Second ABC Tales Critique Session
Hi all,
Our first ABC Tales Critique in July was a real success - we had a lot of great contributors and, more importantly, a lot of excellent, constructive feedback. Everyone took the time to carefully read everyone else's work and it resulted in a discussion that was more helpful and successful than I could have possibly imagined.
I'm hoping to organise another critique for October. How would people feel about getting together online to discuss writing around midday, GMT, on the 13th of October? To contribute, please just email me a short story, chapter, or poem that you would like to discuss by Friday the 4th of October (lneima (at) hotmail.com). I'll circulate them on the Friday, which will give us over a week to read and think about the pieces before meeting. Then, on the Sunday, we'll spend 15 minutes discussing each piece.
It was a great success last time and I'm hoping that we'll hear from a few new voices this month. Let me know if you'd be interested!
Either works for me - how about 9AM GMT?
Yes, either is good for me too.
May I join this please, Luke? Will forward something to you by the date. It sounds really worthwhile and exciting.
yes I'd be interested. The fifteen minute rule would need to be pretty stringent to make it work.
Yes, celt I totally agree about the need for a limit of time per piece for the session.
Yes, I would like to have a go too if the tech side is not too difficult.
I would, but I'm in Turkey then :(
I think 9PM will work - if that's not too late for anyone. We can keep it flexible.
It'll be great to have you Vera, Miss & Denzenella - don't worry there's almost no tech involved! Really looking forward to reading more from you, Scratch & celt - this will be a real pleasure in terms of reading.
Grover maybe we could do email comments? How's the novel coming along - have you been reworking it?
Hi Luke, I'd be happy to exchage email critiques before I go away; it would've been good to join in the chat, though, as I enjoyed the last one.
I've rewritten my story into an 8k word short story that's been submitted and I am still waiting to hear from it. I took a lot of suggestions given at the last session to rework it.
Yep I'm in Luke. didn't do the last one as I was away but will certainly take part in this one.
I'm in, if it's at a time I can attend. As you know, Luke, I'm on Eastern Standard Time, so five hours behind you.
What length of piece is okay. I am thinking of a story that is 2077 words is that too long? I have shorter pieces but I would welcome constructive feedback on this piece.
Great that you're joining, Jolono and Dascha! As it'll be at 9PM GMT it will be at 4PM EST - which I hope is alright.
Denzenella - 2000 words is perfectly fine! I'm looking forward to reading it.
Grover - I'm glad to hear you've submitted it as a story. I've got my fingers crossed for you. And I'm looking forward to reading some new material!
Hello everyone,
As this is a first for me, I would like to know approximately how many pieces will need to be read? Were there a lot in July? That will determine whether I can do credit to the task and consequently participate. It is just that I have no idea of the scale of the critique.
Thanks for giving me an idea.
Suzy
Hi Suzy,
Last time we had about half a dozen pieces, and that worked quite well. From the look of things, we may have about nine or ten pieces this time. If we get much bigger I think we might break into two smaller groups - depending on the length of the submissions - otherwise it will get to be too much reading. We'll decide for sure on the fourth, when we know how long everything will be.
So, to answer your question - the reading should be light enough that you could do it in a spare evening or two. If you're not sure you have enough time, I'd say it's worth giving a try anyway - it's a great way to get some feedback on your writing, and though it'd be ideal if you could afford the time to really get into all of the pieces, I think everyone understands that sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day, and any comments you could contribute would still be greatly appreciated.
Hope that helps!
Luke
Thanks Luke,
That being the case, I would like to try my hand in the Sunday critique. As I'm in London, I'll go along with the time that suits the most people. Will soon send you my piece.
Cheers!
Suzy
Hi All,
We've had a great response so far - with half a dozen submissions already. I'll send out the reading to everyone over the weekend, but there's still time for a few more to join in, so if you're on the fence now's the time to go ahead and send in that story or poem you've been working on!
Write to me at my hotmail address, or to: luke@abctales.com.
Looking forward to it!
Hi,
Am looking forward to receiving the works to be read.
Good weekend!
Suzy
Should I have received the stories to read only I haven't? Probably jumping the gun but now I'm eager to get started also I'm worried I won't be able to get the reading done in time to make a decent attempt at giving constructive feedback.
I sent my stuff in too. I hope that it arrived ok Luke.
I've just sent the reading out now - sorry for the delay Denz - I realize that it might have been more useful had I sent them round Sunday morning, to give everyone a bit more weekend time to read! Something to plan for next time.
If anyone else is interested in reading and critiquing send me an email at luke@abctales.com and I'll forward on the pack.
Hello Luke,
I had already sent my piece in so where it is now is anyone's guess. You can see now why I was worried about the tech side.
I have resent it if it is not too late and could you send me the pack that you sent out to the others please.
Moya
Hello Everyone,
I've just opened the critique email and noticed that my prose has a main female character with two different names throughout. Please don't hold that against me, I'm having a rough week.
Vera,
It sounds like your MC is having a tough week too!
We all have them so can empathise.
Hi all,
The critique tonight will be held in this chat room: Chatzy.com/79204646518802.
It starts at 9PM, GMT.