Chick Lit Writers discussion
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Speaking of Brainstorming: How does everyone brainstorm for their ideas?Do you create an outline? Jot an idea down on a sticky note? Just start writing?
I usually brainstorm on my computer or right it down on a sticky note and then lose it. :)
Post-it notes or memo pads. Always! Probably why I keep buying them! $1 bins at Target ;)
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I tend to jot ideas down randomly, and then yes, tend to lose them. My husband I are in the slow process of fixing up the upstairs which would include an office area for me to get organized.Once I get an idea I do, do like a spiderweb chart of plot ideas, I also like to hand write a bunch of scenes, sometimes I just think better when I write that way but then I also have to kill time by typing everything up.
For me I sat down one afternoon and thought about how my creative writing teacher in highschool would assign topics. So I brainstormed for one afternoon and came up with the theme of my current work.I do have a couple of ideas for the group.
1. What about writing buddies to share and give feedback on each others' writing?
2. There is an events section for groups what about listing authors who are on tour that coincide with our favorite books? I have recieved invaluable feedback from the authors I have been able to visit. I know there is an events section for goodreads that lists events in our area, but if there was someone we were interested in seeing and couldn't be there geographically sharing feedback within the group. From what we have learned. Sort of benefitting from our elders. :)
I really like the idea of a writing buddy. If you haven't completely formulated an idea yet, this could also be someone that you could at least go into more details about your writing/ possibly plot.I believe this goes with out saying, but obviously if someone shares their writing with you, know that it is their property and no plagiarism!!
The events idea is a good idea, I haven't played with that function yet so I am not sure if anyone could add it but it is definitely a good idea.
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Cathy wrote: "What does everyone think? Should we come up with a challenge for the month of March? Separatley should we have weekly and daily challenges as well?Ideas for Month of March:
Commit to writing a..."
I think it would be cool to do a full character profile. I have never done that before.
Jencey wrote: "For me I sat down one afternoon and thought about how my creative writing teacher in highschool would assign topics. So I brainstormed for one afternoon and came up with the theme of my current wo..."I wish I could remember what I learned in Creative Writing class in high school. That was so long ago. LOL!
Alicia wrote: "I really like the idea of a writing buddy. If you haven't completely formulated an idea yet, this could also be someone that you could at least go into more details about your writing/ possibly p..."I totally agree Alicia!
I actually have a smaller notebook that I am going to write down ideas in. I don't want to lose my notes anymore. I never used to be like that. I have always been so organized! I guess that's what happens when you get older. :)
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Also, should we have a poll to decide about a monthly challenge...sounds like other than the ones I suggested in the first comment the only other mention of a challenge has been the full character sketch..what does everyone think?
I think a poll would be a good way to go.
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Love this idea, Jencey!
I believe anyone can add events to our group. The way I did on my own profile was to add Author Appearances, filled in as much detail as I possibly could and then uncheck the box that says "List htis event in the public listing" (That way it doens't duplicate events that are already in Good reads (where I gatherd a lot of the events I wanted on my personal page.)
Check out My Events under my Profile for more details...(Aside from author appearances, I also included book release dates, but we can have whatever people think is appropriate for a writing group)
I really like alot of the ideas everyone has going here. It really motivates me (though I am suppose to be editing and am reading this instead, oops). I like the idea of a monthly challenge because even if you are a different place in your writing it gives you something to think about and encourage others while you are working.
I also, have a notebook to keep ideas in. Mine has different colored sections so one is research, one is plot, etc. That is how I am trying to keep my ideas together right now.
As for asking about classes. I am looking at taking a creative writing class at the local community college, part of the community education thing and listing to hear about writing workshops. I know there is more that I need to learn, so considering that too.
Just to go back to my idea about events. The other night although Kristin Hannah only went to certain cities in USA, she spent an hour talking about writing. My thought was if this is an author you are familiar with and have questions. The member of the group could attend the author event and report back to the group what they have learned or what stuck out to them the most from what the author said. I thought the feedback might be helpful to all.
