Writers’ Asylum: Post-mortem
The Writers Asylum may be crazy, but let’s keep an open mind about it anyway.
The Writers’ Asylum has been and gone. I’m still recovering – how about you?
It was a wonderful day. It got off to a rushed start for me, mostly due to traffic, but I got there in time and was sitting down and set up with five minutes to spare. Just enough time to chat to those who were there, ready for the kick-off.
There were a handful of people sitting in the in-person event by the time 10:30 rolled around – five or six of us. They got to hear my halting intro, which was an approximation of the prologue post that went up here on the blog. (Public speaking has never been my forte, but I think I managed to not make a tit of myself.) The intro was much quicker than I had anticipated, which left us with twenty-five minutes to order coffee and get distracted by random conversations.
It’s okay, I had my phone set up to warn me when the challenge time was getting close, with a variety of loud, annoying noises.
I was more worried about the turnout, though. Six people is nice, but it’s not much for an event that took me weeks to organise. I knew of a couple of people were taking part online (and there may have been more, stealthily stalking the challenge posts), however, I had hoped for a decent amount of obvious interest in the Asylum. I’d had so many people say that they loved the idea and couldn’t wait to do it, and many drop out at the last minute, so I was preparing myself for disappointment.
Luckily, that last bit wasn’t necessary. By the time 11:00am rolled around and the first challenge was rising up, there were a solid dozen people at the table. By the end of the first challenge, there were sixteen people spread over two big tables, all typing away. A bunch of that number were new faces, which was awesome (I always love it when I get to meet new people who love writing!). So, in the end, a great turnout.
The day went pretty much like clockwork. I dropped everyone into the deep end with a sexy challenge up first, and drove them through emotional turmoil for the rest of the day. Ahahahaha.
I was unsure about the goal of 1,000 words, but people seemed to hit it fairly comfortably within the hour. We had time to order food and other stimulating refreshments, and it all ticked over as I had hoped it would.
Score for me!
What I found really interesting was how different the atmosphere was compared to our usual write-ins. We were sitting in the same place, at the same time, in roughly the same setup as we usually did, but the Asylum wasn’t the casual ‘get together with writers who sometimes write and hey look at this cool thing I found on the internet and ooo let’s talk about <random topic tangentially related to writing>’ that usually happens. Once I’d done giving the challenge (I read out the prompts that went up here on the blog), a busy silence fell on the table. Keys whispered and clicked. Comments and questions were few and far between. The hush was infectious.
It was a long day, and we were all pretty wrung out by the end of it. Six challenges is a lot, and I saved the hardest for last (comedy is reported to be the hardest to write, after all). I got lots of feedback at the end, which was wonderful, and most of it positive. Seems like everyone who came would love to do it again. (One person asked me if I did this every month. I laughed and restrained myself from saying ‘HELL NO are you insane?’. I am, however, grateful to know that people enjoyed it and want more!)
Overall, I think it was a success and I’m delighted. This was an experiment for me, and I’m so happy that it worked out. But we can’t leave it there! Now I need to know more.
These are my thoughts about the day, but what I’d really like is more from the participants. Will you help me make another Asylum happen? To do that, I’d like to know:
- What did you think of the day?
- What did you think of the goal of 1,000 words?
- Was 6 challenges too much? What would be an ideal number for a single day for you? (I’ve had ‘4 with a lunch break’ suggested, but am open to options.)
- What did you think of the prompts? Were they specific enough? Too specific?
- Did you write something unexpected?
- Which challenge was hardest for you?
- Which challenge did you find the easiest?
- Which challenge was your favourite?
- This Asylum was intended to be across a broad range of topics, styles, and genres. Should it always be broad, or would ‘themed’ Asylums be worth trying? What kinds of themes?
- Any other suggestions?
All feedback gratefully received. If you prefer, feel free to email your thoughts to me, or just comment here on the blog.
Thanks so much to everyone who took part. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Onwards, to the next thing!
Talitha Kalago says:
What did you think of the day? I had a great day.
What did you think of the goal of 1,000 words? I think it could have been shorter. Half an hour to do 500 words, for example.
