Literotica Writer's Group in Design

[KillerMuffin]

This is what we were thinking of.

Forming an online writer's group would be kinda cool. Some people have tried to run one off of Lit at places like MSN and Yahoo. I suppose some have worked, mostly they sorta just fell flat for me. So why not start it here? We've got all the tools and we've got writers. The cool thing is that it doesn't need moderation so I won't rain on anyone's parade when I forget to do what I'm supposed to do.

Essentially, here's kinda how it would work. We would have two places we'd "get together." The board--here, and one of the chat features Lit has. We already have the archival system in place, Lit keeps stories and so do threads. There's no worries about violating TOS content agreements.

Anyway, we would have a weekly live chat, Sunday usually seems to be a good day (Monday for Aussies) where we would discuss a little business (if necessary) and some technical aspect of writing or something exciting like that. After that we'd do the fun stuff, discussing each other's writing and how to improve it. No gushing mutual admiration societies, please. Honesty help!

The writing--with a word limit--would be posted about a weekish before the chat on a thread in this forum. That way everyone would have a chance to read what's going on. The cool thing is that even with a 56k you can still chat and have a second browser open to the forums without a lot of trouble. Especially on Sunday mornings.

Chat would take place either in the forum chat, which is IRC based or in Lit's Digichat. Forum chat would be better because there's usually no one in it and we wouldn't get all those wanna cyber PMs. However, it's IRC and sometimes hard to get into. Digichat is simple to use and doesn't take any real time to get into. People don't seem to have the log on difficulties.

So, what do we think?

 

[wildsweetone]

well, KM knows i'm in

anytime after 7am weekdays is okay for me well, heck i had to get that in first

i'd prefer the digichat as i discovered that when i logged into the IRC chat my IP address was advertised. i'd prefer not to leave myself open to abuse.

 

[Guest]

sounds great

This sounds like a great idea... a little scary... but great!

Sundays are a family day for me, so my participation in chat would be limited. I agree with WSO regarding the use of digichat being preferable.

Thanks for running with this ball, KM!

b

 

[M.A.Thompson]

If you would have me, I would be very interested in such a group.

 

[Alex De Kok]

I'm interested, but...

...presently I have family difficulties off-line. If you don't mind me keeping a watching brief at present and contributing when/if I can, then I'd like to be included. Your Sunday morning will probably be my Sunday afternoon, so I'm not sure how that will affect me as yet.

Alex

 

[tenyari]

If the time was good, I'd be in.

Depending on the rules of discussion that is.

Limited to works intended for posting here or not...

 

[cherrylips_au]

I'll put my hand up to join too.

Am I right it thinking we would be writing something each week posting it on a thread here then discussing it on a chat forum?

 

[cutie pie]

I'm interested.

Will there be weekly "assignments"?

 

[wildsweetone]

tenyari: Limited to works intended for posting here or not...

i think we should use erotic and/or non-erotic work.

cherrylips_au: Am I right it thinking we would be writing something each week posting it on a thread here then discussing it on a chat forum?

yes that sounds right to me. posting a piece of work on an individual thread under our own name, then putting a link to that thread into the main Work For Discussion thread in the Author's Hangout Forum.

cutie pie: Will there be weekly "assignments"?

i think the weekly assignment would be the one piece of writing to be posted for discussion. our other job as participants in the Writer's Group would be to ensure we had read the other Author's writing before joining the chat. that would keep things running smoothly.


sorry if you think i'm butting in answering these questions, just helping is all

 

[Laurel]

You can make private temporary rooms in Digichat. KM or whoever is running the group that week could set up the room, then PM everyone with the room name & password (private rooms require a password to keep out lookie-loos).

 

[KillerMuffin]

I don't think you're butting in.

I picked Sunday arbitrarily because other online groups I've been in used this day. It doesn't have to go that way. I think it should be a concensus of the majority's convenience, not just mine.

There are no weekly assignments save one. If you plan on participating in chat, please read the offered up writing so you can fully participate. Writing stuff is on your time, not ours. If you have something, fantastic! If not, don't feel bad, you're more valuable as someone to bounce ideas off of anyway. Just ask any other writer what other writers are good for, they'll tell ya.

I do think that we need to set up some kind of custom that makes it hard for people to post their own work and get commentary, then never bother to give any to others. There's nothing like these ungrateful wretches to ruin a good group. Let them stay on the Feedback Board and advertise their stories without caring about anyone else's, let's keep them out of the group.

I think that we should allow any content that Literotica allows posted on their site--with the possible exception of poetry. I think that most of us would feel pretty uncomfortable trying to discuss poetry. But that would be a group decision. I don't believe that we should ban writing because the author wants to submit someplace else. I think this should be completely open. We should follow Lit submission guides only because we're using Lit bandwidth.

I am not running this group. I have a strong personality and I'm pretty organized so I've got that whole take-charge thing going on. However, it's my firm belief that a small writer's group is best and that everyone has an equal and just as important say in how it's run and organized as everyone else. Some are natural leaders, some are natural followers and there's absolutely nothing wrong with being either one. Just as long as everyone feels as if they're a part of the group and that they have a valid opinion or say in how it's run, it's all good.

