| Friday April 26th 2002 This writing group I've joined could be a good thing, or it could do nothing for me. I'm in a 'wait-and-see' situation. Either way, however, I'm definitely going to have some fun. On the positive side, it's encouraging me to flex my creativity in producing new short stories, based on totally new situations aside from the book I've been dwelling on for nearly 15 years. I've done it plenty of times before, of course, but never in a serious critique group like this. It's recommended I make a go at some short stories rather than bringing excerpts from the book, since they'll have a complete structure and will be easier to critique. I may still get plenty of feedback I can carry over to my major work, since my weak points (I think) are description and a professional tone. On the other hand, I might not. I was really looking for a class that would teach me how to edit my 2nd draft and come up with a quality product. Some tips will cross-over, sure, but it isn't like getting help with the real thing. So I don't know. The best thing about it though, is that commaraderie of sharing stories and entertaining each other. I haven't had that since grade school, a long long time ago. I wrote my stories to entertain, and I succeeded. I'm looking forward to doing that again. Each of us is supposed to submit two stories, and ideally my first one will be so good that they'll actually be looking forward to the second. Cause plot, story and theme I can do. I feel like a stand-up comic preparing his act, and I can hardly wait to spring something on them. To cap it off, these are people who seem to enjoy writing as much as I do. I've read the first two stories and they're good - the endings were kind of ambiguous, but they had mood and personality to them. We can share experiences and a love for the hobby that I can't get with anyone else, and that's been a long time coming too. I used to avoid writer's groups in the past; I was aware of some that I could have joined (free of cost by the way) but steered clear of them. I wanted to be taken seriously, but the fantasy/sci-fi genre so rarely is. In this group, however, the moderator writes sci-fi and one of the student submissions was in the horror genre, which is only a step away. So I'm in good company, and I'm sure at least these two will have plenty of patience for my medieval settings and tales of magic. |