In this news article: Results of `Beccalicious's Workshop on Character | *apocathary's Workshop: Magic Realism, Murakami-style | On Accepting Critique | Want to make us a stamp? | First time you've heard of *Writers-Workshop? This section is for you.

Results of `Beccalicious's Workshop on Character

*Writers-Workshop: We have come to the end of our second cycle of workshops, Getting your basics right, and it's great to see that so many writers have a strong base. The three workshops dealt with dialogue in prose (`GeneratingHype's workshop), word choice in poetry (~TheHungerArtist's workshop) and characters in both prose and poetry (`Beccalicious's workshop). With this, I think we can move onto Exploring new writing, our next cycle of workshops.

You can read all the entries here. I guarantee you'll be amused by some of the crazy questions `Beccalicious asked the participants about their characters!

Special Mention: Arnold Feathers - no, I'm kidding! But all those who picked Arnold Feathers as their character did a fantastic job. `Beccalicious has already mentioned `conorschild, so I'll concentrate on the three poems: ~catcher01 attempted a villanelle, which is one of the most difficult forms, and I was impressed. It still needs some work with the varying line lengths, but excellent work all the same. =Drunken-Splice made good use of sonics in his poem, creating a half-humorous, half-macabre narrative poem. ~ghostfly writes the poignant story of a WWII veteran in poetry filled with some innovative imagery. Great work, guys!

`Beccalicious's Top Picks

The Ballad of Valerie Snow by `LadyLincoln

`LadyLincoln’s approach to this coincides with the rest of her style in her gallery. However it felt that Valerie slipped right into that style, and worked so well. The character had not only a connection with the reader, but `LadyLincoln had written the story that made us want to know more about her. Valerie became an interesting character and with a wonderful image to compliment the words, I felt this achieved the workshop task brilliantly.

Giving Birth to Natti by ~mwiings

Giving birth to Natti is such a powerful poem. When I first read it, I was overwhelmed by the content, the story and the growth of the character. This is exactly what I meant about characters working in poetry and how prominent a name can be. This couldn’t be just ‘a woman’, naming her and taking her through this emotional journey, it had to be ‘Natti’. An excellent attempt and one which I really engaged with.

Reason in madness by `conorschild

I think `conorschild is underestimated in his writing, and this piece shows it. What I loved about this piece was that it had it all. Not only did the character interest me, but you had empathy, suspense, village humour and some rather odd twists. Seriously, if you’re comfortable and have a cup of tea, get reading this piece!

I also have to mention *Queen-of-Marigold who kept me amused when I was feeling unwell by answering not just one question, but all the character questions I had! The questions really unveiled the character and have encouraged her to continue with her, which is fantastic to know. Well done to her! Special mentions to a few other pieces I enjoyed, *BerylAlexandros, whose piece was really consistent and heartwarming, ~EvenAfterTwelve who created a really interesting twist in a short story, and =MaskedVengeance whose poem reminded me of Roald Dahl’s ‘revolting rhymes’!

Thank you to everyone who entered this, I really enjoyed hosting it. This workshop was originally our ‘dummy workshop’ when Aditi and I were working out how this community was going to work, and I am so glad it’s been used and the positive response with it.

*apocathary's Workshop: Magic Realism, Murakami-style

*apocathary bites his fingers 'til they bleed, worries occasionally over his simian line, and has too many veins to be healthy on the backs of his hands.

*apocathary was a guest prose editor for Soundzine's latest issue; Soundzine is an online journal for the spoken word. His two prose DDs, Toilet Paper and Hermes the Pig, are worth a read or two, we guarantee.

MAGIC REALISM, MURAKAMI-STYLE

Background:
Haruki Murakami is a contemporary Japanese literary fiction writer (see wiki [link]) who has been praised for his quirky, often amusing, and sometimes deeply insightful, social commentary. One way in which he infuses his books with modern themes while retaining the magic realism bent is to include iconic commercial characters within the normal, everyday environment world. In this way, we see, for example, Colonel Sanders and Johnnie Walker engaging the protagonist in Kafka On The Shore.

The Workshop:
The aim of this workshop is for participants to write a story containing such a modern iconic character. However, doing so successfully isn't something I'd call trivial. It's a complex kind of thing to pull off. To put you in the right frame of mind for trying to accomplish such a task, here's a couple of guidelines to chew over:

There must be a point to including the character:
By this I mean that you can't just have the icon coming in, saying a few words and exiting stage left. Their presence has to have some central importance to the plot line.

It doesn't have to make sense:
By this I mean that the icon doesn't have to operate within the normal bounds of reality. Let your mind wander free as to what their mode of presence in the story is going to be. In Kafka on the Shore, Colonel Sanders is a virtual construct who pimps out a prostitute to one of the main characters. The icon's entrance doesn't have to be through the front door, so to speak.

The characters can be your creation:
Using Kafka as an example once again, Johnnie Walker wasn't a bourbon-swilling tycoon, and Colonel Sanders wasn't all about the spices. In fact, Johnnie murdered cats, and Sanders was a pimp. Their behaviour is not limited to what they are portrayed as in our world. However, that doesn't mean you can just write a story with any old characters and then swap the name for an icon. Their being an icon needs to bring out something in their poersonality. It needs to make a statement that compliments their actions.

That's the best kind of advice I can come up with. Ultimately it's up to you how you include the icon in your story, but if you try and keep those points in mind, I think it will turn out a lot more successfully.

How to Submit

After submitting your entry as a new deviation or scrap, send us a note with a link to your poem. Include the subject line "MAGIC REALISM" in your note. The deadline is midnight February 13, 2008. All times are set for GMT. *apocathary will respond to the entries on February 17, 2008.

A note from *Writers-Workshop: Please note that this is a prose workshop, meaning that we will only submit prose entries. Proofread your work before you send it in so that grammatical and spelling errors are minimal. Research as much as possible; if you're already read magic realist fiction, work that to your advantage. And most of all, have fun with it!

On Accepting Critique

Always thank the critic. This gratitude must be as sincere as possible, even if you did not like the critique given, because the critic has taken time to offer his/her opinion of the piece.
If you do not like the critique, it is not necessary to mention so. Simply thank the critic and move on. You can always ignore their suggestions, while not making a scene of it.
If you are unsure of what the critique means, feel free to 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. Critic's have feelings too.
In the unlikely case that a critic offers rude/sexist/racist/etc comments, feel free to contact *Writers-Workshop in a note and we will try to help you. A decision regarding the rudeness of the critique will be taken, and if we're not sure ourselves, we will consult with one of the GDs or anyone else high up on deviantART.

Want to make us a stamp?

We're looking for a stamp, folks! We might even have a prize for the one we like the best. Your support, in whatever form, will be appreciated.

First time you've heard of *Writers-Workshop? This section is for you.

*Writers-Workshop is a literature community that focuses on the development of a writer. We intend to provide a non-competitive workshop environment on dA, as well as to push good, polished writing over winning prizes or "networking".

Workshops will be conducted every fortnight; prose, poetry and free-for-all sessions will be rotated. For more information, read our FAQ section or note us with queries.

We have been working on a list of resources for our writers: Resources for Writers which we think is worth going through. We are open to suggestions as well.

Our Diary has a list of upcoming workshops. We are booked till early March!

You can host a workshop, too.

Look out for ~EveningDownpour's workshop on non-fiction poetry, coming up in a fortnight!

Staff