How about a Writers' Group in Second Life?

[wylde_writer]

One of my boggles about working alone as a writer is this:  in the environment I'm in, I am pretty much in a complete creative vacuum. There are NO like-minded others nearby to interact with about creative things. Not writing, not art, not good media - nuttin'. The people who are around, dear as they are on a personal level, are just not on this

Comments

[seawasp]

I know little about Second Life except that I'd never be able to make my icon look the way I want it.

I'm afraid that the problem is time coordination. On LJ, or in Email, you can read a message and respond hours after the poster's gone to bed. A Second Life group would be like arranging a group conference call.

[wylde_writer]

It's true this is not disjunct in time like email communications. I don't think of this like a conference call, though, so much as a weekly meeting at someone's house. You know the time, you know the place. If you can make it, cool. If not - oh well. Maybe some other time.

Since I'm the one opening up my (virtual) living room for the meets, I'm going to pick a time that suits my own schedule. Input from others will be considered, but in the end this can only be an arbitrary decision on my part, based on when I can host it. There is no way I will let this turn into a logistical nightmare to manage.

[nonce_stanza]

What about....*gasp*...consider...that...rather than getting together with like minds and talking about the writing process...what about sitting down with like minded writers and actually doing some collaborative writing - together - bascially, pick a basic premise - some character types and then let the creative process begin...while discussing the process together OOCly as it relates to the story being actively written?

I'm game. :)

Premise: Lake resort and person A is a young-gun ambitious aspiring something other than this type employee of said resort. Person B is a mysterious "guest".

GO. LOL

[wylde_writer]

Hm. Imagine that.
Then I can add one more writing project to the gazillion of my own that are already eating my brain and languishing for lack of proper nourishment.

Actually, I think your idea has merit. Go forth and make such a group happen. :)

It is just not the same as the "salon," if you will, that I am looking to create.

[evilpettingz00]

I like this idea. Could you give me an idea of how it would work? I have very little experience with Second Life.

[wylde_writer]

The very short version of the following lengthy reply is this

[evilpettingz00]

How do you see these meetings going? How would we critique each other's work? Can you upload text there somehow or would you have to paste everything into chat?

[wylde_writer]

Regarding sharing/critiquing work I see 3 things happening

[raging_gargoyle]

I would be interested in this, if it worked with my (admittedly) hectic and somewhat variable schedule.

[wylde_writer]

That'd be great. I think you have an intriguing narrative perspective, from what I've seen of the bits and pieces you have online, and I'd like to explore other things you're doing as well

[raging_gargoyle]

yeah, I can commit at least an hour on Wednesday nights. Some nights I may be able to linger longer, but I can lock in at least an hour. When are you looking at starting?

[wylde_writer]

Fantastic!

I'll repost the actual what/when/how in a separate post tomorrow (am celebrating my b-day today), but basically, I want to start the first week of August (Wednesday the 4th). And I'd ask folks to be prepared to email what they want critiqued to group members by 7/30 (the Friday before we meet)so everyone has time to read and think about their feedback.

So, this leaves you about 2 weeks to get familiar with the SL environment. As we get closer to the actual date I'll check in with everyone and if you like we can hook up in-world for a familiarization run. (Thus hopefully avoiding speedbumps on the actual meeting day.)

[maitha]

I'm fairly certain that my other half would be interested in this. I'll let him know about it.

I don't have enough of my novel written yet to give it a go, or a computer that can run SL, sadly.

[wylde_writer]

It's true a person needs a puter than can handle the SL viewer, although it works ok on relatively lowend graphics systems. (Their system requirements are here: http://secondlife.com/support/system-requirements/)

However, I don't think a person needs to have a novel near done to participate in this. People like me with a book-length work in progress (2, actually) may try to write X words a week, and critique some portion of that with the group. Maybe someone gets 500 words done on a new short story. That's cool too. Or maybe someone is just working up plot outlines or character background for a novella or flash fiction. That's great too. Whatever is the current grist for the mill.

And yes, do please let your SO know. :)

[maitha]

Sent you a PM about SL details!

I actually did manage to get my itty bitty Mac to run it. It was laggy, slow, and generally unhappy, but it will run. I have a PC at home (I'm traveling now) that should run it better.

I may or may not participate, or maybe just in a more casual way. At least it gives me a proper excuse for goofing off in an MMO world, since I'm temporarily sans WoW. *giggle*