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