What do you write? And what genre or form are you most interested in sharing with others here, possibly for the forthcoming mini-course… or one in the future?
What is your writing level, and your comfort level with receiving feedback? And with offering feedback?
What I want to write is a romance novel. Specifically an alien abduction type romance novel. The idea is in my head (for not just one book, but a series), but I just can't/won't make myself establish a regular writing routine. So in reality I'm open to writing anything if it makes me establish thaylt routine. I'm completely fine with sharing and receiving feedback. Only problem goes back to the beginning - I need to actually write something to be able to share it and get feedback.
Alien abduction romance! I did not realize it's a thing. Sounds like some fun to be had--enjoyment really does help with the establishing of routine! In the book reviews, I talk about Dorothea Brande's "Becoming a Writer." Her book truly guided me to arriving at routine. You might want to check it out.
Also the post about "time vs page-or-word count" is something to think about, in terms of how to approach. Even a short time each day, and if it's hard to nail down, try early in the day...then let it develop. Let me know thoughts/questions on this!
Currently, I'm writing a science fiction series. After that it will be an urban fantasy comedy, then finally I will re-visit my 14th century historical set in France (I'll have learned enough to cope with the criticism by then). Love will be an important part of the stories, but the romantic moments will be sparse. I've written on Medium for two years, been in quite a few writers' groups. So far the Juneta Key's Ninja Writer's sci-fi group has been the best. There needs to be a moderator to keep people on track.
So many projects, lined up. Do you find your mind--somewhere--is processing ahead of you? So that when you get to a project, you find you have some answers to questions you haven't even quite thought through? It's such a gift to find a functioning and more group.
I’m in an low-res MFA program with a year to go, I’m considering leaving. Not happy with it. I write CNF and working on my first screenplay. I love being in a writers group getting and receiving feedback. I’m 53 years old.
There is nothing quite like a solid group, of people you trust, who also--just in being who they are--push you to work in the most pleasurable ways (even when "pleasure" is not easy!) My current group has just three of us. We do not chitchat beyond a "how are you?" --with a brief answer! (I do think this is key. Socialize, if you want, at other times.)
In the program I taught within, we used to always have more than one writer over the age of 20-something, and everyone valued them. One of my favourite, most productive and cohesive classes ranged from age 22-72. It stands out in my mind. It was vibrant!
Then those students began to disappear. By the time I left, it was a rarity, and with only the odd one, they would feel very alone. One's knowledge base and concerns and questions are so different after time. But I so loved the mix.
How do you find writing a screenplay? That's a good breadth of types of work!
I carried a story in my head for years. It appeared as a film but because I’d never written a screen play I kept forcing it into other forms - personal essays, flash CNF. Nothing worked. I finally just said fuck it and found some feee screenplay software and started. Luckily my semester mentor wrote screenplays. It’s been fun!
I have 4 projects started, all varying shades of Military Sci-Fi. One has a decidedly old school detective noir feel, two are your basic mil/sci-fi, and the last is hard to classify. It deals with the biblical subject of the Millennial Reign of Christ here on Earth. I’m a two or three chapters into each.
I’m not experienced in writing and would love honest feed back. I would also like with suggestions on how to make things better.
I’m in the Army. They’re about to send me to a masters program for a year, so hopefully I’ll be able to write more technically as I learn how to do research and get practice at writing papers (apparently I will have to write a lot of them).
So you do beginnings! Do you get excited about the next idea, and move on to it? Have you tried to write beyond early chapters? Have you tried shaping those few chapters to be a shorter--and complete--piece of fiction? Some of us just have a novelist pacing vs a short fiction pacing, and it can take certain types of effort/focus to move from one to the other.
Do you have a lot of research to do for your biblical project? That can take you somewhere else to, down other types of rabbit holes!
What area is your masters?
Great breadth of subject matter in your four projects!
I’m getting a master's in military studies. Generic, I know, but it’s to make me a better planner. I'm 51, so I'll probably end up just using my masters as an example for my kids and grandkids.
