Writing group, part 2
Mar. 10th, 2010 12:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vanillafluffyTonight was the second meeting of our Reading and Writing group at church. There were four of us again, although this time there was MrPublishedGuy instead of CapeGypsy.
Last meeting we got a prompt, and our assignemnt was to write approximately two pages. (Even single-spaced in 10-point type, that's nothing.) It jogged an idea I;'ve had for a scene rather late in my novel, so I wrote it up and pruned to it a manageable length.
We had to read them aloud, and it really was quite a mixed bag: One fictionalized memoir, a young adult sci-fi piece, a surreal bit of crack, and mine, which was from a coming of age story that's hopefully going to grow into a novel.
One criticism offered was that the first part went into excruciating detail while the last part skimmed over things...which was chiefly because I printed up the Reader's Digest Condensed Version, leaving out references to subplots I didn't want to go into. MrPublishedGuy said I did a very good job staying with the point of view, although there were a few lappses in tense. Okay, the lapses in tense are due to the fact that I rough-drafted in past tense, but as any of y'all you've read me know, I usually write in present tense. Past tense didn't wor for me, so I slapped it around and may have missed a tense or two. Staying with the point of view? Wtf, that's BASIC.
We also were asked to bring in previous samples of our writing, up to 12 pages. I provided "The City in the Seashell" (http://community.livejournal.com/thingsunwritten/3058.html#cutid1 -- too lazy to do a cut at this hour), which ought to be good for some compliments; it's one of my more lavish tales.
Next time, we'll be discussing the boo "Water for Elephants", which I have and need to read, and we're asked to bring in a poem to read aloud and tell what it means to us. Uh-HUH....
I'm yawning. Off to bed....
.
Last meeting we got a prompt, and our assignemnt was to write approximately two pages. (Even single-spaced in 10-point type, that's nothing.) It jogged an idea I;'ve had for a scene rather late in my novel, so I wrote it up and pruned to it a manageable length.
We had to read them aloud, and it really was quite a mixed bag: One fictionalized memoir, a young adult sci-fi piece, a surreal bit of crack, and mine, which was from a coming of age story that's hopefully going to grow into a novel.
One criticism offered was that the first part went into excruciating detail while the last part skimmed over things...which was chiefly because I printed up the Reader's Digest Condensed Version, leaving out references to subplots I didn't want to go into. MrPublishedGuy said I did a very good job staying with the point of view, although there were a few lappses in tense. Okay, the lapses in tense are due to the fact that I rough-drafted in past tense, but as any of y'all you've read me know, I usually write in present tense. Past tense didn't wor for me, so I slapped it around and may have missed a tense or two. Staying with the point of view? Wtf, that's BASIC.
We also were asked to bring in previous samples of our writing, up to 12 pages. I provided "The City in the Seashell" (http://community.livejournal.com/thingsunwritten/3058.html#cutid1 -- too lazy to do a cut at this hour), which ought to be good for some compliments; it's one of my more lavish tales.
Next time, we'll be discussing the boo "Water for Elephants", which I have and need to read, and we're asked to bring in a poem to read aloud and tell what it means to us. Uh-HUH....
I'm yawning. Off to bed....
.