The Fate of The Houses

[AgentPete]

Now we have the technology in place for Writing Groups, I’m inclined to deprecate The Houses. Any views on this?

 

[Katie-Ellen]

They arrived amid a flurry of anticipation, but I think they spread us too thin, and some worried about how to share, while protecting their work.

I did get benefit from them myself, however. Much valuable feedback re novel and and emergent novel 2.

 

[Marc Joan]

Now we have the technology in place for Writing Groups, I’m inclined to deprecate The Houses. Any views on this?

Makes sense to me.

 

[Carol Rose]

I agree

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Yep, that seems reasonable.

 

[Quillwitch]

Sounds logical. But bring back the rapturous dinosaur emoji!

 

[Kitty]

It makes sense to keep to one critiquing model and the houses have been very quiet recently. However I will be sad to say goodbye to them as I learned a huge amount from sharing my work here on Litopia and the high quality critiques I received. I also reckon I learned at least as much from reading other people's critiques as I did from giving and receiving critiques myself. So thank you to the houses and I look forward to seeing how the new groups evolve.

 

[AgentPete]

Sounds logical. But bring back the rapturous dinosaur emoji!

Rapts are shy, sensitive and rare, find them where you are able...

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Oh I see....well so long as it isn't a case of

The fronds part

He looks, sees a golden narrowed eye looking back at him

The alpha raptor

Clever girl

he says, knowing himself outflanked; last words, and then

begins the screaming.

 

[Lex Black]

For edification, can you lay out in simple terms how a writer's group will work, in contrast to the Houses as they are now?

 

[Katie-Ellen]

As I understand it, The Houses were haunts for writers identifying with a particular genre/market to get feedback from all and any other members of Litopia. Some were sure about their target market, some less so. Some were anxious about revealing/sharing work in progress, even in a semi-private online place.

The writer's groups will be project/book centred, groups created by individual writers for focus on a WIP, and the writer also controls the audience and reviewers for that project.

 

[AgentPete]

Yes, Katie is exactly right.

There are two roles – Writer and Reviewer. The Writer is totally in charge – s/he creates the Group, and can invite one or more Reviewers into it. I expect that many Groups will consist of only two people, but more is possible. And of course, you can create a Group, work on the feedback, and then create another Group for the same project a little further down the line, for more feedback, from other Reviewers.

It’s much more flexible. There is no bar to entry, as there was in the original Houses system (which pretty much mirrored the publishing industry as it was then). And the overwhelming emphasis is on developing powerful, effective writing. Whichever route to market you choose, traditional or self-pub, it’s the power of the words that really counts with today’s reader.

So... more of a laboratory, less of a beauty contest.

 

[AgentPete]

OK, I'll remove The Houses over the weekend. If you have material there you need to salvage, please do it asap.

They won't be deleted immediately, just removed from view so that people don't use them in preference to the new Writing Groups system.