Microfiction cooperative / playground / sandbox..?
Printed From: NYC Midnight : Creative Writing & Screenwriting
Category: GENERAL DISCUSSION
Forum Name: Creative Writing Corner
Forum Description: Discuss NYC Midnight Creative Writing Competitions or Creative Writing in general.
URL: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=51657
Printed Date: 21 Mar 2023 at 7:42pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Microfiction cooperative / playground / sandbox..?
Posted By: Sonia Prudan
Subject: Microfiction cooperative / playground / sandbox..?
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2023 at 2:44am
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Hello! Are some of you already part of groups (or some other organised thing) where you do similar contests but without prize, pressure, cost? Like a cooperative where authors would voluntarily enter a similar thing than the (for instance) 250-word microfiction? And then you would sort of agree to review 2-3 other stories, and that is that. I understand it is a lot of work, and I think the NYC midnight challenges are really worth it. But I am looking for some sort of "training arena" for those of us who would like to keep practicing in between actual challenges and, well, just improving our writing skills...? Does that exist? Thanks! ------------- Books, chocolate and revolution! My blog https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/ My stories www.amazon.fr/Sonia-Prudan/e/B085M5CFTD |
Replies:
Posted By: CamsynClair
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2023 at 7:39am
The 11:59 Discord is an amazing place for workshopping! Totally at your own pace; you can workshop as much or as little as you want, though like with NYCM betas, the general expectation is that you’re active in workshopping other stories if you want your story workshopped, which sounds exactly like what you described! Any length of story is accepted, including micros, and it’s totally free  http://discord.gg/YhyM4K8Hyy" rel="nofollow - http://discord.gg/YhyM4K8Hyy ------------- https://bit.ly/3kSQD8u" rel="nofollow - SS R1 (RomCom) | https://bit.ly/3kkpCKS" rel="nofollow - MF250 R2 (A/A) | https://bit.ly/3N4Ms1G" rel="nofollow - All NYCM |
Posted By: Deschain
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2023 at 10:56am
i'd be up for cycling through the genres in a group workshop setting for MF250. i'm thinking...
any of these bullet points are negotiable, i was just trying to put together a starting point. ------------- https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic51843.html" rel="nofollow - SS R1 G23 Haunted by the Truth *TW* https://forums.nycmidnight.com/author-archive_topic43498_post551825.html#551825" rel="nofollow - All Stories |
Posted By: Pages
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2023 at 12:34pm
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I like this idea :) I've copy/pasted a couple of years' worth of NYCM 250 word and 100 word prompts so I could write stories as practice. I'd pick one at random by the super-high-tech method of....(drum roll please)...picking a number out of a baggie of bits of paper with numbers on them. Then I'd commit myself to writing the story as I would if it was the official challenge. If anyone sets this up as a group activity, please count me in! ------------- https://tinyurl.com/madfv6cd" rel="nofollow - SS R1 Serendipity Day https://tinyurl.com/2p8npsfa" rel="nofollow - ALL NYCM |
Posted By: Deschain
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2023 at 2:08pm
i'm willing to put the google drive/docs/group part of it together (assuming everyone has a gmail account or can create one) and address any technical issues. if we keep the scope to roughly what i outlined above i don't think there's a need for much else in terms of organizing and decision-making. i think we can set up the schedule to avoid conflicts with any of the NYCM contests, and maybe put in place a simple agreement about skipping sessions (maybe we let people skip 2 consecutive rounds, but after the 3rd they're out). @Sonia, if this isn't what you had in mind please say so. i'm not trying to take over your idea/thread. this is just my suggestion on how we could implement what you're talking about, but i defer to you if this isn't what you had in mind ------------- https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic51843.html" rel="nofollow - SS R1 G23 Haunted by the Truth *TW* https://forums.nycmidnight.com/author-archive_topic43498_post551825.html#551825" rel="nofollow - All Stories |
Pages wrote:Posted By: Sonia Prudan
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 2:40am
