lydamorehouse: (Default)
lydamorehouse ([personal profile] lydamorehouse) wrote2023-02-07 10:34 am

Report on Class and Writing

 The first thing I want to report is that I revised a short story I've been working on for a shared-world anthology, and have now sent it off to my second writers' group for critique. Hooray!

Secondly, it seems that my Loft Zoom class is finally settling into a good rhythm, I think. We had a great class last night, at any rate. I was actually able to prod people to talk, possibly because I like to teach plotting by using my own failures to create story as an example. I have a very specific story idea that should work, but refuses to gel that I will trot out for class. I think people generally like to offer advice, and so when I say, "Please help me fix this broken thing and let's talk about why it's broken," works actually fairly well as a method to get people to really think about what elements have to come together to start a story.

Then, I had them watch a YouTube video recording of Kurt Vonnegut talking about story plots, so we pretended we had a posthumous guest lecturer.  

The last half of the class was the first time we rolled up our sleeves and started critiquing and that went very well, as well. Like I say, a success all around.

In other news I am putting the finishing touches on the sheep + octopus quilt and then it will be on to the next one, which will be deep-sea themed.

deep sea fabric
Image: deep sea fabric
lcohen: (fireworks/paris)

[personal profile] lcohen 2023-02-07 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
glad that the class is coming together--i would think having critiquing go well would be one of the hardest pieces!

and extra yay for beautiful quilts.
sabotabby: (books!)

[personal profile] sabotabby 2023-02-07 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm excited for this quilt rather a lot.

I have a very specific story idea that should work, but refuses to gel that I will trot out for class. I think people generally like to offer advice, and so when I say, "Please help me fix this broken thing and let's talk about why it's broken," works actually fairly well as a method to get people to really think about what elements have to come together to start a story.

This is a good idea. I've done this with design stuff, albeit with mixed results.