I do get excited about a new idea! I start by writing out ideas and scenes, trying to shape the story. All of the projects are about 5K-10K words along and I’m envisioning at least a trilogy from each project. And I’m not sure if I could shorten them into short fiction works and tell the complete story I want to tell.
The biblical one is hard to do because the Bible simply doesn’t talk about the Millennial Reign very much. Its also written towards a certain market, line the Left Behind series was.
It’s really a blank slate except for a few things:
1. King David returns to rule over Jerusalem proper and the Saints (the 12 Apostles) rule as judges.
2. The earth is “reborn.” Most scholars think this to mean the earth is remade into a super continent.
3. Though but all, even though Christ is physically reigning in earth and miracles are performed daily, man still exercises free will. Some still fail to believe. The sects that refuse to believe will be punished on earth, with a supernatural with holding of water.
4. Man is in an exalted state. No disease means long life as portrayed in Genesis (Adam lived to 936 years old.)
5. Towards the end of the 1000 years Satan is released or escapes and is allowed a final time period to do his worst.
So, with that in mind, the Millennial Reign is really a blank slate. We know that we don’t lose technology so it’s not outside of the realm of possibility that men with “exalted” brains could come up with the tech you normally see in mil/sci-fi.
The story is about a team of intelligence operatives who are looking for a secret subversive society for the 1000 years mankind has left on the earth. I take it in 300-400 year chunks. If your going to live forever, time loses some of its meaning. It end with the beginning of space exploration.
So 20-40 pages, for the stories. Sometimes stories just need to be the length they are--can't shorten, and they're not novels or even novellas. It might be a collection of a half dozen ultimately--would be a good length for a book.
As for the Millennial Reign book--sounds like spec fiction readers would love it. Your #5, Satan released... whew! I find biblical stories to be so spare (I used a thread of Mary and Martha through my memoir of caregiving) that they so lend themselves to exploration. The 1000 years give a solid sense of deadline--which always serves to create tension and cohesiveness.
I write poetry (published on Medium and long-ago Scouting mags) and also have several languishing MG/YA partly finished manuscripts in the drawer, that I’d like to revive. My time spent writing has been largely neglected for other interests in the last six months, but I’d like to get back in the groove. I have been following along with the Unschool lessons avidly, reading the works mentioned (ie Laura Ingalls Wilder!), and thinking about how to apply the concepts in my work. I feel poised to ‘begin anew’ at a greater level of skill, but am still standing on the dock, contemplating the water and not ready to dive.
For prose, I am comfortable with giving and getting ‘reader reaction’ type of feedback, but I find after some years in writer’s groups, that I don’t want ‘editorial feedback’ until a piece is ‘first draft complete, or it tends to push me off track to the point that the work stalls. I hope that makes sense!
On poetry, any feedback is entirely welcome on a ‘for next time’ basis but I don’t tend to change a work once it is shared. I don’t share poetry until it feels complete to me, and changes based on other’s suggestions, much as I may feel ‘yes, WISH I’d thought of that!’, feel wrong, like the work would be possibly improved, but no longer ‘my own’. So I take in the feedback and hope to apply it in future work(s). I have never participated in poetry workshopping, but have had some great feedback on Medium from a highly skilled poet whose work I admire. I have had thoughts on others poetry but have never offered feedback.
By "reader reaction" I'm thinking you mean readers "mirroring" their experiences of the story... e.g: 'this section made me think about this,' 'this really resonated with me because _____ (fill in the blank)______,' and so on, vs. launching into telling you how to improve... ?
There's a lot to be said for putting off any feedback until the first draft is complete! There is such confidence in completing, making it whole...first. Yes.