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Absolutely! I can't agree with you more on this Jencey. Please by all means post events you know of in the events section on our group's site...
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Okay come visit me in May and we can go see Emily Giffin promote her new book. She will be at the Buckhead Borders I think the date is May 24th.
I have seen Mitch Albom and David Sedaris. David Sedaris was great. He didn't talk about the process of his writing but it was great to hear him read his own work and get a better feel for him as an author/person. Mitch Albom was very disappointing. He wasn't bad but you could tell he was just going for his allotted time and then when I read his new book, all he had done in person is paraphrase his book. Lame.
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He didn't seem shy, I just got the unfortunate feeling that he was there just to sell books.
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I joined another writing group that actually reviews each others' work. They have a discussion tab called "Work to be Reviewed", and once it gets its desired amount of reviews (predetermined by each author's request) it gets moved into a folder for "Work already critiqued". You can move it back into the To Be Reviewed folder if you decide you want more reviews or if you edited it and want to resubmit it. Their system seems to work well because they encourage people to participate in critiquing others' writing before submitting their own writing to be reviewed and to only request as many reviews for your own work as you are willing to submit to others. So if you review 3 pieces, maybe you seek 3 reviews on your own work...see how it's fair?
You could post little bits at a time, short stories, chapters, links to your blog, links to a whole story. Whatever you want, but always being considerate of what you put in to the group in terms of what you expect to get out of it.
What does everyone think?
I think that would be great. I know that I could use the help and if I could be of service to someone else that would be great! :) Just wondering how it would work with a lengthy piece? I might want to see what the folder looks like first.
I like the idea. Sometime it is problamatic to post full pieces though I could see that. Maybe we could post we have something to review and a quick summary people could sign up to read it and we could email the work to them. Still sharing the ideas without have to find a place to post online for long pieces.
I'd be into it. One small warning though about posting online (if you intend to submit for publication later) is that the work is considered published if it is available for the public to see. So later if you wanted to sell first electronic rights, you couldn't. You could sell second or reprint rights though.
That is the issue I was thinking about to since those rights are less harder to sell. Though there is some question I have heard if things are locke on a website or if the whole thing is not posted. This is partly why I suggested the summary email thing. I think a way for multipal people to give feedback is a good idea though.
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They suggest keepings things limited to 2000 or so words and if it's something longer, you could either post it in parts (like Chapter 1 part a, chapter 1 part b etc) or you could set up a link to your writing folder or somewhere else you prefer...like email as someone suggested...
I would love to get more feedback and this way people can contribute as they have time because I know we all lead very busy lives!
Cathy wrote: "What do people think about sharing their writing with the whole group? I joined another writing group that actually reviews each others' work. They have a discussion tab called "Work to be Revi..."
I like this idea Cathy. Maybe it will get me motivated enough to start my story.
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Does anyone have any interest in a writing challenge for the Month of June? Is there anything in particular you want to work on, focus on or experiment with in your writing?
Is there anything you would like to see this group do more of, less of or any new ideas you want to see implemented? For example, if you wanted to know what where other people write, we could create a folder called My Writing Room (or something like that) where people could share and describe the space/environment they write in. Do you need quiet? Chaos? Light, dark? Small room? Organized space? Just an example.
Any and all suggestions, feedback and ideas are always welcome:) Happy Friday!
I like the where you write idea and writting enviroment thing. I am always wondering do people have music on when they write, people around you, tv on or off things like that.Also, when do you write? I always have trouble finding the time and wonder when others take their writting time.
You know something I did was start writing a blog. A challenge could be to start a blog. A very good way to practice your writing from week to week. Just a thought.
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I will create a folder for folks to put in where they do their writing, how they manage to find time for writing in the midst of all their other daily activities and responsibilities and what type of atmosphere they need to write in, etc etc. Here's the link:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...
Jencey I agree that blogging is a great way to get in the habit/routine of writing...and the best thing is it can be about anything you want!
