Literary Review Quick Tips..

In wake of the workshop reconstruction currently under way, I figure it’s about time to prep our newer members on the ways things generally work here.

[center]U P D A T I N G  A N  O L D  T H R E A D[/center]

FIRST.  This is an old thread.  And I’ve had to take out the links (they were to the old site and many of those threads were phished or spammed, or just plain fucked with by hacker asses).  This thread has been “upped” because I feel that a lot of the content could prove useful, even just as a read once over kind of deal.

This thread is set in two parts:  Part One and Part Two.  Please observe = )

    * One: Chuck Shop Submissions

[b]A whole lot of new members seem to not comprehend the difference between the two shops[/b]

Please consider that unfinished work is encouraged here.  Hell, a few scenes are useful enough to practice a technique.  Unlike some of my old stories that ran eight thousand words and really bogged down the chuck side because we weren’t getting as many five-to-one reviews as we were getting submissions.  When one writer finished and submits a twelve hundred word practice piece on Submerging-the-I, they aren’t necessarily gonna wanna read and review a six thousand word story and break it down completely.  So, for the chuck side, consider working sketches and scenes.  Learn the techniques and practice them before heading to the Cult Workshop and using them all in grand stories.  But If you really want to work a story with a Chuck shown technique and want it reviewed by the folks who spend a lot of time with Chuck’s lessons, then by all means submit it to the Chuck Shop.  But, DO NOT bring a five thousand word story from your hard drive, and arbitrarily say it’s for Authority or Submerging-the-I, unless you’ve written at least five very helpful reviews.  The point is, where here to learn, not show off.

The Chuck Workshop is used to grasp a useful understanding and execution of the techniques Chuck himself shared here. His lessons have gone a long way to help many of us, most especially me!  And I am not a minimalist writer.

All of the minimalist techniques, they can be seen in the nuts and bolts, at least in some form, of pretty much all writers, even writers who are/were not minimalist and even not aware of it. Head Authority is an integral part of most every Clancy novel with so much military knowledge usually being the focus, and Grisham has had a number of best sellers that used as a focus law terminology and Michael Crichton has had many heavy sellers with the use of technological words. Edith Wharton uses almost strictly Heart Authority. Clevenger uses Themes similarly, or at least he did with his first novel. Will Christopher Baer flawlessly uses quick reference descriptions like Pink and grey sky, the color of muscle. American Psycho by BEE is all Heart and Head Authority. The focus is not to write like Chuck, but to learn from him what he has learned from Spanbauer.

In the Chuck Side of the workshop, you are to use these tools as best you can. Don't skimp on the writing, but unfinished is certainly accepted here. [b]That does not go for poor grammar and spelling.[/b]

We read short stories and sketches, anything applying a technique. If I read a submission, though, with several misspellings and extremely poor punctuation, then the chances are that I won't waste my time with that author's work. Whether it's a sketch or a short story, if it isn't a bit polished, i sneak back out and find someone who cares about their work.

[b]Remember, if you have questions about the formatting or a particular grammar usage, or if you are just lost on sliding POVs, that’s what the forum is for![/b]  Make a thread.  If you are not sure you’re doing something the correct way, ask others.  Group discussion is always here, if we use it.

[b]The Self Side of the workshop[/b] is broader in scope in that they have scripts and poetry and essays and novel samples and short stories, everything we have here, but there the work is not limited to Chuck's advice on writing. You don't have to construct your piece against the essays.

The Self Side is where we “graduate” to when we work a story, in either parts or whole, using the varied techniques.  When you think you have something down, you take off over to that side to get unbiased feedback, feedback from members that don’t necessarily gravitate toward the Chuck technique thinking but rather will mostly point out what in the story they liked and didn’t like.  Most advice in the Chuck Side doesn’t mention plot, but that sort of feedback is highly revered and practiced in the Self Side.

    * Two:

[b]Helpful Reviewing Advice[/b]

Cult badass Inkwell was kind enough to share the advice of a professor and we can only learn from that professor's points of critiquing:

And here is that node:  http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/node/1007936

He was also helpful enough to add a thread on manuscript formatting, proper mss (manu script submission) formatting.  So, throughout the thread, between Ink Mark and Ted, you pretty much get the exact idea of how to format for submission to a publication:

http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/node/1014900

Here’s another link on avoiding fiction writing mistakes:

http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/node/1010679

We have recently lost some rather valuably informative threads on reviewing due to those toolbag asshat hackers, but basically these are the stronger rules:

1) [b]Review honestly, not emotionally.[/b]  The goal is objectivity.  It is not hard to convey that you couldn’t follow the story, and it’s not hard to isolate why.  Just be honest.  Also, it is always nice to mention when something grabs you, or even blows you away.  We aren’t here to make each other feel better about ourselves, but helpful feedback is critical and objective, which goes for the mistakes inherent in the work as well as mentioning the things done well.

2) [b]Review a story the way you would want your story reviewed[/b] and it is as simple as that.  You work hard and others will work hard for you.  No member is going to go out of their way for you if you are not going out of your way for other members.  There are always more stories to read and I will choose to review the work of a member who really works reviews over someone who just expects me to be honored enough to read their story..

Most of us look at a new member’s reviews before reviewing any of their work, just to see how they prefer their reviews.  (And yes, if the new member hasn’t written any reviews but has submitted a story, then we will, generally all of us, pass on that story.)  For excellent tips on how to write reviews, read reviews.  And I mean lots of reviews.  That is the best way.  I’ve written more than two hundred reviews here, not counting the reviews in the intensives I was party to, and I don’t have it down at all.  I’ve read half a thousand or more, probably more, and it certainly helps, but there are countless ways to draft a review, and I am more comfortable crafting one now than I was way back when.

3) reply to your reviews, because all we have, being in different rooms and states and even countries and all and NOT seeing facial expressions or hearing voice inflections is our words on the screen.  (We don’t currently have the REPLY button up, and we can’t view each others reviews or review ratings yet, but those features will be back in weeks not months.)

SOME F Y I:  [b]Very few members take seriously the work by members who do not get involved in the workshop proper[/b]

[b]So.  Breakdown.[/b]

The basic rule of thumb, regarding reviewing:  [b][i]review how you would like to be reviewed.[/i][/b]

If you speed through a review, others will do the same. If you spend time on a person's piece, when they review one of your pieces, they will spend time on yours. If you didn’t like something because it sucks, take out the word "sucks" and explain what didn’t work for you and why. If you don't like a review, explain why in your response. If you like a review, explain what about it that you liked, how it helped you.  We learn together.

If you have any questions, ask a moderator or create a thread to ask other members. WE WORK TOGETHER.

Glad to see all the new members. Thank you for joining.

-kabol