Thursday, August 23, 2012

Literary Critique 2012 - SLO NightWriters




CRITIQUE EXTRAVAGANZA 
SLO Night Writers - August 14, 2012
 Photographs courtesy of Dennis Eamon Young
denniseamonyoungphoto.com


SLO NightWriters held it’s 2nd Annual Night of Critique at the August general meeting in San Luis Obispo, CA.   As Critique Group Coordinator it's my extreme pleasure organize and host this event.  

NW members bring 250-500 words to read at the microphone and receive feedback from a panel of critiquers.


I'm very grateful to our wonderful and distinguished panel for 2012, all experienced critiquers, most of them award winning writers, and all them published.

Left to Right:
  • Evy Cole ~ evelyn-cole.com ~ Poet, novelist, Teaches ‘Writing by Hand’ to unlock the subconscious
  • Laurie Woodward ~ artania.net & lauriewoodward.kritiquekritics.com ~ YA Novelist, Teacher, Anti-bullying campaigner
  • Susan Tuttlewww.SusanTuttleWrites.com/womanof1000words ~ Creator of ‘Write It Right’ writing program, Teacher of ‘What If” writing classes, Paranormal Suspense & Spiritual genres
  • Barbara Wolcott ~ sanlobooks.com ~ Pulitzer nominee for Scientific Non-Fiction
  • Sharyl Heber ~ saheber.blogspot.com ~ Critique Group Coordinator for SLO NightWriters, aspiring YA Fantasy novelist, screenwriter and poet
And a special thank you to Anna Unkovich for her wonderful e-critique process contributions ~ annaunkovhich.com


Judith Allen reading for critique at the mic. 

It’s an informative critique process conducted in a casual, friendly and supportive environment.  Panel members comment a wide range of topics including points of confusion, character development, plotting, dialogue and much more. 


The SLO NightWriter 
audience participates too.  
Here's Dean Bernal giving feedback to a reader.  


 This year, in addition to providing oral critiques, 
the panel offered electronic line-edits 
to kick off a new program for SLO NightWriter members.  
E-Line Edit Exchange
  

Very exciting to have pool of folks accessible to read and comment on our work, line-by-line!  It’s my preferred method of critique.  

An oral read races too quickly to catch all glitches and too many problems can slip by unnoticed when ‘listening’ vs. ‘reading.’   

Spelling and punctuation are the obvious culprits but more insidious— a reader can mask any number of concerns with a great dramatic reading performance: dialogue, word choice, command of language, character development, tension and so much more.  

A slow, thoughtful, line-by-line review where problems can be pondered and solutions crafted is extremely helpful.  The reviewer can re-read the work as often as needed and provide a much more in-depth critique. 

We don't need to be experts to add value!

Join SLO Nightwriters to participate.
www.slonightwriters.org  
or contact NW at slonightwriters@yahoo.com

You can still join if you live out of town.
E-Line Edit Exchange is a perfect way
 for long-distance members 
to participate and receive direct benefit!
  


I’m delighted to hold the position of Critique Group Coordinator on the SLO NightWriters Board of Directors.  That means I assist NW members in locating or starting a critique group and mange the E-Line Edit Exchange List.  Guidelines, A Useful Critique, for creating a productive and satisfying critique experience can be found on my blog site, saheber.blogspot.com


2 comments:

  1. The blog is looking good and getting followers, I see. Congrats! See, you didn't need me after all :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Of course I need(ed) you Anne!!! You're the whole reason I'm here in cyber space!!!!
    You e-rock, girl!

    ReplyDelete