You can create free blogs at:
www.blogger.com (That's where Jencey and I created ours)
wordpress.com
www.typepad.com
Jencey, let us know where to find yours and it would be great if we could all follow each other.
My blog is at http://whereyouwishuponastar.blogspot...
Let us know what you want from the group and we will definitely try to make it happen for you.
Thanks to all for sharing:)
I am on blogspot.com. I think the address is blogspot.com/jgortney. I will double check and repost or edit.
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I think it must be: http://jgortney.blogspot.com/
That's the common web address for all blogger pages..
Looks great btw!!!
I have a livejournal blog, mostly because I have had it since my early years of college. It is teaandscribbles blog most of the public entries are book reviews that are also posted here, but I write locked stuff there alot and do try to post other things sometimes.
hi guys - wait, i mean, hi chicks :) just joined, and i've got to say, i am so excited about seeing that this group already exists, and becoming a member!!
i have (what i think) is an interesting idea to get us all involved in a fun way. sort of like an ice breaker. well, not really, but i still think it's fun :)
what do you guys think about authoring a story together? for example, a person starts writing say 500 words. they have a deadline for this (say three or four days?). then the next person picks up where the story left off (we'll determine the order ahead of time), continuing with the next 500 words, but not receiving any further guidance or info from the original author (in terms of where the previous story line or characters were going). and so on. every member will get a turn and contribute, with the end result being a full story that we have all authored!
i think in the process we'll get to know each other's writing style (and maybe a bit about each other), get exposed to each other's strengths and weaknesses, contribute and complete a project (ie, write!! :), and hopefully have some fun! since the workload is pretty realistic, i'm hoping the project is too.
what do you guys think?
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just joined, and i've got to say, i am so excited about seeing that this group already exists, and becoming a member!!
i have (what i think) is an interest..."
While I think this is a great idea...in fact I thought of doing something similar on an even smaller scale after seeing this site where a woman wrote a chick lit novel in one month! with the help of other chick lit writers, fans and anyone else who wanted to contribute. Check out her site for all the deets.
http://www.slate.com/id/2227430
The only reason I've always hesitated about bringing it up is because I know everyone is at a different place in the writing process, has either their own projects, other responsibilities, interests, genres of writing and other differences/conflicts/desires for their writing directiopn etc.
But maybe I'm totally wrong....
What do others think? If this is something you think you would be interested in and would commit to, please let us know and we can set up a thread to start a group story.
This sounds really fun! I would like it, I can do 500 words in a couple days. It would make for a very interesting read!
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but I am trying to stay oon topic by keeping my blog about Writing and Reading Chick lit to try and get more traffic to my site. Every Wednesday I am posting something different related to Chick Lit Writers. For example, I have done:
1. I Wannabe A Chick Lit Writer: How Do You Do It? Some How-To’s From Some of My Favorite Authors
2. Reading as Research - Book Recommendations from some of my Fave Chick Lit Authors;
3. Chick Lit Sub Genres - How Do you Find Your Niche?
I was wondering if I might take the opportunity to use our chick lit writers group to take suggestions as to what may be interesting to you to hear about/learn more about/what you want to know how-to/etc etc. related to Chick Lit writing that I might include in a future Writers' Wednesday?
Any suggestions/ideas would be so appreciated!! Thanks.
I know that my blog has become a bigger writing project than I thought, but it has been a blessing.http://wwww.jgorntey@blogspot.com
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http://wwww.jgorntey@blogspot.com"
Do you mean http://jgortney.blogspot.com/
The link in your post didn't work...??
Great book reviews!? How is Hollywood Under the Covers? Looks interesting. Or are you still reading it?
I finished Hollywood Under The Covers. I have submitted the review to Steph. I am working on which actress should write a book. Going back to the book; I was anxious to volunteer for an assignment. Was definitely an easy read. I wrote up a review that I think will work for Brandy.
Ideas for Month of March:
Commit to writing a first chapter?
Commit to writing 1500 words?
Commit to writing an ending?
Commit to writing a full character profile?
Just some ideas...what's yours?