Yes, that is it exactly!!! Tell me about all bumps and cracks, every thing that throws the reader ‘out’ of story, but please don’t suggest what might work better - unless I ask, which I think is unlikely. 👏💜👏 I guess that tells you about my ‘level’ which I didn’t really mention - I have had a fair bit of ‘crit’ experience, some years ago, and had a fair bit of feedback - but my Achilles heel is that my reader skills are wayyyyyy ahead of my ability to portray what I see /hear in my head, so I have trouble with confidence, and therefore, with finishing. My experience since joining Medium, with my poetry, says I need to finish before I share, although I still may share ‘chunks’ in this group, with that caveat. Right now I am still occupied with life-stuff, writing poetry but have several pieces ‘finished’ yet not ready to post them - meaning they are not actually ‘cooked’…
This is a useful thing to know about one's self, as a writer: do you need to have the piece completed before sharing? Or do you need...what? encouragement? useful suggestions (this one can be so tricky!)? just readers?... as you go on.
Some can find it challenging to be told a out the "bumps and cracks" with no ideas of what to do about them! We are all so different, AND our needs change from time to time, or with different projects. For useful workshopping purposes, I'm going to suggest writers come up with a quick line off the top of their work to let others know...
We will discuss further! Thank you for sharing your MO, Elizabeth!
I'm writing my first novel - it started as YA, but now has morphed into mostly general fiction. Would love to swap work with other YA or general fiction writers! I am a copywriter by profession, and very comfortable giving and receiving feedback.
Yes! Contemporary fiction I suppose. It's realism, classic love triangle story set in the punk/emo music scene in 2005 with two lead singers of two bands falling for the same girl and their rivalry playing out in their music and in the scene. Letting go to allow it to morph has been a real test to this control freak, but it's fun to watch it come together!
Hello! I write Picturebooks predominantly as well as personal essays on Medium. I've focused on PBs for 10 years now -- yikes! -- so I wouldn't say I'm a newbie, but I also don't have an agent or any published books, so maybe I am. :) I would be happy to exchange PB manuscripts with other PB writers. I'm comfortable with receiving and giving feedback. Thanks for the opportunity!
I've been an educational writer, editor, designer and project manager for a long time. For fun, I'm having a go at shifting genres into fiction for adults. Perhaps that's what I wanted to write all along 🤔.
I've been publishing short fiction on Medium for a year – from flash fiction to novellas. I would describe most of it as 'contemporary realist fiction with an Australian flavour'. (Except the Permaculture series written by a cat.)
I'm planning to self-publish two volumes of stories (about 224 pp. each) early in 2023. I find the idea of being responsible for the whole publishing process very exciting.
I would workshop one or more of the short stories, or excerpts from them, probably one I think is strong and one I think is a problem child.
I would be looking for an honest personal reaction without favour and without malice. It's particularly useful to know if readers dislike the protagonist, get completely lost, find a motivation or a reaction implausible or find the outcome anticlimactic. It's also useful to know that they truly enjoyed the read and wouldn't change much. There is a danger of trying to deliver 'value for money' and magnifying minor niggles.
I'm prepared to offer the same.
I also have the concept for a novel rattling around in my head, and intend to sit down and write it in the second half of this year. So far I have a plot outline, main characters and a couple of early chapters. Later in the year, I'd be interested in bouncing ideas about that one too, workshopping some key chapters.
I'm not sure how I might fit into this if I do (though I think it's great you are going down this path!) - I really have just enjoyed learning more about writing. Currently I'm writing photo essays and occasional poetry for my Substack newsletter. I'm not sure where it's going in the future, I'm trying to develop voice, style and a path forward! I don't know what my writing level is - not complete beginner but not published author.
I've participated in writing groups before and both given and received feedback so I'm pretty comfortable with that. I always found that having a group helps me focus and make sure I write and it really is wonderful to get the perspective of others.
I write serialized crime fiction, along with other genre fiction. Currently, I'm just writing short stories, but I would like to work up to a serialized novel this summer. I've only taken writing seriously the past few years, learning as much as I can on my own and submitting to online lit mags in the process. I have no formal training in creative writing and would love feedback on how to improve.
Great name for your newsletter/fiction :) Not sure how long you've been on board here, but check out the 2021 Index for reviews on various writing books, and the "foundational" series...and let me know of any questions! Looking forward to some workshopping! I so appreciate that you have just dived in to follow the urge to write.
