A Puzzlement ...

[Puma]

Hi Everyone, With all the responses to my thread on what we're writing about, I'm surprised there aren't more historical posts in Share Your Work. To date there have been only 19 threads - at least two of them are challenges I started. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we can do to get some more activity going up there? Puma

[Diviner]

I have a little trouble critiquing these days. I'm not sure of the worth of my responses, so I hesitate to post my own work, because I don't want to be all take and no give. That said, I have taken to heart what has been said about my work and am working with the comments and suggestions.

When you have almost 90000 words, it is hard to know what needs to be posted, especially when things like foreshadowing and themes are mixed into the action (I hope seamlessly), but their relevance may be unclear in snippets. Sure, I could post, but is it fair to others? Is it fair to the work? A novel isn't a short story. It works as a whole as much as in parts.

[Rosamund]

You could post just a scene, or the first 1,000 words of your novel, or something like that. That would tell you how others see your writing style, and whether what you wanted to come across in the scene is coming across, and so on. I find that sort of information invaluable; I'm not sure how others feel about it.

Any critique is good for me. I'm mainly interested in how others see my work, so any response is better than none (it's all grist for the mill).

If you want to encourage people to post in SYW, then perhaps the place to start is why people aren't posting there. Maybe a thread asking this question? It's just a thought.

I haven't posted because I don't feel that I have contributed enough to AW yet to take something back. Once I reach fifty posts, I will be putting an extract up in SYW for critique.

[Cav Guy]

Mine has clearly migrated, because what I write fits more into Western than it does historical. But I also have the same problem that Diviner mentioned: I don't like carving out small chunks of a 100k+ WIP to find something for critique.

[strngchs]

I posted an excerpt.. it would be nice to have opinions on it... though it is mostly first draft stuff :(

[san_remo_ave]

For me, my work is all 1st draft quality and I'm reluctant to post something that I know I need to polish up first. I'm happy to critique in the interim.

[Puma]

Thanks to strngchs for posting in SYW. Puma

[pdr]

Are posters in SYW allowed to preface their work with a brief note explaining what they are writing? If they could say YA or pop romance or pop historical adventure it would make it easier for me to crit as I have so little time and need to be speedy but want to be accurate.

P.S. I need Beta readers for my novel and little bits posted on SYW would be so out of context and difficult to crit.

P.P.S. Maybe we could have sessions, Puma, like Opening Chapters, MC's turning point, Fight scenes, Love scenes, Dialogue etc.?

[Puma]

Hi pdr - There already are the genre categories in SYW; most of them get pretty good traffic for posts, but historical is lagging badly. In my opinion, the three examples you used would not all go into historical (pop romance?).

The majority of the SYW posts are first chapters or short stories but there are a few later chapter posts. I tried a few challenges with topics such as Heroes and there was some response. I like your ideas of fight scenes, love scenes, dialogue, etc. and may set up a "Challenge (but I may try to find a different name) for dialogue this weekend. That would go right along with Diviner's recent question thread on dialogue. Thanks for the idea. Puma

[PastMidnight]

P.P.S. Maybe we could have sessions, Puma, like Opening Chapters, MC's turning point, Fight scenes, Love scenes, Dialogue etc.?

I like this idea. I like the challenges that have been posted (sorry, didn't read them until after the deadlines had passed!), but I also like pdr's idea of having a bit of direction in what to post from our WIPs. It could even be something like a weekly or monthly theme, so that everyone's excerpt doesn't go in the same thread, leaving room for comments. So, saying something like 'April is "Love Scene" month' or something. I think it would be fun to see how we all treat the same theme, given our different eras, settings, and types of stories (romance, war, YA, etc.)

[PastMidnight]

And, honestly, I often just forget to check the historical SYW. I'll try to make more of an effort after reading this. I didn't realize that there were so few threads over there!

[Puma]

Okay, I've thought about it a bit and I'm willing to set up a "challenge" on Historical SYW again. I think, though, rather than a one thread challenge, I'd like to see one thread per poster (I don't think the one thread for everyone idea gets as many comments on individual posts and how to fix problems).

Since it's the middle of the month, do we want to start the challenge on the 15th or wait until May 1?

Since openings are the most critical for getting interest from editors/agents, do we want to start with opening scenes or is there a preference for dialogue, love scene, fight scene, or (make some more suggestions)?

In the challenges I've set up in the past, I've given a rep point to anyone posting a piece for the thread challenge. I'd like to suggest instead that the original poster give a rep point to anyone critiquing (and anyone else who feels a specific critique or suggestion of references etc. is especially worthwhile could also give a rep point to the critiquer if so desired).

Any thoughts/comments? Puma

[strngchs]

Oh yea, beginnings are so important. I was thankful to you for posting the need for posters. I got a lot of great info and feedback and definitely will be posting again. Let me know how to participate :)

[PastMidnight]

Sounds fine to me! Maybe it would be best to start with 'openings,' as everyone has one of those. Not everyone necessarily has a love scene or a fight scene, so it might be a better idea to start with a theme that has the possibility of the maximum number of responses.

[zanidove]

I'm in. I think I am about ready for some feedback from someone other than my dad or hubby. I do have a beginning! and maybe a later one could be dialog.