RIP Genius Room… What’s Next? You Decide!

[AgentPete]

Note… this is not an ordinary thread… you can post your thoughts, comments and suggestions in the usual way, but in addition you can also upvote or downvote other folks’ suggestions. So if you like someone else’s suggestion… click on the upvote arrow… and vice versa.

It’s official – we’re no longer calling Pop-Up Submission’s Genius Room the Genius Room.

Not that its denizens are any less intelligent. It’s just that, likie most authors, they’re kinda shy and don’t like vaunting their acuity.

So… what shall we now call the-room-formerly-known-as-Genius?

Over to you…!

 

[Serra K]

I;m just hanging around to say you can't manufacture a good finish, 700b doesn't do that.

 

[MattScho]

Oh alright then

I dunno, we could be the Litopia Lizardians. has a ring to it

 

[MattScho]

I;m just hanging around to say you can't manufacture a good finish, 700b doesn't do that.

Yeah, but if we read entire books on the show, it would be really, really, long. Going on the reading time on audio books, like 40 hours long or so. That might deflate our viewer numbers

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

If a book doesn't hook you at the beginning, you'll never get to the end. The end is important but not at the beginning (except for in the author's head/synopsis/roadmap when the end is a very important part of knowing where to start).

 

[RK Wallis]

There are many times when I've re-written the end of a book for myself because I was so unsatisfied with its actual finish.

Totally! I'm rewriting my denouement for the upteenth time right now Hitting the right resonance takes practice.

 

[LJ Beck]

The Wise Gut Hut

Bit obscure maybe? But fun to say. haha. I was trying to think of something that reflected a gut reaction based on wisdom and experience.

I'll keep thinking...

NO I WON'T! I should have read the entire thread before posting. We are done.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

The Wise Gut Hut

Bit obscure maybe? But fun to say. haha. I was trying to think of something that reflected a gut reaction based on wisdom and experience.

I'll keep thinking...

NO I WON'T! I should have read the entire thread before posting. We are done.

Though I do like The Gut Hut.

 

[RK Wallis]

Though I do like The Gut Hut.

Me too.

 

[AgentPete]

Wow. Just wow.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Counter point: Every reader of every work is always a critic. This is the point of beta reading, which is what the room is, it's an immediate reaction by readers. We offer the added value of being people devoted to writing, so we're kind and try to be helpful. The enormous value to it is that most writers need that sort of breadth of reaction, but don't get it.
As Pete says, the genius room is always right, never wrong. It's fascinating when you see these people from different places all reaching similar emotional reactions to the first 700 words of a piece. It means something. If readers react poorly, or with confusion, to our work, we're not doing it right. The idea that we in the room are all genius is amusing. but the hive mind of the room? that is genius.
Also, having worked as a book critic in the past (and knowing a lot, I mean a lot, of them), i think you're overthinking what it takes to be a professional critic. It also points out the value of the room. What does it require? Saying yes when a co-worker (with me, often a friend) would hand me a book and say, can you give me a 600 word review for Sunday? Let's say $250? Usually books, because there are so many books, but I've helped out with plays, movies, etc. Crikey, I was once asked to review Remy Martin Louis XIII, which was a nice assignment.

This. Because readers are always the final judges. If they dont buy-novels go the way of newspapers. Go to your closest charity shop and look at the shelves of midlist authors who had their moment in the sun.
Unless of course you are going for the Nobel prize. And then honestly... I dont want to qualify as judge because the thought of reading 7 of these interior monologue doorstoppers fills me with dread and ennui. This makes Ulysses look like fun.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/05/read-jon-fosse-the-other-name-nobel-septology

 

[Mel L]

Was I the only one thinking something naughty every time Pete used the 'G word' last night on PopUps?
Maybe we are missing an opportunity -- let's rename the room the G Spot!

 

[Claire G]

Was I the only one thinking something naughty every time Pete used the 'G word' last night on PopUps?
Maybe we are missing an opportunity -- let's rename the room the G Spot!

I was too!

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Was I the only one thinking something naughty every time Pete used the 'G word' last night on PopUps?

Haha. Me too

 

[James Charles]

Haha. Me too

Oh my. How we all see and hear things differently.