I am working on a memoir that is a mix of poetry, lyrical prose, and interesting visual elements. In all the various workshops I have taken, the ones that have "clicked" the most for me were always always always poetry workshops...maybe because I love love love to write and perform poetry/spoken word/ lyric essays / and the like.
I'm an experienced writer (I write in a different form altogether for my "career") with a strong voice. I was part of a collective that involved editing other writer's work constantly, and I have been told that I am an amazing editor/feedback-giver. I'm also fine receiving feedback, though I have yet to be in a workshop where the peer feedback was particularly helpful, as it seemed to focus a lot on asking me things that my intended audience would know and/or things that would be discussed previously in the book.
I think that's a key thing I've struggled with in the workshop sense - I want to workshop essays/poems that are part of this longer work, and tend to spend a lot of time answering questions that would have been answered before the person go to this chapter/essay etc. - and I never know how to address that before people read...
And I am waiting to hear back about MFA programs... applied to 2 low-res ones for this round and still deciding if I want to do the grueling full round in the fall for residency programs (assuming neither of these pan out).
Your memoir project sounds interesting! It also sounds as if you need some sort of partnership or small workshopping group to work together on longer projects. I'm hoping we can work to put together such groupings here, with writers letting me know what they're looking for and working on. Yes, it really is a problem to be setting up context for others, instead of diving into the work.
I'm currently a college student that is writing on the side. To be honest, I haven't been writing for the past few years and only decided to pick it back up this month. Embarrassed to say that what I'm writing is fanfiction but it is what brought me back to writing, so I'm grateful. I love being part of a community that could converse about writing.
What I want to write is a romance novel. Specifically an alien abduction type romance novel. The idea is in my head (for not just one book, but a series), but I just can't/won't make myself establish a regular writing routine. So in reality I'm open to writing anything if it makes me establish thaylt routine. I'm completely fine with sharing and receiving feedback. Only problem goes back to the beginning - I need to actually write something to be able to share it and get feedback.
Alien abduction romance! I did not realize it's a thing. Sounds like some fun to be had--enjoyment really does help with the establishing of routine! In the book reviews, I talk about Dorothea Brande's "Becoming a Writer." Her book truly guided me to arriving at routine. You might want to check it out.
https://unschoolforwriters.substack.com/p/writing-book-reviews-part-2?s=w
Also the post about "time vs page-or-word count" is something to think about, in terms of how to approach. Even a short time each day, and if it's hard to nail down, try early in the day...then let it develop. Let me know thoughts/questions on this!
https://unschoolforwriters.substack.com/p/quantity-andor-quality-in-daily-writing?s=w
Thank you for suggestions!
Currently, I'm writing a science fiction series. After that it will be an urban fantasy comedy, then finally I will re-visit my 14th century historical set in France (I'll have learned enough to cope with the criticism by then). Love will be an important part of the stories, but the romantic moments will be sparse. I've written on Medium for two years, been in quite a few writers' groups. So far the Juneta Key's Ninja Writer's sci-fi group has been the best. There needs to be a moderator to keep people on track.
So many projects, lined up. Do you find your mind--somewhere--is processing ahead of you? So that when you get to a project, you find you have some answers to questions you haven't even quite thought through? It's such a gift to find a functioning and more group.
I’m in an low-res MFA program with a year to go, I’m considering leaving. Not happy with it. I write CNF and working on my first screenplay. I love being in a writers group getting and receiving feedback. I’m 53 years old.
There is nothing quite like a solid group, of people you trust, who also--just in being who they are--push you to work in the most pleasurable ways (even when "pleasure" is not easy!) My current group has just three of us. We do not chitchat beyond a "how are you?" --with a brief answer! (I do think this is key. Socialize, if you want, at other times.)
In the program I taught within, we used to always have more than one writer over the age of 20-something, and everyone valued them. One of my favourite, most productive and cohesive classes ranged from age 22-72. It stands out in my mind. It was vibrant!
