* Been doing it for about 6 years, Alkani runs logistics
* Weird doing it in person, hang out online!
* BG:
* Attended Clarion 10 years ago
* Writing for a long time, hope to share
* Dayna Smith:
* Met Kyell at novel workshop
* Lecture given elsewhere (Wiscon, etc).
* Read "Hangdog"
* BG:
* Clarion 6 years ago
* Mostly novels, but also writing for Lovestruck (app)
* Suggestions:
* Hang out in common room often to learn from each other, etc
* Learn from each other, take chances
* Stay in touch, use alumni network
* The story that we produce will be a first draft, nothing needs to stay secret, don't worry about making it polished
* All of us help each other become better storytellers - no one wins the workshop, or rather, all of us win it
* The Story:
* One thing we will be doing here is creating something wholly new
* That will be Th critiques
* From Julia Rios (started at Strange Horizons, moved to Uncanny)
* "Come up with something new, doesn't have to be long (follow RAWR guidelines), but it has to be complete"
* Don't freak out - you get out of it what you put into it
* Know what you can do on the fly, so this shows what you can do, have fun
* Useful if you have a deadline if you're prone to overthinking
* Critique:
* The better you learn how to critique, the more you learn about your own writing, let you critique your own as you work
* The point is to help the author improve the story, how to make it more effective
* Author is always free to reject a critique, but every critique is valid
* How:
* Read it through once to get a sense of the story, let it work its magic
* Go back with 'red pen', what worked, what didn't work, where did we fall away, what was exciting, characters, what to see more of, what to see less of, etc
* First readthrough shows where the author is going so you can see early setups pay off
* First time, author just listens
* Mechanics:
* Make notes with whatever program
* Written critique - basically an essay about feelings of story:
* Was the story engaging? Was there a point where it lost you/you got bored? (MEGO - my eyes glazed over; red line through story where it stopped being engaging)
* Story components:
* Setting (add to the story)
* Characters (interesting)
* Description (clear and enjoyable picture)
* Language (nice to read)
* Dialog (flow, not *too* realistic, more like movie dialog)
* Story and plot (satisfying, useful structure)
* Highlight both good and improvement
* A few minutes to read through essay during critique (or bullet points)
* Instructors will have longer critiques
* Critique story, not author (don't hearken back to other stories, etc)
* What was intended, how effective was that
* Positive, yet constructive:
* even if it doesn't work for you, find positivity
* Helps for saying nice things about your own story
* Aim for 'improvement' rather than just 'didn't like it'
* Don't try and rewrite:
* "If this were my story, I might do..."
* not "You should do this"
* If multiple people say that something didn't work, they're probably right, but if they tell you how, they're probably wrong
* Author can ask for that during dialog after silent listening