I have no problems organizing it and making it "happen," as it were, but I do not intend to really "lead" it inasmuch as I have a lot of writing knowledge and fast fingers. I will probably ask Laurel to extend my mod powers in chat just so that we--as a group--can keep hecklers out. I will not use these powers except at the entire group's decision. I don't think we'll ever need it.

I would like a weekly chat session--but you don't have to attend all the time. I would like it to go like this: Any business to take care of gets dealt with in the very beginning. Then we have a shortish discussion of some aspect of writing in general without getting into someone's story (unless to exemplify). After that we have a discussion about the writing that's been submitted for the week.

I think we should have rules about the chat times. I think criticism should be required. People should find at least one bad thing and one good thing in each work they choose to read. I think that gushing praise should be frowned on, but not against the rules, necessarily. I think that people who are there just to tear down should be put out of the group. I also think that chat should be limited to two hours.

I think we should keep writing samples at 500 words or less because we're humans, we have lives and writing of our own to do, and some of us are really, really prolific.

We need to decide how to run the board end of it. Should each author have their own submission thread to go with the main thread or should we stick it in one long thread? Is 500 words a reasonable limit? Think of it not just from the writer perspective, but from the time-short reader perspective as well? What would you prefer? We have to chat options: Digichat and IRC through the forum. Digichat is simple and uncomplicated. However, it's full of people looking for cybersex and we may find ourselves fending off solicitations half the time. IRC is a little more complicated, but it's almost always empty. The downside is that it shows your IP when you log on and off. What day and time would be the best for you to chat on a regular~semi-regular basis? Make sure you include your time zone and maybe try to synch it up with like Pacific Standard (Lit time) so we can all get on the same hay wagon. Are there any specific things that you think would work best for the group? Are there any prior experiences with writer's groups that you have that could help us keep this one running smoothly and easily enough for everyone to enjoy?

I don't want this to feel like a hassle or like something that takes too much effort from you. I'd like this to be a good resource and a nice place where authors from varied backgrounds and experience can get together and talk about something we all seem to love doing. I am not going to demand weekly or constant participation and I don't think anyone else will either. If you can come in only every once in a while that's great, too! Just as long as there's mutual participation instead of just, here's my story, oh, gotta run.

I hope this isn't too long and I hope everyone will remember that I'm not in charge. We are in charge. You won't be stepping on my toes by voicing an opinion or guiding the group.

 

[wildsweetone]

i think that's three weeks story submissions in one posting KM JOKE!!! rofl

Laurel: excellent idea. i vote the digichat private room, no others invited apart from honest willing to participate authors

i like the 500 word sample limit. i guess though at times it would be necessary to include more to enable the reader a better understanding of some particular scene/dialogue. however, i think the discussion sample should be limited to the 500 words. perhaps we could submit a whole story and keep a 500 word block in bold to highlight that which is up for discussion...?

sorry to say it, but i'm not good at discussing poetry... goes back to a teacher at school who always told me i read the wrong meaning from poems. but i'm not adverse to reading it, or commenting but i'll likely misunderstand it.

yep, good idea having someone who can keep out hecklers... shout if you need/want help with that - though having a private room will no doubt ensure hecklers are few and far between.

chat time rules:

it would be good to ensure time limits are adhered to, saves on waffling (my problem in case you hadn't noticed )

common sense should prevail. people who have never given criticism before should be given a good chance to 'have a go', everybody has something worthwhile to say, confidence will come. i tried it on the story feedback thread, in the end learnt that a lot of people felt my thoughts were very useful. so if i can do it, anyone can.

here's a World Time thingee: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/
but i've yet to figure out where exactly to look for Pacific Standard time...

 

[cherrylips_au]

Thanks to wildsweetone and killermuffin for clarifying my questions.

If we submit a full story and only have part of it is up for discussion do you think it would be to easy to end up analysising all of it rather then just the 500 words.

I do understand where you are coming from wildsweetone just in the past I've asked friends to comment on particular part of a story and they often end up discussing something else.

Will the weekly stories be a theme or a free topic?

Sorry for all the questions just want to know what I'm getting myself into and if I'll cope.

 

[wildsweetone]

ahhh good point that one cherry_lips... hmm the only problem i see with discussing the whole of everyone's story's is the time factor...

if there are say 10 authors, 10 stories and two hours... is that enough time to cover the whole lot? i have no idea.

i think ask all the questions we need to... i kind of expected i'd have tons to ask as well... that's part and parcel of getting things set up smoothly.

KM i wondered... how would you feel about displaying an example session, would it be something like this?:

Week 1
1. business
2. technical aspect
3. story discussion

the technical aspect relates to what we're looking at in the stories for the week. then with the following week's submission we will expect to have included that technical aspect within our work.

Week 2
1. business
2. new technical aspect
3. story discussion on use of prev. weeks technical aspect and possibly more.

i'm easy on whether it's a free topic or a theme...

