February 03rd, 2017

Quick Minutes
Robyn Collins (author of “Glued” and other children’s books) sends her best wishes to the “Rendezvouser’s” and hopes we are all busily writing.

Member News
Jane, Carleton and Vicki attended the Brisbane Writers Workshop Salon at the Fox Hotel, South Brisbane on Tuesday the 3rd of February. They had a wonderful time connecting with other authors and editors through casual discussion and information sharing. As the salon will be held every bi-monthly, it is highly recommend that you consider coming to the next one.  Lauren Daniels also produced an excellent "quick notes" guide to creative writing.  I have added it below.

Reminders
Our homework task is now under the “Current Task” on our website.  Please email Vicki with your contributions.  Constructive criticism is welcome regarding the homework task or if you wish for someone to read their homework out at our next meeting, please make a comment in the blog section.

A Week in Review (from Facebook)
Vicki has posted up a course from the Australian Writers Centre entitled “How to write a Murder”.  The course is online and costs $195.00.  For details please go here:
https://www.writerscentre.com.au/courses/anatomy-of-a-crime/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=hwm

Peta has posted up the KYD Unpublished Manuscript award which is now open.  For details please go here:
https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/2017/02/kyd-unpublished-manuscript-award-now-open/

Happy Publishing day for H.G. Wells final novel:
https://www.hachette.com.au/stephen-baxter/the-massacre-of-mankind

Maps are always handy to have in a novel especially when set in another world:
http://bookriot.com/2015/01/06/cool-maps-fictional-literary-places/

​The Queensland Memory awards are now open:
http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/whats-on/awards/qmawards

Carleton has posted up a very interesting article on writing and publishing in the digital age.  For more information please go here:
https://janefriedman.com/

I have also posted information up onto the calendar of events.  You will need to have a gmail account.  Please let James know so he can add you to the calendar.  You can email him at james.culverhouse@gmail.com for further information on how to obtain a gmail account and be added as an administrator to the calendar so you can add events.


Creative Writing Workshop Guidelines by Lauren Daniels (Direct copy from document provided by Vicki).
 
These Creative Writing Workshop Guidelines were given to me by André Dubus III, author of the acclaimed novel, House of Sand and Fog, during my master of fine arts studies at Emerson College [Boston, USA, 1996-1999]. They enable productive workshop proceedings while upholding the integrity of the creative works and protecting the writer’s creative process. 
 
All work is in progress. Be sensitive to the delicate nature of the process, the writer’s nerves and tendency to defend one’s work during the critique.
 
Before the critique begins, a writer can address concerns about his/her work.  Once the critique begins, the writer keeps silent unless asked a direct question for clarification.
 
During the critique, the group discusses the work in turn while the writer takes notes. This, like the bullets above/below, avoids creating an attack/defense situation.
 
During the critique, address the work, not the writer. Avoid using the word you but instead say, the piece or the character, etc.
 
Say what IS WORKING early in your critique before what needs work. Use evidence. Cite pages, paragraphs and lines with positive feedback.
 
Use cautious, positive wording. Use the language of suggestion and phrase your feedback as rhetorical questions, i.e., “What if…?” or “I felt that the ending needed further development. I wonder if there is more to the story there.” 
 
Be specific. Cite pages, paragraphs and lines to support your feedback on areas that are opportunities for polish, edits and revising/re-seeing.
 
Don’t write the piece. Creative solutions can convolute an already complex process for the writer and can be tempting for a group of writers. Say, “I think the main character of Jack needs another character close to him who can help the reader to grasp him more clearly, because he seems distant and hard for readers to imagine,” but don’t say, “I think Jack needs a best mate to help the reader see him better.”  Suggesting a best mate is writing the piece.
 
At the end of the critique, ask the writer to respond to the feedback.  Here, the writer can ask questions and receive clarification as well.
 
Electing someone to lead the critique creates a sense of order. Do your best, and when breaches of the guidelines happen, make a note and try to get the group back on track again.  Employing this method will give participants the feedback they need while incorporating respect for their endeavours. At the end of a session like this, participants should feel both inspired and equipped to revise their work.

When Submitting Your Writing for a Workshop
 
Identify your genre:  Memoir; Speculative Fiction; Historical Novel; Short Story; Children’s; etc.
 
Note the format & audience, i.e. Travel article for magazine; Chapter from a Young Adult book; Short story for a horror story contest, etc.
 
Format dialogue in the professional format.  Use any published works as reference.
 
Put your writing in the format universally acceptable to publishers Times New Roman Font [or similar]; Size 10 or 12; 1.5 or Double Spaced.  End work with a ####
 
 
When Reading/Assessing Others’ Writing
 
Identify the angle [theme/core message]. It could be in the title, such as “Bargaining in Argentina's Markets”, or within the prose itself, such as young love.

• Can you sum up the angle in one sentence?  Is it apparent?
• If there is more than one angle, does the piece succeed in delivering all of the angles clearly or do they get muddled? Does an angle or two need to be pared away?

 
Observe the narrative arch [storyline, the way the story unfolds], and if all the parts/sections contribute to the narrative and support the angle. 

