Writing group thread

gambit · #1 07-10-2005, 10:00 PM

All right, it's nice to see that I've gotten some good response for a writing group, so here's the official thread for it. For those who don't know, we send bits of writing (short stories, poems, essays, novel chapters, etc...) to each other, read them, and comment on any mistakes or anything that doesn't make sense on a stylistic and thematic level. So far there are five members:

me
holden
b.miller
grady
myrrh

I'm sure no one will protest if there are a few more join, but I don't think we want to get the group too big. Anyway, how about setting some ground rules?

First, only send your work via email. This should be obvious, but don't post your work on the forums here just so no one steals it.

Second, I think each week should feature one piece from someone. I've sent my first story to everyone this week, so it should be someone else's turn this coming Friday (or Saturday depending on what works for everyone), and so on until it gets back to me in maybe five weeks time. How does this sound to everyone?

Third, in case someone doesn't have a piece to send to everyone and is mostly here to help others (which is fine), then we'll skip ahead to someone else. Or if someone just doesn't have anything they're finished with, then we'll skip ahead just the same. Personally, I have three, maybe four, more stories in the bank.

I think having a time table for those of us aspiring to be writers will help motivate us to write more. I know when I was in college that the creative writing courses (which were about four courses total) I took were the most productive times in my four and a half years there. Obviously, we don't want to rush or force anyone with their writing, but sometimes we all need a little push.

Thoughts?

b.miller · #2 07-11-2005, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gambit

I think having a time table for those of us aspiring to be writers will help motivate us to write more. I know when I was in college that the creative writing courses (which were about four courses total) I took were the most productive times in my four and a half years there. Obviously, we don't want to rush or force anyone with their writing, but sometimes we all need a little push.

yeah i would agree with this.. as long as we, you know, don't get F's if we're not ready...

grady · #3 07-11-2005, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b.miller

yeah i would agree with this.. as long as we, you know, don't get F's if we're not ready...

F's!?!?

Any chance of getting an incomplete or a no pass?

Time Tables are very good.

gambit · #4 07-11-2005, 12:08 PM

All right, who wants to be second? And third, fourth, and fifth?

holden · #5 07-11-2005, 12:34 PM

Got your manuscript, Gambit, and will read it tonight!

Most of my writing is about 1400 miles northeast of me right now, so i doubt i'll be able to contribute anything until Mid-August. I'm happy to read and offer comments for the time being, though!

b.miller · #6 07-11-2005, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gambit

All right, who wants to be second? And third, fourth, and fifth?

yeah i think it might be cool to commit to weeks on this thread so we all know when we're up but i like sending the stories and feedback via email so we all have to write out our own thoughts and don't have that opportunity to be lazy and just agree with the previous post...

plus i'm thinking that the feedback and notes will get a little easier and more comfortable once we've been around the table a few times... I'm anticipating a few sore feelings although i doubt it's anyone's intention.

I have a seed of an idea... i don't want to make Gambit have to give all his stuff up right away so if nobody else has anything ready to go, i think i can whip something up for this weekend.... i can definitely hold off till next though if someone has something already ready for feedback.

grady · #7 07-11-2005, 10:07 PM

One thought that came up as I've been writing up some comments before emailing them off was perhaps at some point if it's possible depending on everyone's schedule is that we should have a chat session of sorts about each of the stories. Not that the written comments we're providing aren't useful, but having that dialouge between one another would provide a real time exchange of ideas and comments about each story that cannot be reproduced in email discussion.

What does everyone think?

Granted there are some logistics to be worked out in all of this happening, but I figured it would be worth mentioning to see what everyone else thought of the idea.

gambit · #8 07-12-2005, 12:57 PM

A real time chat would be nice, but obviously finding some time where we all can be online at the same time would be a challenge. Are we all in North America? That would make things easier, but we'd have to find a mirc room or all get on MSN Messenger or whatever program works for everyone.

So, is b.miller going to be the next person? Grady, do you have anything ready? Or maybe myrrh?

b.miller · #9 07-13-2005, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gambit

So, is b.miller going to be the next person? Grady, do you have anything ready? Or maybe myrrh?

...crickets...

ok i will take this week... expect an email from me sometime friday. No guarantees on its quality though... and it's probably sort of inspired by gambit's story... but it's short.

which leads me to the subject of size. maybe it's a bit premature but some of my stuff is larger than 4 pages. maybe i'm in the minority but if not what does everyone think about the occasional longer story and perhaps making it a "2 week-er" to give everyone more time to read and digest. I don't know where everybody's limit is... is a 20-30 page story too long for this group?

in any case, what i've come up with for this week is only 3 pages so we have some time to see how this comes along... just planting the seed.

grady · #10 07-13-2005, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b.miller

...crickets...

ok i will take this week... expect an email from me sometime friday. No guarantees on its quality though... and it's probably sort of inspired by gambit's story... but it's short.

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(It's like sitting in a classroom and no one is saying anything after the teacher has asked for comments.)

b.miller posted first, but I could have something ready as well, but I might need just a bit more time.

And also, how does everyone feel about a piece of non-fiction sometime soon. As one of the initial posts stated "fiction, poetry, etc." One of the things I was thinking of submitting was a book review for an upcoming release to get some feedback. Nothing terribly long, probably 3-4 pages tops. The writing of the review seemed like a good exercise at the time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by b.miller

which leads me to the subject of size. maybe it's a bit premature but some of my stuff is larger than 4 pages. maybe i'm in the minority but if not what does everyone think about the occasional longer story and perhaps making it a "2 week-er" to give everyone more time to read and digest. I don't know where everybody's limit is... is a 20-30 page story too long for this group?

in any case, what i've come up with for this week is only 3 pages so we have some time to see how this comes along... just planting the seed.

I like the idea of a longer stories, sometimes the limitations of something short can be quite difficult to work through but it can also be good to force me to tighten things up a bit.