Mick

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Maus

Arts & Culture > Poetry & Prose > Writing
 

Writing

Some weeks ago I finally signed up on an online writers' critiquing workshop/group. The very first week two of the manuscripts available to read and comment on were really wonderful, by obviously experienced writers. One was a novelist and the other author was a philosophy professor at Berkeley, I think. Other manuscripts may be raw and need a lot of work, but that's fine. I find just writing the commentary is a good exercise. The primary directive in Critters is to be diplomatic, and if you aren't, the administrator will do something -- warn you, then start blocking your privileges if you don't change. We're not commercial editors anyway, just representatives of the reading public. Writers find out what is confusing, or doesn't come across as they wanted. And no one's spirits are likely to be hurt so much they stop writing.

The group has several branches to separate everybody into genre groups -- science fiction/fantasy/horror, mainstream & literary fiction, romance, and so on. I joined the SF one because that's what I wanted to read more of, even if my own writing will barely be in that category. It's been fun, and it's a real lesson in how not to be a smartass. I'm not there to teach people how to write. I have to repeat it to myself a lot: There are no writing rules, only conventions. And nobody has to follow those, either.

posted on May 12, 2015 9:52 AM ()

Comments:

I looked into joining a writing group but came up empty. I think I'll try again. Sounds like fun. And, of course, you get to be with people who think.
comment by tealstar on May 15, 2015 8:13 PM ()
Sounds like fun. Sometimes I'll read a novel that would have been great if only for some tweaks or constructive suggestions such as: don't make Who Dunnit so obvious the reader can guess it in the first 50 pages.
comment by troutbend on May 12, 2015 6:22 PM ()
You probably would have liked a recent story that was science fiction, but also a mystery, and the writer came up with a new kind of locked-room solution. It was just great.
reply by drmaus on May 14, 2015 1:45 PM ()
Just read A Spool of Blue Thread by Ann Tyler. She makes magic out of
ordinary lives. Your group sounds interesting. Do we get a sample?
comment by elderjane on May 12, 2015 1:37 PM ()
I haven't finished anything new yet, I'm slow.
reply by drmaus on May 12, 2015 6:19 PM ()

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