Today's Workshop

The group read the first 26 pages of my novel today. It's hard to workshop a novel as opposed to a short story. A story is contained. It's all there in front of you. But a novel is just so huge. So much extends far beyond what you can see in the pages you hold at any one time. But workshopping it is still incredibly helpful. I get an idea of where there's energy in the story and where it is leaking out. I can see which characters are fleshed out and which ones still need work. I see where readers want the story to go compared with what I have in mind and I need to make sure they jibe. I left today energized and ready to tackle the next scene and that is what a good group does.

One other thing we did today was write our own jacket copy for our current project. I loved this. Writing it helped to define for me what I think the novel is about so far and who my target audience is. And it's a kind of positive affirmation thingie, acting as if it's already published- quite empowering in a way!