Then those students began to disappear. By the time I left, it was a rarity, and with only the odd one, they would feel very alone. One's knowledge base and concerns and questions are so different after time. But I so loved the mix.
How do you find writing a screenplay? That's a good breadth of types of work!
I carried a story in my head for years. It appeared as a film but because I’d never written a screen play I kept forcing it into other forms - personal essays, flash CNF. Nothing worked. I finally just said fuck it and found some feee screenplay software and started. Luckily my semester mentor wrote screenplays. It’s been fun!
Love the approach! Throwing yourself into the pond. Form is everything for content. Can't carry water without a good bucket.
I have 4 projects started, all varying shades of Military Sci-Fi. One has a decidedly old school detective noir feel, two are your basic mil/sci-fi, and the last is hard to classify. It deals with the biblical subject of the Millennial Reign of Christ here on Earth. I’m a two or three chapters into each.
I’m not experienced in writing and would love honest feed back. I would also like with suggestions on how to make things better.
I’m in the Army. They’re about to send me to a masters program for a year, so hopefully I’ll be able to write more technically as I learn how to do research and get practice at writing papers (apparently I will have to write a lot of them).
So you do beginnings! Do you get excited about the next idea, and move on to it? Have you tried to write beyond early chapters? Have you tried shaping those few chapters to be a shorter--and complete--piece of fiction? Some of us just have a novelist pacing vs a short fiction pacing, and it can take certain types of effort/focus to move from one to the other.
Do you have a lot of research to do for your biblical project? That can take you somewhere else to, down other types of rabbit holes!
What area is your masters?
Great breadth of subject matter in your four projects!
I’m getting a master's in military studies. Generic, I know, but it’s to make me a better planner. I'm 51, so I'll probably end up just using my masters as an example for my kids and grandkids.
I do get excited about a new idea! I start by writing out ideas and scenes, trying to shape the story. All of the projects are about 5K-10K words along and I’m envisioning at least a trilogy from each project. And I’m not sure if I could shorten them into short fiction works and tell the complete story I want to tell.
The biblical one is hard to do because the Bible simply doesn’t talk about the Millennial Reign very much. Its also written towards a certain market, line the Left Behind series was.
It’s really a blank slate except for a few things:
1. King David returns to rule over Jerusalem proper and the Saints (the 12 Apostles) rule as judges.
2. The earth is “reborn.” Most scholars think this to mean the earth is remade into a super continent.
3. Though but all, even though Christ is physically reigning in earth and miracles are performed daily, man still exercises free will. Some still fail to believe. The sects that refuse to believe will be punished on earth, with a supernatural with holding of water.
4. Man is in an exalted state. No disease means long life as portrayed in Genesis (Adam lived to 936 years old.)
5. Towards the end of the 1000 years Satan is released or escapes and is allowed a final time period to do his worst.
So, with that in mind, the Millennial Reign is really a blank slate. We know that we don’t lose technology so it’s not outside of the realm of possibility that men with “exalted” brains could come up with the tech you normally see in mil/sci-fi.
The story is about a team of intelligence operatives who are looking for a secret subversive society for the 1000 years mankind has left on the earth. I take it in 300-400 year chunks. If your going to live forever, time loses some of its meaning. It end with the beginning of space exploration.
So 20-40 pages, for the stories. Sometimes stories just need to be the length they are--can't shorten, and they're not novels or even novellas. It might be a collection of a half dozen ultimately--would be a good length for a book.
As for the Millennial Reign book--sounds like spec fiction readers would love it. Your #5, Satan released... whew! I find biblical stories to be so spare (I used a thread of Mary and Martha through my memoir of caregiving) that they so lend themselves to exploration. The 1000 years give a solid sense of deadline--which always serves to create tension and cohesiveness.
