Writers Group(s)

[anderclayton]

Well, rmthunter has been talking about it in the other threads but who out there would be interested in participating in a writers' group?

If you're interested, what sort of group would you be interested in having?

What sorts of writing would you be presenting?

What sorts of writing do you generally like?

Hmmm... There are probably a dozen or two more questions I could ask but those will do for a start

[rmthunter]

I figure, just to play a numbers game for a little bit, that we really need about five steady participants to make it work; more than ten and we might have to do some things in teams.

Of course I'm interested.

Double- or tripled barreled: discussions, certainly, but I would hope they would be pretty focused on the craft and business parts; critiques, most certainly; andy maybe reader groups, for less formal discussions about specific projects. (And for the latter two, I would hold out for some sort of restricted access forums.)

I tend to think mostly in terms of fantasy or occasionally science fiction stories/novels. I also seem to do better with novels than short stories, so we can already see what I need to work on. I could also stand to work on my poetry.

Not sure what you mean by "what sorts of writing." Genre? Anything except tendentiously "literary" best sellers. Fiction in general? Nonfiction in general? Drama? A particular style? At the broadest, I like books of literary merit: in fiction, books that are well written, that deal in a substantial way with major themes, appealing characters; in nonfiction, books that are informative, well-argued, lively in style, and thorough. Authors/books that have impressed me favorably (and recently): Mary Renault - The Charioteer; Patricia A McKillip -- Riddle-Master; J.E. Neale -- Queen Elizabeth I; John Lloyd Stephens, although he can be a little anal; Roger Zelazny, especially Donnerjack of the late books and Creatures of Light and Darkness of the early ones; any number of poets, but most recently Maurice Manning; Michelle West; C. J. Cherryh unless she gets self-indulgent; Joseph W. Campbell.

(Sorry, but you are hearing from someone who was the kind of kid who read cereal boxes at breakfast. If it is printed, I will probably read it.)

As if you didn't know.

Bob

[Helen_B[$]]

C.J.Cherryh--self-indulgent, huh. You mean like when she rewrote Chanur's Pride? Or might you be referring to all of Merovingen Nights including Angel With a Sword? (Actually, I would really like to know!)
Yes, a writers group could be a good thing. Would this be like a book club, only more technical? Would we talk about each others' writing? Back in the day, I wrote episodes of Seventyseven Sunset Strip before I had ever heard of fan fic. Of course, that was just to give me something to fixate on so I could ignore the fact that I had moved from New York State, the land of the Regents exam, to go to highschool in Hicksville, central Florida. And for a while I wanted to be the next Andre Norton...Now I write letters to the editor and posts on EA. How out of my depth would this make me to even express an interest?

[anderclayton]

Maybe the "writing you like" question was a bit misleading. I'm talking about a group (or groups) for writing. As discussed in the other thread ( http://www.eaforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37780 ) but I thought I would make it a bit more of a formal request by giving it a thread of its very own.

Maybe "Writing Group(s)" would have been a better name for it

Ander

[rmthunter]

Helen_B said

C.J.Cherryh--self-indulgent, huh. You mean like when she rewrote Chanur's Pride? Or might you be referring to all of Merovingen Nights including Angel With a Sword? (Actually, I would really like to know!)

Totally OT, but maybe not completely: I'm talking about a lot of her novels of the 90s, where she got into this whole "protagonist's instrospection" thing and just overdid it. It's one of the major faults of the Fortress series, makes the first three atevi novels a trial, and crippled Hammerfall.

Yes, a writers group could be a good thing. Would this be like a book club, only more technical? Would we talk about each others' writing? Back in the day, I wrote episodes of Seventyseven Sunset Strip before I had ever heard of fan fic. Of course, that was just to give me something to fixate on so I could ignore the fact that I had moved from New York State, the land of the Regents exam, to go to highschool in Hicksville, central Florida. And for a while I wanted to be the next Andre Norton...Now I write letters to the editor and posts on EA. How out of my depth would this make me to even express an interest?

Absolutely a writers' group, not a readers' group. (We have a book club, after all, and a Books forum.) That does not mean, however, we can't discuss books -- they're our models, after all, and there's a lot to learn from them.