 

[cherrylips_au]

I wasn't meaning for everyone to submit a full story to be read but if we just take part as you suggested, the highlighted 500 words, then it could be difficult to just discuss that part without refering to the whole story.

Does that make sense?

I think it could be a good challenge to limit the pieces to 500 words.

If they are or evolve into a story them even better for the author.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Me 2

KM,

I'd be interested in such a group. But, whatever happened to the SDC? Might be nice if that underused spot could be worked into the new scheme of things.

RF

 

[curious2c]

Sounds interesting. I have a work schedule that will preculde me from all meetings though. I won't be at my computer while at work, and can't connect from work either (Uptight bastards anyway)

If paart time participation is ok with you all, then count me in too please?

 

[wildsweetone]

Re: Me 2

KM,

I'd be interested in such a group. But, whatever happened to the SDC? Might be nice if that underused spot could be worked into the new scheme of things.

RF

please excuse my ignorance Rumple, but what's the SDC?

 

[curious2c]

Story Disscussion Circle, go to the home and check it out.

Heres the link:

http://www.literotica.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&forumid=14

Hope this works.

 

[wildsweetone]

far out, i didn't even realise the SDC was still in use! thanks curious2c

there don't seem to be many stories being discussed though... or are the threads deleted after a certain time?

i have to say discussing a whole story is good... but it is very time consuming. and if our discussion is going to be via 'live chat' then 2 hours for each author's story doesn't sound like it's going to be enough...

i agree with KM's idea of finding at least one good thing and one bad thing in the writing samples... if we make notes of, say, five things while we're reading, then we are likely to not all go over the same ground.

 

[tenyari]

tenyari: Limited to works intended for posting here or not...
i think we should use erotic and/or non-erotic work.

I gathered erotic. But there are stories in progress for me that will not see posting here for assorted reasons.

One such story is a work set in a high school.

Some writers may be under contract not to post, but may be fine with discussing and getting help on a given work.

Sometimes you just have a work that you feel is better suited for another audience.

 

[tenyari]

Story Disscussion Circle, go to the home and check it out.

I've refrained from using features like this in the communities I'm in because they put my work out there to anyone before I'm done with it.

Feedback from a limited circle is fine with me, but I don't want everyone seeing it early and judging it based on rough drafts.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Okay, let's see if we can pull this thing together.

So, if you could help out.

What day of the week and time of day works best for you for the chat side of the house?

Do you like the idea of limiting the work for comments to 500 words? Do you want less or more?

Do you think we should do one long thread or should we break it up into each author has a thread? I noticed today that Blurty.com has a community thing going on there, would we be better using that to post our work? The goal is to make it as easy to read and find every week as possible, right?

When would be the best for us to schedule the first chat, next week? Week after?

I think there should be like five days between the cut off to submit a piece for discussion and chat so everyone has a chance to work the reading into their schedules. Is this good? Any better ideas?

Is it unanimous that we pose no limits on prose submitted as far as content (beyond what Lit allows to be posted here) and that we just say no to poetry?

 

[Alex De Kok]

My two cents (pence!) worth

Killermuffin said

Okay, let's see if we can pull this thing together.

So, if you could help out.

Well, here's my take

What day of the week and time of day works best for you for the chat side of the house?

Working only part-time as I do, I will probably be able to fit in anywhere, except a Tuesday (daytime) and Wednesday (evening) - both GMT, by the way.

Do you like the idea of limiting the work for comments to 500 words? Do you want less or more?

I did a 500 word intro for Whispersecret's feedback/criticism forum. I found it a little restricting in trying to get over any real sense of the story I was trying to tell. At the same time, I do not want to wade through pages of stuff. How about 750 words?

Do you think we should do one long thread or should we break it up into each author has a thread? I noticed today that Blurty.com has a community thing going on there, would we be better using that to post our work? The goal is to make it as easy to read and find every week as possible, right?

Dunno on this one. I'll go with the flow! I wasn't aware of Blurty.com until now. I had a quick look and I note that we can establish a closed community, so it definitely looks like a possible. Do we still need to set up a chat forum for discussion? It appears so to me.

When would be the best for us to schedule the first chat, next week? Week after?

Let's get the details sorted out and then allow a week from then?

I think there should be like five days between the cut off to submit a piece for discussion and chat so everyone has a chance to work the reading into their schedules. Is this good? Any better ideas?

Definitely a period between cutoff and discussion. Five days seems OK to me.

Is it unanimous that we pose no limits on prose submitted as far as content (beyond what Lit allows to be posted here) and that we just say no to poetry?

I'm happy with Lit guidelines and poetry and I are old enemies.

I look forward to seeing the other responses.

Alex

 

[its Leslie]

I would like to participate, but as of late, no one seems interested in anything I say, or they insist on reading what I said, and then explaining to me (the one that wrote it) what I meant (as if I was unaware)

It would be nicer, if people just asked for clarification instead.

As such, some of the intensity of my interest is lacking.