Hey everyone;
I'm interested in starting an in-person SYW to meet once per month. The location and date will be set once a good spot has been selected that suits all of the prospective members. (I'd like the group to meet either at the local JC or a bookstore with a cafe, but my opinion will be just as good as anyone else's.)
Prospective members should have, or be able to achieve a passing grade in a college level composition class. While the emphasis of any good critique circle is on mutual self-improvement, no one wants to be an impromptu grammar teacher.
Members would be expected to supply enough copies of their story to the group so that they can receive specific critique. General critique and special points will be brought up in the actual meeting.
Everyone is allowed one free critique--that is, the member's MS is distributed to the group and everyone else critiques it. After that, critiques will be earned on a give-then-receive basis. If a member doesn't critique a story, for whatever reason, their own story is given lowest priority (EG, is not read and critiqued by the group) until they have offered a critique.
Entire books should not be entered into the critique queue without the consent of the rest of the group--and then they will only be critiqued when everyone is done reading the MS. Chapters, short stories, and articles are better for focus groups such as this, and I'd like to encourage portions of works and shorter works, rather than everyone bringing in a novel, and the group having nothing to talk about during the second meeting.
This is just my vision for group, and it is completely subject to change if the group that forms hates it. The "rules"--would only become set in stone as our member base became more permanent.
I WOULD like to have a system that ties directly to the SYW forum--that is, the group picks one story from the SYW forum and we critique it on-site, as a group. I would also like to have a system that allows people to offer a written critique por email, in case they cannot make a meeting.
I'd also like to restrict initial membership to twelve members, though I suspect the group will be somewhat smaller.
Reply here if you're interested. I live in overland park, and would be willing to travel 30 or so minutes away for meetings.
I'm interested in starting an in-person SYW to meet once per month. The location and date will be set once a good spot has been selected that suits all of the prospective members. (I'd like the group to meet either at the local JC or a bookstore with a cafe, but my opinion will be just as good as anyone else's.)
Prospective members should have, or be able to achieve a passing grade in a college level composition class. While the emphasis of any good critique circle is on mutual self-improvement, no one wants to be an impromptu grammar teacher.
Members would be expected to supply enough copies of their story to the group so that they can receive specific critique. General critique and special points will be brought up in the actual meeting.
Everyone is allowed one free critique--that is, the member's MS is distributed to the group and everyone else critiques it. After that, critiques will be earned on a give-then-receive basis. If a member doesn't critique a story, for whatever reason, their own story is given lowest priority (EG, is not read and critiqued by the group) until they have offered a critique.
Entire books should not be entered into the critique queue without the consent of the rest of the group--and then they will only be critiqued when everyone is done reading the MS. Chapters, short stories, and articles are better for focus groups such as this, and I'd like to encourage portions of works and shorter works, rather than everyone bringing in a novel, and the group having nothing to talk about during the second meeting.
This is just my vision for group, and it is completely subject to change if the group that forms hates it. The "rules"--would only become set in stone as our member base became more permanent.
I WOULD like to have a system that ties directly to the SYW forum--that is, the group picks one story from the SYW forum and we critique it on-site, as a group. I would also like to have a system that allows people to offer a written critique por email, in case they cannot make a meeting.
I'd also like to restrict initial membership to twelve members, though I suspect the group will be somewhat smaller.
Reply here if you're interested. I live in overland park, and would be willing to travel 30 or so minutes away for meetings.