Frankly, I think it should be as inclusive as possible if people are interested; I think I suggested at one point that we could include forums for blogging/journaling and the like, and I'd like to welcome people at all levels. I know I've been insisting on some degree of commitment, because I do think we need at least a core group of people who are very serious about it to make it work at all, but I'm thinking we could also include some less formal areas where people could comment on each other's work outside of formal critiques and readers groups -- much the way the Writer's Forum used to work here. (We could even have a thread on writing effective letters to the editor, which I've never been able to do. And frankly, given the quality of education in the US and the emphasis on communication skills in business, I think sections like that would be valuable.)

(Gad! "I'm thinking we could" -- I just did it again -- I really am starting to write the way one of my characters talks.)

Bob

[Redlass]

Most of the writing that I do is non-fiction. It's also really what I prefer.

That said, I have several plays that I keep "meaning to" write. I've even gone so far as to outline them, figure out my plot arcs, and determine basic staging. Perhaps a writer's group would encourage me to actually get them down on paper.

And at least one play I'm now under deadline for because it's got to be performed in April.

The upshot is that I would probably be submitting dramatic works.

[rmthunter]

Bridgette, you might encourage the rest of us to get into that -- I did write a couple of plays in my younger years (I was a theater student, once upon a time), and I love reading them.

And actually, almost everything I've published has been nonfiction, so that's no problem for me at all.

[anderclayton]

Well, I'd be interested too Yeah I said it in the other thread but...

I'm up for pretty much anything. I like a lot of the ideas that have been posted.

Personally I've been going through a long spate of writer's block and hope something like this would help out with it. I've got some older pieces that I'd kinda like some feedback on--creative nonfiction stories and maybe an essay--and am trying to tweak together a novel (and/or some stories). The stuff I'm trying to work on is basically dark fantasy. I even wouldn't mind getting some feedback on reviews.

I read most anything in a pinch but tend to stick with fantasy, SF, biographies, some horror, and the occasional political commentary book. I also watch tons of movies (kinda off topic but:p).

Ander

[rmthunter]

Actually, maybe not so far OT -- there are a couple things I'd love to adapt as screenplays, but that's totally new territory for me.

[rmthunter]

anderclayton said

Personally I've been going through a long spate of writer's block and hope something like this would help out with it.

Ander

Anne Lamott says that writer's block isn't so much about being blocked as about being empty. I'm not sure I agree with that completely -- I have times when I just have no desire to write, which I would call "being empty," and then times when I really want to be writing something and nothing will come out, which is what I consider being blocked.

In either case, I just do something else for a while -- there's always lots of donkey work in the office/studio -- until it clears up.

Of course, if it goes on too long, I get deranged.

Bob

[anderclayton]

rmthunter said

Anne Lamott says that writer's block isn't so much about being blocked as about being empty. I'm not sure I agree with that completely -- I have times when I just have no desire to write, which I would call "being empty," and then times when I really want to be writing something and nothing will come out, which is what I consider being blocked.

In either case, I just do something else for a while -- there's always lots of donkey work in the office/studio -- until it clears up.

Of course, if it goes on too long, I get deranged.

Bob

No clue. There is definitely a variety of factors in play about it, one of which is that I'm more in the fact gathering phase for the one thing and have been bouncing things around about reviews (and really haven't had a lot of desire to write other sorts of nonfiction stuff lately).

I've had certain times though when I just stare at the screen and can't seem to write a word.

Ander

[anderclayton]

rmthunter said

Actually, maybe not so far OT -- there are a couple things I'd love to adapt as screenplays, but that's totally new territory for me.

Me too. I've critiqued one before (fairly cursory job there though) but really haven't given much thought to writing one.

Ander

[rmthunter]

anderclayton said

I've had certain times though when I just stare at the screen and can't seem to write a word.

Ander

Yeah -- been there, done that. I read. Or I go out and drink too much. Then I spend the next day kicking myself for doing that and forget about not being able to write for a while.

[anderclayton]

*laugh* Well, it wouldn't be so bad except it happened to me when I was working on things for college. Not quite at the last minute but close enough that I couldn't not do anything. I ended up writing a story about writers block (which was amusing but didn't amuse the "teacher").

Ander

[rmthunter]

That's how that movie that I can't remember the title of happened -- it was supposed to be a film adapation of The Orchid Thief and the scriptwriter couldn't do it -- so he wrote a script about not being able to write a script on The Orchid Thief.

Adaptation -- I think that was it.

Bob

[anderclayton]

Yeah it was Adaptation. Nicholas Cage and Nicholas Cage, right?

Ander