ABCTales Critique Session

What a fantastic idea! Count me in. This is what I believe will drive up the quality of our writing - developing a community of practise - motivated and supportive writers working together to help each other. I really do think this is a welcome development and I hope that as many get on board as possible. Thankyou so much for putting this on the forum Luke. Moya and Natalia can you raise awareness of this idea around the site when you comment on others work? I will be doing the same too. Let's make this work.

Thu, 2013-07-04 11:53

It's a good idea and I would be up for it, but I am a shift worker so finding a time where I am available with everyone else would be tricky. Does it have to be a live thing or can it be done as a book reading club with people emailing their advice each week?

Thu, 2013-07-04 11:59

Well I'm sure that you could be accommodated Grover one way or the other. However I do believe that the spontaneity of synchronous discussion cannot be replicated through emailed advice though. The immediacy of a chat-room scenario is particularly beneficial. It may be possible to arrange a session to suit your work patterns. What times would you be available?

Thu, 2013-07-04 13:31

At the moment I do not appear to work any Sundays so that's probably best as my shifts are rather odd through the week.

Thu, 2013-07-04 13:36

I don't see why sometime on a Sunday would be a problem. 8-D

Thu, 2013-07-04 14:19

In that case I'm in.

Thu, 2013-07-04 16:30

#10

celticman

I've done something similiar in the past, but then the great thing about reading is you can always go back to it. I'm not sure meeting online achieves anyting much. Better with a round-robin type thing with an agreement to critique other's work by a specific date. Long-winded, but I'd be interested.

Thu, 2013-07-04 16:55

#11

The help and advice that you have given me in the past via email has been very valuable Celtic. I don't see why we couldn't do both synchronous and asynchronous approaches - best of both worlds then.

Thu, 2013-07-04 19:09

#12

The Walrus

It sounds great to me - it's well worth giving it a try.

Thu, 2013-07-04 19:57

#13

This is a fantastic response, already! I'm sure we can decide to hold the session on a Sunday, Grover. Natalia - the critique will be entirely free. The only cost is that you have to be willing to read everyone else's work beforehand and prepare a few comments :) I also think the round-robin type of critique that you describe, celticman, can be very useful, but it is of a different nature. A personal discussion can sometimes lead to people building ideas off one another and developing thoughts in ways that might not be possible alone. Nonetheless, I don't see why we couldn't use this initial critique session as a starting point, from which we could then progress to more reflected, emailed round-robin responses. In fact, that might be a good way to follow up on the critiques. After the initial session, everyone can take the feedback they get from one another, edit their pieces, and then exchange them again in the expectation of this round-robin feedback. Would the Sunday of the 28th work for everyone? That would give us ample time to exchange and prepare writing beforehand.

Thu, 2013-07-04 20:05

#14

It's in my diary Luke.

Thu, 2013-07-04 20:10

#15

Natalia

Sounds good

Natalia :)

Thu, 2013-07-04 21:08

#16

celticman

sure sounds ok.

Thu, 2013-07-04 22:44

#17

Denzella

I too have written the date in my diary though I'm not sure I will be able to keep up but I'd like to give it a go if that's all right with everyone else.

Thu, 2013-07-04 22:51

#18

yep, should be okay Kevin

Sun, 2013-07-07 08:37

#19

Will everyone who is interested in taking part please email me the story / poem they would like to submit for critique at lneima@hotmail.com? After they are all in, I will merge them all into a file and distribute them among participants. For this initial session, lets try to keep the pieces reasonably short - in terms of prose, no more than a couple thousand words? Does that sound reasonable? Looking forward to reading these!

Sun, 2013-07-07 10:48

#20

Sounds spot on Luke. I'll send a poem to you later.

Tue, 2013-07-09 11:29

#21

lisa h

Scratch told me about this thread, so here I am. I wouldn't be able to guarantee my presence on a thread on the Sunday - weekends need to be writing-free to be with family (at husband's insistence) but I would be happy to read and critique stories and poems. The only thing I have ready for an indepth critique is a novella, so too long for me to expect anyone to read, but I am happy to contribute. Lisa

Tue, 2013-07-09 13:24

#22

Hi Lisah. Don't worry about the length of the piece. It would be perfectly acceptable for you to extract a section of prose from a longer piece. Maybe a section that you are particularly proud/confident about, or one that you are less sure about? We don't need the entire novela (although feel free to post it) to engage critically. I have sent Luke a quatrain of only four stanzas for example. If you can get on-line for the chat, great. If not, no problem, you can participate asynchronously. I'm so glad you responded too by the way. Spread the word around if you get chance.

