Fictionista Workshop is a supportive community of writers, editors, and readers, hoping to assist the online writing community through various projects and programs.

The Workshop is our most intense program and offers an in-depth, twelve-week critique of a finished manuscript. Fictionista tries to run at least two Workshops a year. If you are a writer or a reader who might benefit from an intense, collaborative effort focused on a single manuscript, please read further.

People who enjoy the online writing and reading communities are eager for creative opportunities in which they can interact with others. Writing can be a lonely process, whether done in private or with others; having a ready pool of other writers, editors, and readers available for immediate discussion and feedback when needed can be extraordinarily helpful. For that reason, we developed two different programs, the Writer Collective and the Workshop. The Writer Collective is a small writing group that meets once a week with a moderator and reader to hone the writer’s skills in a non-threatening, intimate environment. The Workshop is an intensive critique of a single manuscript by a group of readers and editors.

Each program is based on volunteers who offer their time simply because they love to read and write. That is why we call ourselves the Fictionista Workshop Community. As a volunteer-run organization, Fictionista Workshop would love to welcome you to our programs.

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Fictionista Workshop

We currently have no Workshops under way at this time so that we can run a Writer Collective in the spring of 2012. We may run another round of Workshops in the late fall or winter of 2012. If you are interested in a workshop, please fill out the appropriate application below. Please note there is now an application just for writers and a separate application for all other participants, including editors and moderators. Click here to view the current applications: apply as a writer or apply as a participant.

Here is more specific information about the available workshop roles:

Participants

Participants are readers, observers, and constructive critics, offering detailed feedback in formats appropriate for the workshop setting, as well as support and encouragement. They are a crucial, integrated part of the workshop and forum activity.

Editors

Editors review, rewrite, and edit the work of writers, offering comments as needed to improve the work. An editor’s primary responsibility is to readers, writers, and workshop participants (in that order); this means that they will base their decisions on the needs and interests of these constituents.

Moderators

The moderator manages and directs operations of one or more individual forums (writing projects) on Fictionista Workshop. This role is critical to the success of a given project, essentially functioning as a workshop leader and project manager in addition to performing more traditional duties of a forum moderator, such as resolving disagreements and maintaining discussion threads.

Writers

Writers are an integral part of the workshop as a whole, and are key to the success of the workshop. Writers, editors and reader participants work together to polish a writer’s story, giving credibility to a proven process. Without writer participation, the workshop would be non-existent. Feedback from the writer and other participants assists with the completion of the writer’s story and provides assistance and ideas to others in the workshop.

These days, surroundings are not immediately understood between the storyteller and his audience. The more “modern” we are, the more we have to fall back on the uses of our basic senses to share what kind of environment exists in a particular story. When one is writing their story, one has to share a scene without making it heavy–but still communicating. Too much detail-dumping will bore a reader. In a commercial market where authors are competing against the sometimes-more-accessible “scenic environments” of video games, for example, boring the audience is a bad idea.

Use The Senses

When a person walks into a room, they automatically take in details, cataloguing them for future reference. But as Sherlock Holmes said, people don’t always observe what they see. As a writer, our job is not only to observe, but to inform the reader, so they may be where we are in terms of the story.

We have five senses, plus a sixth that could be called a “tension sensor.” Incorporate these into a scene as you are writing it, but don’t do it all at once. Scene setting should be woven through action and dialogue, not stated as a stage direction. A character should “hear chairs creaking under the weight of six heavy men,” instead of being told half a dozen men sat down.

It is said that olfactory senses are those closest tied to memory. Discuss what smells are caught – favorably or otherwise – as people walk past the narrative voice. We note in our own minds what scents we meet, but how to convey it? There is a staleness in a home at the end of winter in a cold place, for example, which is why a good cleaning and airing out is necessary at the beginning of spring. Pipe tobacco has a unique aroma that lingers. Baby shampoo imparts a certain innocent fragrance to a child’s head. Characters can note these things in internal monologues or have them referenced as they move through the room, interacting with other characters or the environment itself.

Tied to smell is taste. Who has not smelled something so strongly they could taste it? Not all environments lend themselves to tasting, so do not force it, but remember to include this sense when it is appropriate without going overboard. If the focus of a scene is a meal, it is right to talk about buttery biscuits, perhaps, or the tang of Hollandaise sauce, but only the truly obsessed parse out the mineral content in the water.

And don’t forget the sense of touch. It is often neglected in writing, but the brushing of fingers on a dusty sideboard is a unique sensation. Feeling the temperature and texture of a floor through feet is normal, so much so that we overlook it. We have nerve endings everywhere, but our feet are inundated with them, so don’t forget to use them.

Think in Terms of Order

To avoid dumping the scene in your reader’s lap in a vaguely defined lump, consider again the early storyteller. They wove their stories as the audience experienced them, leading them into a captivating tale. As you share details of a scene, share them as an experience, not separate from the story, but an integral part of it.

This might sound odd, but when I am expecting company, I clean my house in terms of how my guests will experience it, starting with the point of entry and working my way around in traffic patterns. I prepare the experience, in a sense. When I write a scene, I think of it in terms of how my narrative voice or chosen perspective would sense it.