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Hello everyone! Thanks for all the interest here. Yes, what you are describing Deschain is very much what I had in mind. And I wouldn't mind you doing all the Google magic (sounds like you know what you are talking about). But, I just joined the Discord group which you mention, CamsynClair, and that also sounds amazing. I don't want to reinvent the wheeel, so I am going to check how the Discord group works and see if they have something similar first (?). I like the idea of having a one-day (or two-day) deadline, and I am not sure yet that the Discord group organises these types of events? But maybe they do, so who knows. Maybe we can do both...? At first sight, it looks like the Discord group can be used to work on a writing, and get feedback, and share tips and news, these things. And that is great. But I don't think it would help keeping all the writer emails together, drawing the random prompt, etc. So maybe the Discord group can be used to tell people that they can join a fake low-pressure challenge and that they should email so-and-so...? I don't know, really. I am just thinking aloud here. I don't want either to sound rude and start there with random ideas that they have already had many times... :) ------------- Books, chocolate and revolution! My blog https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/ My stories www.amazon.fr/Sonia-Prudan/e/B085M5CFTD |
Posted By: Sonia Prudan
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 6:46am
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Well, I did ask and there doesn't seem to be anything like it on the Discord group (?). There apparently wasn't much uptake, so that is something we should take into account. If this thread here doesn't attract too much attention, then I guess we too would find it hard to have enough participants for our coop low-key 24h challenge. Anyway, I am counting three persons here... Any others? ------------- Books, chocolate and revolution! My blog https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/ My stories www.amazon.fr/Sonia-Prudan/e/B085M5CFTD |
Posted By: Nimhathuna
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 9:14am
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Hi there, This sounds like a good idea. If it goes ahead, count me in. I'm part of the Discord group mentioned above, but we enter free/paying competitions, offer feedback etc., to flex our literary muscles rather than promote a "training arena." So if you get it up and running, feel free to DM me. ------------- https://bit.ly/3ACCT6O" rel="nofollow - 250M R1: GR 68 ‘Human Female Salad Intake: A Study’ Sci-Fi |
Posted By: Sonia Prudan
Date Posted: 24 Jan 2023 at 4:58am
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Hello everyone! That makes five of us for this round. Simple rules. I agree with max 5-6 authors per group. I don't think we need to worry about skipping sessions for now. There might be only one round, after all. Natural consequences: you don't review, you don't get your reviews. I don't know if people want to review all other stories, it might be a big job? I don't know. I think if we all review two-three other stories, we are good. Author A reviews stories B, C, D ; Author B reviews stories C, D, E ; Author C reviews stories D, E, A ; Author D reviews stories E, A, B ; Author E reviews stories A, B, C. Authors are sorted by timestamp or any random method. But I am totally up to review another five or ten stories, so I am just being mindful, not opposed to review-them-all. Also, with or without a winner? I said no prize, no cost, no pressure. It might have meant no winner (only prize is the feedback we receive), or you might prefer an honorary unrewarded winner (no rounds, each reviewer chooses their best story and if there is no clear winner among all the winners we share the glory). Not sure how you want it. What do you think: reviewing all other stories or only 2-3? electing a winner or not? Or I could make a decision about it all too.
------------- Books, chocolate and revolution! My blog https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/ My stories www.amazon.fr/Sonia-Prudan/e/B085M5CFTD |
Posted By: nobodyowens
Date Posted: 24 Jan 2023 at 2:30pm
Posted By: Deschain
Date Posted: 24 Jan 2023 at 3:24pm
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I'm up for either (1) review all or (2) review 2-3. I'd slightly prefer to review all if we're keeping it to 250 word stories. I'd like to see everyone's work progress and offer positive feedback on growth. To me that's the best thing about this idea. It gives a chance to follow up on previous criticism and (hopefully) offer positive feed back. In other words, feedback on story #1 is "your dialogue was a little clunky"....feedback for story #5 "your dialogue flows much better." We still get some of that with reviewing 2-3, just not as much. I'm in either way. I'm fine with winner or no winner. If we do pick a winner, I'd prefer if we vote for most improved overall at the end (after we cycle through each genre). Where we are relative to others doesn't matter as much as where we end up relative to where we started. Maybe also everyone gets a vote for favorite story by someone else. That would also be helpful. If one of my stories is someone's favorite out of 65 (for 13 genres), I should probably think about revising and publishing it. ------------- https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic51843.html" rel="nofollow - SS R1 G23 Haunted by the Truth *TW* https://forums.nycmidnight.com/author-archive_topic43498_post551825.html#551825" rel="nofollow - All Stories |
Posted By: Sonia Prudan
Date Posted: 24 Jan 2023 at 8:27pm
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Hello again! That sounds promising. Let's! Some basic rules (tell me what you think of it):