I write poetry (published on Medium and long-ago Scouting mags) and also have several languishing MG/YA partly finished manuscripts in the drawer, that I’d like to revive. My time spent writing has been largely neglected for other interests in the last six months, but I’d like to get back in the groove. I have been following along with the Unschool lessons avidly, reading the works mentioned (ie Laura Ingalls Wilder!), and thinking about how to apply the concepts in my work. I feel poised to ‘begin anew’ at a greater level of skill, but am still standing on the dock, contemplating the water and not ready to dive.
For prose, I am comfortable with giving and getting ‘reader reaction’ type of feedback, but I find after some years in writer’s groups, that I don’t want ‘editorial feedback’ until a piece is ‘first draft complete, or it tends to push me off track to the point that the work stalls. I hope that makes sense!
On poetry, any feedback is entirely welcome on a ‘for next time’ basis but I don’t tend to change a work once it is shared. I don’t share poetry until it feels complete to me, and changes based on other’s suggestions, much as I may feel ‘yes, WISH I’d thought of that!’, feel wrong, like the work would be possibly improved, but no longer ‘my own’. So I take in the feedback and hope to apply it in future work(s). I have never participated in poetry workshopping, but have had some great feedback on Medium from a highly skilled poet whose work I admire. I have had thoughts on others poetry but have never offered feedback.
By "reader reaction" I'm thinking you mean readers "mirroring" their experiences of the story... e.g: 'this section made me think about this,' 'this really resonated with me because _____ (fill in the blank)______,' and so on, vs. launching into telling you how to improve... ?
There's a lot to be said for putting off any feedback until the first draft is complete! There is such confidence in completing, making it whole...first. Yes.
Yes, that is it exactly!!! Tell me about all bumps and cracks, every thing that throws the reader ‘out’ of story, but please don’t suggest what might work better - unless I ask, which I think is unlikely. 👏💜👏 I guess that tells you about my ‘level’ which I didn’t really mention - I have had a fair bit of ‘crit’ experience, some years ago, and had a fair bit of feedback - but my Achilles heel is that my reader skills are wayyyyyy ahead of my ability to portray what I see /hear in my head, so I have trouble with confidence, and therefore, with finishing. My experience since joining Medium, with my poetry, says I need to finish before I share, although I still may share ‘chunks’ in this group, with that caveat. Right now I am still occupied with life-stuff, writing poetry but have several pieces ‘finished’ yet not ready to post them - meaning they are not actually ‘cooked’…
This is a useful thing to know about one's self, as a writer: do you need to have the piece completed before sharing? Or do you need...what? encouragement? useful suggestions (this one can be so tricky!)? just readers?... as you go on.
Some can find it challenging to be told a out the "bumps and cracks" with no ideas of what to do about them! We are all so different, AND our needs change from time to time, or with different projects. For useful workshopping purposes, I'm going to suggest writers come up with a quick line off the top of their work to let others know...
We will discuss further! Thank you for sharing your MO, Elizabeth!
I'm writing my first novel - it started as YA, but now has morphed into mostly general fiction. Would love to swap work with other YA or general fiction writers! I am a copywriter by profession, and very comfortable giving and receiving feedback.
By "general," do you mean "adult?" Does it tend to realism or fantasy...?
So good to let pieces do their "morphing" thing... to step back and let it become.
Yes! Contemporary fiction I suppose. It's realism, classic love triangle story set in the punk/emo music scene in 2005 with two lead singers of two bands falling for the same girl and their rivalry playing out in their music and in the scene. Letting go to allow it to morph has been a real test to this control freak, but it's fun to watch it come together!
Sounds like possibly NA to adult-- (new adult - yet another marketing classification :) Love the idea of it playing out in their music!
Hello! I write Picturebooks predominantly as well as personal essays on Medium. I've focused on PBs for 10 years now -- yikes! -- so I wouldn't say I'm a newbie, but I also don't have an agent or any published books, so maybe I am. :) I would be happy to exchange PB manuscripts with other PB writers. I'm comfortable with receiving and giving feedback. Thanks for the opportunity!
Yes, I'm really looking forward to seeing how all this works out--hoping for useful exchanges!