Here is an example taken from The Last Tree Sale:

She crossed the flocking covered strip in the middle of the pine-scented rectangle, inhaling deeply and exhaling a Christmas-lit breath cloud into the chilled night air. A low fog was rolling in, another reason to be on her guard. “Merry Christmas,” she said with an edgy brightness. “Can I help you?”

Here, the reader is given necessary information regarding environment and that intangible “feeling” one can experience when meeting an unknown person. Even if the reader didn’t already know the heroine was selling Christmas trees at an outdoor lot, they could guess that. The scene presents cold, damp air, the scent of pine, tiny Christmas lights that illuminate the area, and a tension in the heroine with her “edgy” tone. She is clearly trying to play off her nervousness, but the audience knows it’s there.

Next time you are in a place that catches your interest, take notes. Write down what each of your five senses – and maybe a sixth! – tells you about the scene. Translate the sensations into words. Soon, doing so will become a habit, as is Sherlock Holmes’ habit of observation. Involve your readers, bring them with you, and make them experience a moment at your direction.

It’s a heady, heady experience to have an enraptured audience. Ask any storyteller.

Sandi Layne is an award-winning short story author as well as a self-publishing novelist, with extended stints of contributions under her belt for different online publications. She also edits freelance and enjoys helping writers look their very best in front of strangers.

Audio-Visual Challenge—Imagined Image:

Credit

View the image and write what comes to you.

We’ll post your prompt in the comments section below, so feel free to comment. Don’t forget to also share it with your readers!

Choose one word and write what your imagination dictates. For an added challenge, include all three words in your entry.

We’ll post your prompt in the comments section below, so feel free to comment. Don’t forget to also share it with your readers!

Plot Generator—Idea Completion: First crush.

An idea or concept is presented. Follow where it leads you.

We’ll post your prompt in the comments section below, so feel free to comment. Don’t forget to also share it with your readers!

Dialogue Flex: “I’m yours, heart and soul,” he said.

Using the provided snippet of dialogue, explore what comes to mind, be it a scene, a thought, or something else.

We’ll post your prompt in the comments section below, so feel free to comment. Don’t forget to also share it with your readers!

To Italicize or Not Italicize…

That is the question, no? Stealing a line from the Bard is fitting for this topic. Like with any aspect of grammar, there are rules about italicizing. Some of these rules can be broken, while some cannot. However, you must know the rules to know how to break them; otherwise, your writing ends up looking sloppy.

I will also note that rules vary based on what you are writing. An academic paper will be held to different standards than a business report, a memo, or a novel would be. Please consider your audience when writing.

The Basics:

• Titles – The title of any published work is always italicized. This means movies, books, magazines, CD and album titles, television shows, even works of art like sculptures or paintings. However, short story titles, individual magazine articles, songs, and television show episodes are not italicized but are placed within quotation marks. Examples: Top Gun (movie), 1984 (book), Seinfield (television series), The Persistence of Memory (painting by Salvador Dali).
• Foreign Words – Any word not yet familiar to the average reader or in a standard English dictionary. Example: The man kept saying chispas under his breath.
• Words as Words or Letters as Letters – This is when you refer to a letter or word as that letter or word. Example: You don’t need to italicize the word lavender. Don’t forget to dot your i’s.
• Sound Effects – If you write a sound effect, it should be italicized. Example: Knock, knock, the man rapped against the door.

Outside of the list of words above, italicizing is typically done for emphasis. However, this should be done sparingly (notice the use of italics). If you italicize too many things, the effect is lost, and the reader will not be able to tell what you are trying to emphasize.

You may want to italicize a large block of text to set apart something that happened in the past, in a different scene, or a character’s internal thoughts. Please reconsider this. It is difficult for some to read large blocks of italicized text and takes away from the enjoyment of your writing. There are other ways to create the effect you are going for without italicizing.

Instead, examine the structure of the sentence or paragraph you are writing to provide the emphasis. Italics are like ellipses in a novel. They are effective when used correctly, but they can totally throw the reader out of the story if over-done.

If you find yourself with your fingers floating over that control key or hovering the mouse button over the italics box, really think about it first. Do you need to italicize that word? Will it make that big of a difference? Can you frame the sentence or paragraph any other way?

As they say about cutting material (“Measure twice and cut once”), a good rule for writers is “Think twice and italicize once.

If you are unsure of whether you should italicize something, refer back to this article or find grammar books or blogs. A writer can never have too many.

M L Gammella got her feet wet writing derivative fiction before she took the jump into original. When she isn’t working her day job, she dabbles in several flash fiction contests through the week and is writing her first full-length paranormal suspense novel. She lives in northeastern Ohio with her husband and three pets. You can follow her on twitter @MLGammella

A single word meant to inspire immediate thought. Write what your imagination dictates.

We’ll post your prompt in the comments section below, so feel free to comment. Don’t forget to also share it with your readers!

Plot Generator—Phrase Catch: Giving in to peer pressure.

Repeat the phrase to yourself five times, open a blank word document and begin.

We’ll post your prompt in the comments section below, so feel free to comment. Don’t forget to also share it with your readers!