- 24h 250-word challenge, starting on 11:59PMEST on a Friday (time when the prompt will be posted or emailed or something),
- groups of 4 - 6 authors for each prompt,
- prompts similar to the NYC Midnight prompts,
- each entrant agrees to review all other submissions in their group (so up to 5 other stories),
- reviews to be emailed back to wherever the prompt comes from up to a week later (so 11:59PMEST next Friday),
- reviews will be gathered and grouped and sent to authors (?) that weekend,
- we improve the process and we start again two or three or X weeks later. ------------- Books, chocolate and revolution! My blog https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/ My stories www.amazon.fr/Sonia-Prudan/e/B085M5CFTD |
Posted By: mistressposte
Date Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 3:46am
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Just posting to follow this thread! It's such a good idea but a bit busy this time to join in. Hopefully can be a part of the next one. Have fun! ------------- http://bit.ly/3Du0urO" rel="nofollow - SS R1 GR159 http://bit.ly/3CYV8Ey" rel="nofollow - MF250 R2 http://bit.ly/3HfKaxi" rel="nofollow - MF250 R1 |
Posted By: Smitava
Date Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 4:05am
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Great initiative. Could I participate too? ------------- https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic52386_post556037.html#556037" rel="nofollow - R1,Romance(SS2023) |
Posted By: mistressposte
Date Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 4:26am
Thanks so much for sharing this - this is exactly the kind of thing that i've been looking for! ------------- http://bit.ly/3Du0urO" rel="nofollow - SS R1 GR159 http://bit.ly/3CYV8Ey" rel="nofollow - MF250 R2 http://bit.ly/3HfKaxi" rel="nofollow - MF250 R1 |
Posted By: Sonia Prudan
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2023 at 8:21pm
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Hello everyone! Just confirming that the (thing?) we were trying to organise is up and running now. Deschain has organised the Google space, and everyone who expressed an interest here has been contacted. Deschain has also named it NYCM Microfiction Sandbox, which I think is a great name. So it means I will now stop calling it a (thing?). ;) I guess we are kind of ready to go now. Woohoo! ------------- Books, chocolate and revolution! My blog https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/ My stories www.amazon.fr/Sonia-Prudan/e/B085M5CFTD |
Posted By: fae
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2023 at 12:03am
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Thanks for posting this - I'd love to join whenever there's another opening :) ------------- https://bit.ly/3HiZLuM" rel="nofollow - R1 250MF Racing to Sunrise https://bit.ly/3kT2NhD" rel="nofollow - R1 2023SS As in Life, So in Death |
Posted By: Deschain
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2023 at 12:44pm
If some more people join you in wanting to get going, I'd be happy to share details on how to manage it. I think we've got it set up for minimal overhead, so you and 4-5 others (fewer if you want) can start one at any time. Also, if someone does drop out from our original six and we decide to add someone from a waitlist, I believe you would be first in line on the waitlist. I've lead some book groups before. I would not be surprised if someone had to drop out from a group of six. Life is messy sometimes. One way or another, you'll get a chance to participate in this or something similar at some point. ------------- https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic51843.html" rel="nofollow - SS R1 G23 Haunted by the Truth *TW* https://forums.nycmidnight.com/author-archive_topic43498_post551825.html#551825" rel="nofollow - All Stories |
Posted By: Sonia Prudan
Date Posted: 06 Feb 2023 at 2:22am
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I will PM you, Fae. We had reached limits, but one person is not responding any more. So I guess there is an opening now... :) ------------- Books, chocolate and revolution! My blog https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/ My stories www.amazon.fr/Sonia-Prudan/e/B085M5CFTD |
Posted By: Sonia Prudan
Date Posted: 17 Mar 2023 at 11:32pm
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Hello everyone! We are preparing our Round 4 and we think we can extend the group with another one or two persons. Anyone interested now? The rules are as discussed previously: we all receive some prompt every second Friday, we have 24 hours to write something and then we have one week to read the other members stories (and leave some feedback). It is lots of fun! And I, personally have already learned so much. Come and join the MF250 Sandbox! ------------- Books, chocolate and revolution! My blog https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/Sonia.Prudan/ My stories www.amazon.fr/Sonia-Prudan/e/B085M5CFTD |
Posted By: SLCansian
Date Posted: 18 Mar 2023 at 5:57am
| I love the idea of a training arena! I just joined the 100 MicroFic challenge and would love to exercise my short Fic muscle before it starts! |