I've been an educational writer, editor, designer and project manager for a long time. For fun, I'm having a go at shifting genres into fiction for adults. Perhaps that's what I wanted to write all along 🤔.
I've been publishing short fiction on Medium for a year – from flash fiction to novellas. I would describe most of it as 'contemporary realist fiction with an Australian flavour'. (Except the Permaculture series written by a cat.)
I'm planning to self-publish two volumes of stories (about 224 pp. each) early in 2023. I find the idea of being responsible for the whole publishing process very exciting.
I would workshop one or more of the short stories, or excerpts from them, probably one I think is strong and one I think is a problem child.
I would be looking for an honest personal reaction without favour and without malice. It's particularly useful to know if readers dislike the protagonist, get completely lost, find a motivation or a reaction implausible or find the outcome anticlimactic. It's also useful to know that they truly enjoyed the read and wouldn't change much. There is a danger of trying to deliver 'value for money' and magnifying minor niggles.
I'm prepared to offer the same.
I also have the concept for a novel rattling around in my head, and intend to sit down and write it in the second half of this year. So far I have a plot outline, main characters and a couple of early chapters. Later in the year, I'd be interested in bouncing ideas about that one too, workshopping some key chapters.
I'm not sure how I might fit into this if I do (though I think it's great you are going down this path!) - I really have just enjoyed learning more about writing. Currently I'm writing photo essays and occasional poetry for my Substack newsletter. I'm not sure where it's going in the future, I'm trying to develop voice, style and a path forward! I don't know what my writing level is - not complete beginner but not published author.
I've participated in writing groups before and both given and received feedback so I'm pretty comfortable with that. I always found that having a group helps me focus and make sure I write and it really is wonderful to get the perspective of others.
I just checked out one of your "photo essays"--made me think of a gratitude picturebook. Really lovely, Karen.
I write serialized crime fiction, along with other genre fiction. Currently, I'm just writing short stories, but I would like to work up to a serialized novel this summer. I've only taken writing seriously the past few years, learning as much as I can on my own and submitting to online lit mags in the process. I have no formal training in creative writing and would love feedback on how to improve.
Great name for your newsletter/fiction :) Not sure how long you've been on board here, but check out the 2021 Index for reviews on various writing books, and the "foundational" series...and let me know of any questions! Looking forward to some workshopping! I so appreciate that you have just dived in to follow the urge to write.
I am working on a memoir that is a mix of poetry, lyrical prose, and interesting visual elements. In all the various workshops I have taken, the ones that have "clicked" the most for me were always always always poetry workshops...maybe because I love love love to write and perform poetry/spoken word/ lyric essays / and the like.
I'm an experienced writer (I write in a different form altogether for my "career") with a strong voice. I was part of a collective that involved editing other writer's work constantly, and I have been told that I am an amazing editor/feedback-giver. I'm also fine receiving feedback, though I have yet to be in a workshop where the peer feedback was particularly helpful, as it seemed to focus a lot on asking me things that my intended audience would know and/or things that would be discussed previously in the book.
I think that's a key thing I've struggled with in the workshop sense - I want to workshop essays/poems that are part of this longer work, and tend to spend a lot of time answering questions that would have been answered before the person go to this chapter/essay etc. - and I never know how to address that before people read...
And I am waiting to hear back about MFA programs... applied to 2 low-res ones for this round and still deciding if I want to do the grueling full round in the fall for residency programs (assuming neither of these pan out).
Your memoir project sounds interesting! It also sounds as if you need some sort of partnership or small workshopping group to work together on longer projects. I'm hoping we can work to put together such groupings here, with writers letting me know what they're looking for and working on. Yes, it really is a problem to be setting up context for others, instead of diving into the work.
I'm currently a college student that is writing on the side. To be honest, I haven't been writing for the past few years and only decided to pick it back up this month. Embarrassed to say that what I'm writing is fanfiction but it is what brought me back to writing, so I'm grateful. I love being part of a community that could converse about writing.
Good to have you on board, Crystelle. The April 1 newsletter will have more info about workshops and growing this community!