For fans of The Night Angel Trilogy and fantasy author Brent Weeks
Next Writer's Forum Group application, rules, and deadline
We will be taking applications for the next writer's group starting now! Please follow instructions to the letter so that I don't miss getting your application.
*For those of you who applied last time we still have your applications so you do not need to request a new one*
*I want to let you know that Brent will not be leading the Group nor will he be reading your writing due to legal issues however he will be sharing words of wisdom every other week. *
The Parameters have changed a little from the initial class and they could change before the class starts but here are what we have for the first class!
1) Each week, you will be responsible for writing 500-2500 words. (At least one finished scene, chapter, or story.)
2) You will email what you write to the whole group. All writing will be kept confidential within the group.
3) Each week, you will be responsible for commenting on three other people's work (assigned weekly by the moderator).
4) You will post your comments in the writers’ group discussion forum, which will only be open for comments by members of the class. If you have additional comments for other writers beyond the two you were assigned to, feel free to add to their discussion post, too. Ditto if you wish to respond to someone else's comment.
5) If a member of the group is writing a continuing story, please keep up on the reading so that when it's your turn to comment on her work, you'll be up to date on the story.
6) Critique Guidelines: Keep it civil, even if you think the story was awful. Use specific statements. "The story was confusing" is a general, unhelpful statement. "I read sentence X five times and still don't understand it" is specific and helpful.
7) Each critique you make should note at least one positive thing and one thing you think could use work. More is better.
8) Each class will get to choose a few writing-oriented questions for Brent to discuss with them, either online in the chat, or on their discussion board, or possibly in a Skype conversation.
9) The class will vote at the end on who was the best critic, and that person will receive something cool.
*This is still experimental for us, and the point is for it to be helpful to you, so at the end of the class, we'll ask you for ideas on how to make the class better.
Suggested reading: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, On Writing by Stephen King, How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card.
To get the application please send me a message on My Page with your email address and I will send you the application that needs to be filled out 100% and sent back to me by May 29th midnight west coast time. Please do not post your email on this thread. This will protect you from possible spam and will also make sure I do not miss getting you an application.
Please be patient with me in regards to getting you an application. I will send them out when I get off of work for the day.
*For those of you who applied last time we still have your applications so you do not need to request a new one*
*I want to let you know that Brent will not be leading the Group nor will he be reading your writing due to legal issues however he will be sharing words of wisdom every other week. *
The Parameters have changed a little from the initial class and they could change before the class starts but here are what we have for the first class!
1) Each week, you will be responsible for writing 500-2500 words. (At least one finished scene, chapter, or story.)
2) You will email what you write to the whole group. All writing will be kept confidential within the group.
3) Each week, you will be responsible for commenting on three other people's work (assigned weekly by the moderator).
4) You will post your comments in the writers’ group discussion forum, which will only be open for comments by members of the class. If you have additional comments for other writers beyond the two you were assigned to, feel free to add to their discussion post, too. Ditto if you wish to respond to someone else's comment.
5) If a member of the group is writing a continuing story, please keep up on the reading so that when it's your turn to comment on her work, you'll be up to date on the story.
6) Critique Guidelines: Keep it civil, even if you think the story was awful. Use specific statements. "The story was confusing" is a general, unhelpful statement. "I read sentence X five times and still don't understand it" is specific and helpful.
7) Each critique you make should note at least one positive thing and one thing you think could use work. More is better.
8) Each class will get to choose a few writing-oriented questions for Brent to discuss with them, either online in the chat, or on their discussion board, or possibly in a Skype conversation.
9) The class will vote at the end on who was the best critic, and that person will receive something cool.
*This is still experimental for us, and the point is for it to be helpful to you, so at the end of the class, we'll ask you for ideas on how to make the class better.
Suggested reading: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, On Writing by Stephen King, How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card.
To get the application please send me a message on My Page with your email address and I will send you the application that needs to be filled out 100% and sent back to me by May 29th midnight west coast time. Please do not post your email on this thread. This will protect you from possible spam and will also make sure I do not miss getting you an application.
Please be patient with me in regards to getting you an application. I will send them out when I get off of work for the day.
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by metall6908 on -
The King and the Card books are both really great. I haven't read the Maass.
It's really sad that Brent won't be able to participate in the Writer's Forum Group anymore. Is this stemming from something that happened during the first Group, or just his lawyer covering his butt? I was looking forward to bouncing ideas off of him.
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Permalink Reply by Brent Weeks on -
Lawyer butt-covering, mostly. First group was awesome, but even with them, I wasn't reading submissions. Just wanted to make that really clear. I checked with Orbit about if I could even read submissions without risking legal headaches, and they were like "get your lawyer to draft a release, then get everyone to sign it." Huh? I don't even HAVE a lawyer. And, hey, love you guys, but spending a couple hundred bucks to read your stories right now when I'm as busy as I am is... not prime.
The other half of it is that I'm really stressing about hitting my deadlines. You all would probably rather have me get my next book done so everyone can be happy than have me spend time helping out ten people but totally missing my deadlines, right? So I just have to prioritize.
Then, of course, I do like to have a little bit of life on the side, but that is clearly unimportant. ;)
Just trying to be upfront with everyone. I wish I had more time and energy to give, but...
-brent
p.s. Next group (after this one if you missed the deadline) is expected to be in about 8 weeks. We're still learning.
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Permalink Reply by Brynweir on -
I have to admit, that as much as I'd love to have you read and comment on my writing, I'd much rather you be churning out more for me to read. :-D
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Gardner on -
I'm one day too late! :(
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Permalink Reply by Steven Jones on
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me too... just joined.... ill apply to the next one for sure...
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Permalink Reply by Heather on -
Just wanted to let everyone know that the next class has been chosen and will run for eight weeks. I want to thank everyone for applying and keeping this going. I will send out a general message in eight weeks inviting everyone who has not sent in an application to apply. Thank you again.
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