writing groups

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writing groups

Went along to a writing group in Manchester last night; felt quite nervous reading my work aloud in front of nearly a dozen people and then watching it get pulled apart and my best "purple prose" dismissed as superfluous!
Not too unkindly though, I'll certainly go back.
Anyone else put themselves through this sort of thing?

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marchioness
Anonymous's picture
wasn't the South Manchester writing group was it?
cleveland w. gibson
Anonymous's picture
I'm a writer but haven't had to read my work alound to get it puled to bits. However, I once did a Dale Carnegie course and impromtu speaking was on the menu. Talk for five minutes on the subject pulled out of the hat. It is good experience and that is what you must remember. I hope you had a copy of your work. A hard copy. Use a red pencil and mark up all the bits the group did not like. Run a "find" search through your work and see how man times you have maybe overused words. I'm thinking about words such as "that", "then", "as", "because" and "well." I now pay attention to how I edit. Have a brief run through on your piece. Making all the changes will leave you with a good copy. The creative bit is then up to your imagination. It would have been useful to know what genre you piece was in; romance writing and horror calls for different rules as does SF and humour. Get your story sorted out and if it's under 2,000 words and good take a look at www.footstepstooxford.co.uk as they are looking for work to showcase and the 1st one is free. Good luck with your writing. Cleveland W. Gibson,writer
d.beswetherick
Anonymous's picture
Thanks, Cleveland. But they're all free here.
cleveland w. gibson
Anonymous's picture
d.beswethrick Fne but when it comes to login in ...computer does not like it. However... keep writing.
cleveland w. gibson
Anonymous's picture
d.beswethrick Just had a message from Tony Cook. The computer problem will soon be sorted out. My thanks to everybody. Great. Keep writing.
Steven
Anonymous's picture
People reject "purple prose" nowadays as sentimental rubbish, but I still like purple prose. Besides, what's so great about realistic writers who use "****" as though it were the god of words, as if using "****" or "****" or "*******" made writing more realistic... if you take out all those words, you're basically left with pronouns. "Purple Prose" has its moments, and should be reserved for those moments.
Daz
Anonymous's picture
Hi, I am a member of a writing group and we are all different. But we support one another & don't pull each others work apart. Yes, we give honest critique but we respect our differences. It all comes down to someone's opinon. Please don't let these unkind comments put you off. :) Good Karma
lilith
Anonymous's picture
I've gone to a critique group yes but well, everyone was on their best behaviour and only said nice things. I think I was the only one who actually criticised the other stories and that earned me some stares and uncomfortable silences...
lilith
Anonymous's picture
PS I am in an on-line critique group though on www.critiquecircle.com and it's very different there. The crits I get are honest but constructive and very useful to me. Not just :I like this and I like that :D
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