Today's Novel class was on Sex and Romance. Olga asked us to bring a short piece. I was one of the few people to bring my own stuff, as opposed to published work. In fact, I was one of the few people actually there. I read this piece, which is way more explicit than I'm really comfortable reading aloud to a class. Well, I'd cope better if it wasn't mine, but I can't say I've exactly heard a lot of porn read aloud, so it's hard to know how to read it out. Olga was actually quite complimentary. She said that the only thng that didn't work for her was the dialogue -- clever, but needed to be shorter. That's quite forgiving from her. I still say that our class should read sex scenes aloud every week until it becomes slightly less embarrassing.
I also workshopped a bit from the Shadow Boys -- the part where Lesley first meets the Shadow Boys. I tried to be more receptive to criticism (normally I reject most of it in class, take it home and then argue myself into accepting most of it) as per a discussion I had with Olga last week. It was actually really useful, as opposed to some previous criticism which I felt were mostly critiquing my writing style (which is deliberately old-fashioned and somewhat wordy). I also suspect that Olga was hanging back a wee bit with her criticism (see first set of brackets in this paragraph -- I explained that to her, and I think that she misunderstood that to mean that I'm my own harshest critic. I'm not sure I am), but maybe it's just stronger than previous passages. Considering it contained The Re-written Fight Scene, it probably was. Annoyingly, Ben was off buying Ikea furniture, Jess and Greg weren't interested in Sex and Romance, and Nathan was just plain Missing, so none of my workshop group were there to see the revised version. Bah.
Short Story remains Not as Interesting as Novel, though we did discuss an interesting Japanese author I hadn't covered before. His name was Mi-something-ma (Mishima? Yep, just checked. It's Yukio Mishima). Ania did her standard crass generalisations routine, and I worked the "crazy monk who burned down the temple" story I learnt from
yuki_onna. I also drew Totoro, the Cat Bus and No-face on my copy of the story because I was insanely bored, as usual. This was prompted by Jess's Totoro image on her copy. No-face turned out best, but I'm less satisfied with Totoro and the Cat Bus.
Still haven't finished my short story for editing due tomorrow, which I was also going to hand in to short story today (it's allowed), as I had a short story deadline today, too. It's only at 251 words out of 1,500-2,500, so I'd better get cracking. :( Have
yuki_onna's Saga of climbing Mt Fuji, and also another of
weaselbeast's DVD commentaries (really want to read it! I love her commentaries. Insight PLUS an immediate reason to read more of her work! I tend to plan to and then forgetJ), and also
buhfly's Agency piece. Later. When I've finished my story. [/virtuous] It's called Death of a Mime, at the moment. It's okay, though, because I have absinthe to comfort me. Really need a new bottle. Have less than a drink's worth left, and I drink sparingly. I'm all out.
I can't hear "Good Morning" from Singing in the Rain without a quiet frisson. I blame the awesome fanfic I read yesterday.
I also workshopped a bit from the Shadow Boys -- the part where Lesley first meets the Shadow Boys. I tried to be more receptive to criticism (normally I reject most of it in class, take it home and then argue myself into accepting most of it) as per a discussion I had with Olga last week. It was actually really useful, as opposed to some previous criticism which I felt were mostly critiquing my writing style (which is deliberately old-fashioned and somewhat wordy). I also suspect that Olga was hanging back a wee bit with her criticism (see first set of brackets in this paragraph -- I explained that to her, and I think that she misunderstood that to mean that I'm my own harshest critic. I'm not sure I am), but maybe it's just stronger than previous passages. Considering it contained The Re-written Fight Scene, it probably was. Annoyingly, Ben was off buying Ikea furniture, Jess and Greg weren't interested in Sex and Romance, and Nathan was just plain Missing, so none of my workshop group were there to see the revised version. Bah.
Short Story remains Not as Interesting as Novel, though we did discuss an interesting Japanese author I hadn't covered before. His name was Mi-something-ma (Mishima? Yep, just checked. It's Yukio Mishima). Ania did her standard crass generalisations routine, and I worked the "crazy monk who burned down the temple" story I learnt from
Still haven't finished my short story for editing due tomorrow, which I was also going to hand in to short story today (it's allowed), as I had a short story deadline today, too. It's only at 251 words out of 1,500-2,500, so I'd better get cracking. :( Have
I can't hear "Good Morning" from Singing in the Rain without a quiet frisson. I blame the awesome fanfic I read yesterday.
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Date: 2004-08-17 10:48 am (UTC)*lixgnaw* I have not seen you in days. Again. *le sigh* Silly timezones.
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Date: 2004-08-18 07:35 am (UTC)Part of the reason I have not seen you is that I have barely been online, and I have barely been home. This is why I had a minor meltdown yesterday. Tomorrow I plan on being home. Perhaps we can catch up if time permits?
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Date: 2004-08-18 07:56 am (UTC)*snuggle* Hopefully? Maybe on the weekend. 'Cause work, I go to bed at like 8:30.
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Date: 2004-08-19 05:53 am (UTC)Sounds good! I'll try to be online. When are you likely to be on?
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Date: 2004-08-19 06:51 am (UTC)