• Do any sections support/propel the angle or pull away and become tangents? 
• Do any thoughts feel incomplete or leave you wanting more?
• Do you feel ‘left out’ anywhere?
• What needs further development to help readers fully grasp what is at stake?
• What feels repetitive/drawn out and needs tightening?

 
Identify the plot and the plot points which compose the narrative arch. Remember plot is action, e.g.,
1. Giges kills the king; 2. Giges marries the queen; and 3. Giges becomes king of Lydia for 30 years.

• What changes take place in the piece?  Are they believable or over the top?
• What do the players [speaker/characters] learn or come to understand?
• What are the revelations/observations?
• Is there a discernable arch of rising action->climax->falling action/denouement?

 
Question where the story starts and how the story ends.

• Can the story start later/sooner? End sooner/later? 
• Does the existing beginning read like a warm-up where the writer is still ‘finding’ the story?
• Is the ending earned? Is there a true sense of conclusion or does it need further development?

 
Consider the overall structure.

• Can the writer consider alternative chronology such as the frame? Or move one section to another location to provoke more interest?
• Observe the transitions. Do scenes move along cleanly or do elements jar/confuse readers? 
• Observe the flow from paragraph to paragraph.  Do you lose your footing?

 
Consider the characters and setting. 

• Can you see, hear and imagine them?  Are they fleshed out or flat? Are they real and alive?
• Do they provoke a reaction from you? Could they use further development?
• Is there dialogue?  Does it need expanding or editing?  Do characters sound similar to each other or are their voices cultivated and unique?
• Like character, is there a strong sense of place revealed through the senses?

 
Are you shown more than you are told? 

• Does the writer use all of her senses? Auditory, visual, kinetic, olfactory, tactile…?
• Are there fleshed out scenes that bring the story alive?
• Are there adverbs that tell more than they show and can just be cut?
• Did you find yourself ‘skipping’ over sections because they are very telling or were you riveted?
• Are there any places where you feel a scene is untold, waiting to be crafted?

 
Consider the voice of the piece. 

• Is the voice strong and developed or does it seem to falter in places? Is it intimate or distant? Trustworthy or unreliable? Why?
• Are there clichés? Are there places of original writing?
• Does the tone/mood suit the piece? Are there tonal details that support the piece or are there anachronisms [details/phrases/terms that do not match the time period/culture]?
• Is there bias/opinion that distances the speaker from readers? Are every observation backed by some kind of tangible, sensory evidence?
• Are there places where the writer could delve a little deeper and give the piece more of an authentic presence of herself?

 
Identify the perspective of the piece.

• Is it in the first person [I], second person [you], or third [he, she, they]? Is it consistent? Does this perspective work for the piece or hinder it? How?
• Does the narrator stay in a consistent proximity to the characters or does narration confuse you by leaping from one character’s head to another, causing ‘slips in perspective’?
• Does the use of ‘you’ come and go with the direct purpose of drawing the reader into the story or is it used sporadically or in an informal, unconscious conversational style?

 
Have a look at the sentence structure, verb phrases and verb tense.

• Are there certain sentences which strike you as powerful?
• Are there some that are distracting because they are flowery [purple prose], clunky [awkward], or over the top? Is there adjective overload? Or are there just the right amount of descriptors?
• Is the tense all in the past or the present?  Or does it jump? Is the verb tense appropriate or distracting? Does the tense add to or detract from the writing? Can you see a reason for the chosen tense?
• Are there many verb phrases and usages of could have, should, had, had, been, seem, and the clunky verb ‘to be’ [is, was, were, will] instead of more powerful active single-word verbs?
• Is there variation in sentence length and therefore paragraph length? Are short sentences used to convey tension?

 
BWW Hot Tips
 
Always be specific with observations and cite elements that work as well as the areas that need polish.
 
Write/type your notes directly on your copy of the piece, using pencil or pen [not red as it freaks some writers out] or MS Word’s Track Changes editing tool. All copies will be returned to writers.
 
Be open minded to genres outside your taste. If someone presents crime fiction and you don’t normally read it—it’s an opportunity to use those analytical muscles and to see, objectively, what makes a good story and what presents opportunities for revision, further building your own writing skills. A true exercise in being analytical over judgmental, when we look at whether or not a thing works over whether or not we like it or agree with it, we see the gears, motors and switches that make the technical aspects of writing orchestrate into art.
 
Please do not write/rewrite the piece for the writer. Make suggestions, cite areas of confusion or inconsistency, let the writers know something needs to be fixed…but don’t tell them exactly how. Leave the creativity to the author. Use gentle language in your critique, such as: "Something here doesn't feel real or authentic," or "The bias is a bit heavy," or "I cannot picture this place/character and need a more detail," are some examples...but please don't say, "The story would work better if the lady had a cat,” since it contaminates the creative process.
 
That said, let’s enjoy the ride. It’s going to be creative, supportive and rewarding for everyone. 
 
Let me know if you have any questions as we go. Phone 07 3351 7003 or email me on lauren@brisbanewriters.com or lauren@ledaniels.com anytime.
 
www.brisbanewriters.com

That is the round up of Rendezvous News for this week.  If you have any news, articles or interesting books you are reading please let me know at peta.culverhouse@gmail.com or on our Facebook page.

Signing off
Peta Culverhouse