3ammuse - Profile (original) (raw)

on 19 July 2007 (#13411162)

Roanoke, Virginia, United States

Welcome!Welcome to our little place of Hollins online. This group is named after all those too-long nights at the common room in Carvin where we sat writing, critiquing, discussing and editing creative and critical works. At Hollins we wrote with fervor because we had to. We want to bring that same level of commitment and support (regardless of flavor ;)) into our daily lives and this is where we come back to that table, albeit a virtual one, from Hollins in the summer. The 3ammuse community will give us a place to respond to the MSs we've shared with each other via email and the opportunity to polish and perfect our editing and writing skills.

Basic Requirements of the Writer:

You must submit something. The piece can be months, years, even decades old, but you must contribute something for your chosen submission deadline.

You must critique everything. Just like in school, we have to give a response to everybody else's piece. Some writers in the group may not be as versed in a particular form as another and so not be able to give the in-depth response in the proper lingo, but reading response as well as a close look at language and what works and doesn't are acceptable in those situations. We're here to learn and grow, after all.

Special Request. The intent of this group is to provide a virtual space for committed members to actively nurture their writing and editing skills. Please only join if you are certain you can maintain the schedule. Of course, things happen in life that are unexpected and will occasionally mar someone's schedule. Please notify the group (or at least one person) ahead of time if this is the case. However, since the meeting time is determined with everyone's needs in mind, please try to schedule things around it. Yes. We're talking that kind of commitment. :)
If you foresee a longer period of time that you will be unable to participate, please also share this information with the group.
Vacation, holidays, personal milestones and the like are valid exceptions to attendance, and as appropriate, the group may choose to reschedule a particular meeting day.

Requirements for Submissions

For (Non)Fiction: 5-10 pages
For Poetry: 35-135 lines (alt submission: 5-10 pages, one poem per page)
For Criticism: 3-10 pages (if you are submitting a smaller excerpt, please provide a synopsis for clarity)

NO MORE NO LESS!

The format of your submission must have 1" margins, double spaced, pages numbered, lines numbered.*

*If you can't figure out how to do line numbering after tinkering with your word processing software of choice, email us and we will help you. Eventually we will have line-numbering instructions for the more common word processing softwares available in a tagged post.

Scheduletlluria, jengiftw and keikikai will submit their work on the second Sunday of each month.
anastasia1901, roserain and mja700 will submit their work on the fourth Thursday of each month.
If a month has an fifth Thursday or Sunday, each member may submit an additional SHORT piece (1-5 pages; 1-35 lines) to be workshopped as time allows.

Procedure

Send submission in to members via email as a .doc file attachment.
Indicate whether you are comfortable with the group responding with short quotes for reference purposes in their responses on LJ or whether you prefer line number references.
For each separate piece you submit, you must create a separate LOCKED post to include the following information:

Title even if it's just a working title. It can also be just the initials of the title.
Critique level that you prefer. Bear in mind that all members in the group do not have the same level of proficiency with all formats.
Love/cruelty level (kid-gloves through sandwich-critique on up through other descriptive ph(r)ases to whip-it-good) Remember, don't ask for it if you can't handle it.
Tagged with any information you deem important to the piece such as username, title, genre, age range, critique level, love level, stress level, draft level, etc.

Requirements for Feedback

Critiques are due prior to the next submission date. Remember you can always return to a prior post and add additional feedback, but the initial response(s) must be in prior to the next submission date.

Respond appropriately to the writer's requested level of criticism. For example a writer might request a criticism that is more supportive, perhaps because the piece is brand new, or because it is personal. Another writer might be at the point where she/he/zie/it wants a more gloves-off critique.

For in-depth, line-by-line critiques, the MSs will have to be swapped back and forth, marked up via e or snail mail.

Be specific when you give your feedback on LJ. Include page numbers and line numbers as necessary. Quote text only if the writer has expressly given permission to do so.

After all that . . .

. . . don't forget that we're here to have fun. We love to write, but we're serious about it. :-)