expected. Please tell me someone is already working on it so I can relax :sus:
 
^we are trying to get a list with dates. have you read through the entire thread? anyway, start now. i've started. i sure hope Max has. i get the feeling ForEverAfter has. a short story with a max of 4,000 words. started for this workshop, written for this workshop. go!
 
it's a short story, and i'll trim it down as much as possible, but i think it'll be over 4000 words. i'll try to get it as close as possible though.
 
hydroazuanacaine said:
there is a 5% chance i will develop a dislike for you.
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that chance just dropped to 0.1%. finished the first draft. will let it sit for a day, then edit it, although i already pared it down quite a lot. in retrospect, the 4000 word limit is actually not a bad thing, at first i didn't like it as i had planned the short story a bit longer, but i erased already everything that was unnecessary, it's at 4.900 words now, and will probably stay within that size. i'll look it over once my pregabalin haze subsides, but i really needed the stuff to finish the story as i didn't feel very inspired before taking them. thanks for giving me so much time, will 99.9999% be done by the 2.

edit: uploaded it to mediafire, to prevent shit like it being it deleted by a hard crash drive or something. if anyone wants to read it, final title love rhymes with hideous car wreck.
 
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