Tue, 2013-07-09 15:22

#23

I'll think about submitting something, and I am happy to look at other's work and give feedback. The only problem is, I have no idea about poetry and admit I'd not give good feedback for it.

Tue, 2013-07-09 15:42

#24

Grover these are all understandable concerns. The process of reading and offering feedback is multifaceted. One of the reasons people are reluctant to give feedback is because they feel that somehow they are not up to the job so to speak. This is an understandable concern. Let us remember though that providing feedback to others on their work is not just helping the writer it is also (and this is the crucial bit) helping the critic by enabling him or her to contextualise their own knowledge and understanding as a result of the critique activity. The act of explaining to others what it is that you think they have done 'right' or describing what it is about the writing that you enjoyed or what you think could be done to bring improvement is actualy causing a greater depth of knowledge and understanding for the person on the 'giving' end. That is something that is often overlooked. I think that Luke's intention is to keep the whole process positive and supportive, that's not to say it should be a back slapping exercise, but the point being that we should all learn and gain improvement within a supportive community of practise.

Tue, 2013-07-09 15:56

#25

Okay I'll give it a go. Can I send something that's already on here for more indepth feedback as I'm looking at a massive rewrite?

Tue, 2013-07-09 16:03

#26

I'm sure that would be fine grover. Look at my comment to lisah just above ^

Tue, 2013-07-09 19:17

#27

Submitted :)

Tue, 2013-07-09 20:48

#28

Nice one!

Thu, 2013-07-11 19:11

#29

Don't worry Alex, Luke will be providing all the details shortly. I'm so glad that you are in.

Mon, 2013-07-15 16:20

#30

Sorry for not responding until now - I moved house this weekend, which was made twice as difficult what with the heatwave. Would having all submissions in by this Sunday (the 21st of July) give everyone enough time to prepare? Then I'll send out submissions that night, and we could read them and chat about them the following Sunday (the 28th). They don't have to be long - a poem, a short story, a piece of flash fiction - just a little something to think about. Lisah - if you send in a piece, we could still discuss it on Sunday and give you feedback via email? Alex and Natalia - very much looking forward to reading your pieces. Spread the word!

Mon, 2013-07-15 16:33

#31

Wonderful. Let's keep this going. Can't wait.

Mon, 2013-07-15 17:49

#32

lisa h

Luke, I'll see about sending a piece in, but I really am happy to read and crit others' work. Lisa

Mon, 2013-07-22 00:21

#33

Ok, there are a few people interested for this week. I'll send round submissions later on tomorrow. It's a small group, which is good, as the quality is high and it won't take forever to read! Anyone else who is interested in participating, or in reading and critiquing (lisah), just let me know via email (lneima@hotmail.com) and I'll forward you the pieces. Latecomers welcome!

Mon, 2013-07-22 23:27

#34

I'm glad to say that the first batch of stories and poems for critique have been sent out to all participants. If anyone else would like to take part, late-comers are welcome, but please send me your piece by tomorrow at 5PM GMT, to allow everyone the time to read all submissions by next Sunday. If you are interested in taking part in the critique without submitting a text, send me an email and I'll pass on the pieces to you to take a look at. Looking forward to Sunday, Luke

Tue, 2013-07-23 06:54

#35

Many thanks Luke.

Thu, 2013-07-25 18:17

#36

where's the chatroom going to be? I've finished reading all the submissions sent.

Sat, 2013-07-27 08:25

#37

Hi Grover - glad to hear you've done the reading! I'll make up a chatroom tomorrow, on Chatzy, and post the link here / email it around an hour or so before we start. Looking forward to tomorrow- Luke

Sat, 2013-07-27 08:33

#38

Excellent!

Sun, 2013-07-28 11:36

#39