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A note from #Writers-Workshop: The Workshop will open for submissions on Nov 23. This short interlude is to give everyone a chance to read the workshop guidelines and start writing.

Important: If you submit a piece to the workshop, you will be expected to participate in commenting as well!

And now, THE WORKSHOP!

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=PaperDart
Charli began her first novel when she was eight. Ten years later, she is still trying to write a novel, but has learned quite a bit along the way, including the value of other forms of writing. Her tastes in literature are both eclectic and mundane, but where there are words she is usually happy. (This means that she devours epic alliterative verse, style guides and The Princess Diaries with equal vigour.)
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One of the first things a reader notices about a story – consciously or subconsciously – is the perspective that it's told from. Is the story narrated by one of the characters? Does the narrator have an overarching vision of the story that no single character could have? Perhaps the narrator is unnoticeable. All of these and many more can be valid perspectives to tell a story from. This workshop will focus on the third person limited perspective.

The Workshop Task: Write a short scene (about three hundred words) using the third person limited perspective. Then rewrite the scene, still using third person limited perspective, but with a different viewpoint character. Although the action in the scene will remain the same, the emotions, perceptions and emphases should change. In fact, the two scenes should seem quite different!

Please put both scenes into a single deviation and submit this one deviation to the #Writers-Workshop gallery. If you write more, you can put a link in the comments, but you may only submit one piece to the workshop itself.

Submissions will open on Monday 23 November and close at the end of Sunday 29 November.

What is third person limited perspective?

'Third person' means that the story is told about people other than the narrator (the first person) and the reader or addressee (the second person). You might say 'she went on an adventure,' or 'he went on an adventure,' but never 'I went on an adventure' or 'you went on an adventure'. 'Limited' means that the narration focuses on one character. The reader sees, hears, smells, tastes, feels and thinks what the chosen character does, through the writing. The reader is not given any information that the viewpoint character doesn't have.

In most third person limited fiction, the author is unnoticeable or 'invisible'. The story reads almost like a stream of information from the viewpoint character's mind, although in reality, the author has carefully selected and edited the facts he or she includes. The style of the narration characterises the viewpoint character strongly, but gives the author the freedom to include details that the reader will pick up on, even if they don't seem significant to the character.

Many popular novels are written using third person limited perspective. Some examples are J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Christopher Paolini's Eragon and (for the most part) L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series. You can also look at these deviations for examples: Desert Dweller; Never Talk to Strangers; Botanical Garden. (The viewpoint character in the last one shifts, but it remains third person limited throughout.)

Some tips for using third person limited narration:

Describe things the way the viewpoint character would see them – but not to the point that you're wildly inaccurate. (A girl who lives on the streets and a girl from a comfortable suburban home will view the White House very differently, for example.)

If the viewpoint character wouldn't think twice about something, you probably shouldn't be writing about it. (Don't write, 'Theresa walked out of her two storey home, which her father had painted coral pink after buying it from his best friend's uncle two years ago.' If we really need to know that, make it relevant to what Theresa is thinking.)

Although you're following the character closely, don't be afraid to use better grammar and a larger vocabulary than he or she would! Your character may not have access to a spell checker, but you do - use it! (free online spell checkers) Manual proofreading comes highly recommended too.

If I've left something out, or you have a question, please ask!
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How to Submit

1) After submitting your entry as a new deviation or scrap, please go to our gallery page and click "Contribute Art" button.
2) At the very top where it says "Choose A Deviation to submit to," please pick the current NOVEMBER/DECEMBER workshop in the drop-down list.
3) Select the deviation from your gallery, and click "okay".
4) The deadline is midnight Nov 29th. All times are set for GMT. You have eleven days! =PaperDart will respond to the entries on/by Dec 6th.
5) You may only submit one piece. The submission must be new and submitted after the start of the workshop.
6) Make sure you have followed the instructions given for the task, or your submission will be declined.

If you're not interested in workshopping (ie. you don't want to give comments and/or critique OR you don't want to receive advanced critique), but would still like to use this workshop as a prompt, don't submit to our gallery. Rather, just leave a link in a comment on the journal entry.

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A note from #Writers-Workshop: This workshop is for PROSE ONLY. In addition submissions must be approximately 600 (300 x 2) words long. Proofread your work before you send it in so that grammatical and spelling errors are minimal. And most importantly, have fun with it!

