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apocalypsosI was thinking about doing a writers' workshop of sorts.
What I've been toying with is the idea of getting writers who've never actually finished a real manuscript to, you know, finish one. I love NaNoWriMo, but I know there's a lot of people who never actually find the time to finish or hit 50k, stop writing, and never go back to it or stall completely on the rest of the manuscript. And doing it all in one month is like writer boot camp.
So here's what I was thinking. It would be a challenge that would last the length of a school year, so ... like, starting on Labor Day, lasting until June 1st. Writers who've never written a full manuscript would not have to start writing the novel on Labor Day and have it finished by June. The challenge would be less about achieving a word count and more about building a novel from the foundation up, so that you might not even start writing until October or November or maybe even later than that, and hopefully being at a point on June 1st where, even if you're not done with the first draft, you're on enough of a roll to get there on your own.
There'd be two different kinds of entrants in this challenge:
1. People who've never been able to finish an original manuscript before.
2. People who have (whether or not they've been published yet -- *cough*), have lots of tricks up their sleeve, and are willing to act as teachers, cheerleaders, personal tutors, and -- if necessary -- drill sergeants. ;)
The people who've already finished manuscripts before would not be obligated to write anything for the challenge. You could sign up if you just want to encourage someone else to achieve the milestone of getting a completed first draft.
The people who've never finished a manuscript wouldn't be held to any word count pace unless they wanted to. If you need that sort of accountability, we can provide that. If you need someone to talk out your story ideas with, we can provide that. If you need someone to read the first chapter of your story and tell you whether or not you should keep going because you're that paranoid, we can do that, too. That's what those of us who've finished a manuscript would be there for. :)
The thing is, you'd have to come into it with a willingness to hear both the good and the bad. This wouldn't be a big circle jerk. We're not there to give you a cuddly ego massage. You'll get constructive criticism, so you'll be hearing what you're doing right and if necessary what you're doing wrong. Hell, you can get more than one opinion if need be.
Would anybody be interested in something like that? Or am I just cracked in the head?
What I've been toying with is the idea of getting writers who've never actually finished a real manuscript to, you know, finish one. I love NaNoWriMo, but I know there's a lot of people who never actually find the time to finish or hit 50k, stop writing, and never go back to it or stall completely on the rest of the manuscript. And doing it all in one month is like writer boot camp.
So here's what I was thinking. It would be a challenge that would last the length of a school year, so ... like, starting on Labor Day, lasting until June 1st. Writers who've never written a full manuscript would not have to start writing the novel on Labor Day and have it finished by June. The challenge would be less about achieving a word count and more about building a novel from the foundation up, so that you might not even start writing until October or November or maybe even later than that, and hopefully being at a point on June 1st where, even if you're not done with the first draft, you're on enough of a roll to get there on your own.
There'd be two different kinds of entrants in this challenge:
1. People who've never been able to finish an original manuscript before.
2. People who have (whether or not they've been published yet -- *cough*), have lots of tricks up their sleeve, and are willing to act as teachers, cheerleaders, personal tutors, and -- if necessary -- drill sergeants. ;)
The people who've already finished manuscripts before would not be obligated to write anything for the challenge. You could sign up if you just want to encourage someone else to achieve the milestone of getting a completed first draft.
The people who've never finished a manuscript wouldn't be held to any word count pace unless they wanted to. If you need that sort of accountability, we can provide that. If you need someone to talk out your story ideas with, we can provide that. If you need someone to read the first chapter of your story and tell you whether or not you should keep going because you're that paranoid, we can do that, too. That's what those of us who've finished a manuscript would be there for. :)
The thing is, you'd have to come into it with a willingness to hear both the good and the bad. This wouldn't be a big circle jerk. We're not there to give you a cuddly ego massage. You'll get constructive criticism, so you'll be hearing what you're doing right and if necessary what you're doing wrong. Hell, you can get more than one opinion if need be.
Would anybody be interested in something like that? Or am I just cracked in the head?
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a little from column A...
Date: 2009-07-06 12:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 01:32 pm (UTC)Great Idea!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-07 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 04:06 pm (UTC)If you can get a group of experts such as yourself to help prod us non-pros along in the right direction, I think you'd seriously be on to something.