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On Accepting Critique

Always thank the critic. Even if you do not like the critique, remember that the critic has taken time to offer his/her sincere opinion on the piece.
If you do not like the critique, it is not necessary to mention so or be otherwise hurtful. Simply thank the critic and move on without making a scene of it. You can always ignore suggestions -- after all, that's all they are.
If you are unsure of what the critique means, just ask the critic what s/he meant. Building rapport with your critic is one of the best ways to survive in a workshop and to learn. If you want examples, ask. Similarly, if you like the suggestions given, mention it. Critics have feelings too.
If you feel that the comment left by a critic or workshop host is inappropriate, please don't hesitate to contact #Writers-Workshop via note.

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Happy workshopping,

Charli
=PaperDart

FAQs | Hosting a workshop | Writing Resources | Previous Workshops | About Us


In this blog post:

The Stats!
Closing Thoughts from Host
Featured Deviations
Featured Members
Feedback Please

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The Stats

The results -- we had 65 gallery entries from 60 writers who left a total of 298 comments on each other's work!

And that's not all. After a lot of clicking and looking and hand-brain coordination that regretfully involved arithmetic, I counted up that our 65 gallery entries received a total of more than 600 comments** during the course of our workshop. That's better than good; that's great!

_{**612, but who's counting?}

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Closing Thoughts from Host

Due to my computer charger dying during critique week, I had less time than I'd have wanted to leave some feedback. But fear not, I won't be able to resist leaving a few thoughts here and there on the entries in the next week or so, even though the official critique week is over.

With 65 entries, all great reads, and over six hundred comments, this workshop was a great success. While reading and commenting and snooping, I heard a lot of positive feedback to the experience. For quite a few of the entrants, the metaphor was a fun challenge and comments and critique were a wonderful help in polishing and making the writing even more shiny.

I did sense some small amount of resentment regarding the requirement to use the "[a] is [b]" formula within the piece, with the main complaint being that the formula is unwieldy or inartistic (not true if done well). The idea was not to use this formula to fill out some sort of worksheet or complete a form, but rather to take the constraint placed upon your writing and make it your wings.

In other words, use the formula to be even more creative. The workshops are designed to push and challenge you as a writer, sometimes doing things you are uncomfortable with to get a better result.

I only wish I had thought to mention this in the beginning.

While hosting this workshop, I had the sincere pleasure of reading a wonderful variety of pieces, from books, to recycled paper hands, to bungee jumping gravity. Love was a popular topic, as was time. A wasp even landed in soup and charmed it way into the workshop.

To be completely honest, I think right now my hardest task is picking out a few pieces out of those sixty-some entries to feature. From the wine-glass glow, to the ipod deaths, to nails, slamming into wood like a heartbeat, the pieces ranged over many topics and all deserve a read. You guys did a few things with your writing that I hadn't even expected -- the use of dialogue or the formatting in poetry are just two examples.

So thank you for being a part of this workshop; I had a great time. I hope you did too.

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Featured Deviations

I'll limit myself to four deviations that struck me while reading. Among many other great pieces, here are four that startled me, made me laugh, or just conspired so that I had to go back and reread the piece again. Then again.

Prose:
This small bit of joy by ~Tisala
stealthy by *SitsUnderWaterfalls

Poetry:
coffea robusta by ~The13thOctober
Reflections by *chugglepuff

All other entries can be found here: Metaphor Workshop Entries. Go on and check them out!
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Featured Members

There were a couple pieces involving math in this workshop, and that inspired me to create a highly complicated system of ranking participation, both by the number of comments left and by the quality and length of the critiques. So here are the top ten members (out of 203 deviants who commented, mind), ranked in order!**

~StormyWolf
*Kira73
=PaperDart
~Chaldemone
~oathkeeper-auctor
~classicqueen13
*chugglepuff
~Shycraft
*iluvenis
~Choc-Cheese
*Marie-Ange-the-Celt

Please make them feel appreciated!

**_{If you have any questions about how I came up with this list, note me.}

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Feedback Please!

This wraps up our first, post-group-transition workshop. The next workshop, on Narration and hosted by =PaperDart, will open in a few days. Keep an eye out.

Meanwhile, please leave (or note us) any thoughts, suggestions or concerns. What did you like or didn't you like about the workshop? Everything or anything -- if you're thinking it, we want to hear about it!

Again, thank you for making this workshop possible!

=nycterent