Was 6 challenges too much? What would be an ideal number for a single day for you? I think there could have been more if they were shorter.
What did you think of the prompts? Were they specific enough? Too specific? There was a good mix.
Did you write something unexpected? Yes!
Which challenge was hardest for you? There were a few I was just too fried to attempt.
Which challenge did you find the easiest? Probably the horror.
Which challenge was your favourite? All things being equal, the lost love one.
This Asylum was intended to be across a broad range of topics, styles, and genres. Should it always be broad, or would ‘themed’ Asylums be worth trying? What kinds of themes? You could do genre themes. EG: Romance, sci fi, etc.
Any other suggestions? Vary the skill requirements a bit. EG: Query letters, perfect opening pages, synopsises.
April 30th, 2013 at 9:53 am
Mel says:
Thanks, Talitha! I appreciate the feedback. So happy to hear that you enjoyed the day. Love your ideas; I’ll take them on board. 🙂
April 30th, 2013 at 10:09 am
Jennifer Rose says:
What did you think of the day? I loved it! It was great to get out of my comfort zone and experience other genres.
What did you think of the goal of 1,000 words? I found it achievable. It was hard writing, but then again Asylum wasn’t going to be a walk in the park!
Was 6 challenges too much? What would be an ideal number for a single day for you? I only managed to fully complete four challenges, but I think five would be ideal.
What did you think of the prompts? Were they specific enough? Too specific? I loved the prompts! Just detailed enough to set the scene without telling us exactly what to do.
Did you write something unexpected? I certainly did!
Which challenge was hardest for you? Comedy. Being funny on the spot turned out to be quite difficult.
Which challenge did you find the easiest? Both Raunchy and Massacre, once we got the ball rolling.
Which challenge was your favourite? Massacre, since it was an interesting challenge. Never did I think I would write from the perspective of a weapon.
This Asylum was intended to be across a broad range of topics, styles, and genres. Should it always be broad, or would ‘themed’ Asylums be worth trying? What kinds of themes? I liked the broad range, although I think themes could be fun. You could play with solid genres like romance or fantasy and stick to them for all challenges. Or you could keep one constant throughout every challenge like one particular character or one location.
Any other suggestions? Nope!
April 30th, 2013 at 11:12 am
Jon says:
What did you think of the day?
It was nice.
What did you think of the goal of 1,000 words?
It was nice.
Was 6 challenges too much? What would be an ideal number for a single day for you? (I’ve had ’4 with a lunch break’ suggested, but am open to options.)
Four with a lunch break would be nice.
What did you think of the prompts? Were they specific enough? Too specific?
They were very prompt. Definitely specific ENOUGH. Maybe just a little too specific, but that can be a good thing. Doesn’t really work for me, but does for some people.
Did you write something unexpected?
Yes.
Which challenge was hardest for you?
Comedy.
Which challenge did you find the easiest?
Erotica.
Which challenge was your favourite?
Erotica.
This Asylum was intended to be across a broad range of topics, styles, and genres. Should it always be broad, or would ‘themed’ Asylums be worth trying? What kinds of themes?
Any other suggestions?
Themes could be nice. Superhero themes, or alien themes, or colour themes, or time themes. Any of that could be good.
April 30th, 2013 at 11:19 am
Mel says:
Thank you, Jennifer Rose and Jon! Awesome feedback. Lots of stuff to take on and add to the mix. Much appreciated! 🙂
April 30th, 2013 at 12:37 pm
Daniel says:
What did you think of the day?
Awesome on a stick!
What did you think of the goal of 1,000 words?
Good goal, as it’s not that hard to do 1000 in an hour, at least for writers, though I fell short for the two I got through. But I did in excess of 700 both tries. I arrived late and left early, but that’s me.
Was 6 challenges too much? What would be an ideal number for a single day for you? (I’ve had ’4 with a lunch break’ suggested, but am open to options.)
We could try 4, food is definitely good when you’re on fire (though it probably wouldn’t help much when you’re literally on fire!).
What did you think of the prompts? Were they specific enough? Too specific? They were specific enough, though I bombed on the loss one and there was no way I was going to write a sex scene, my first in fact, in a public setting.
Did you write something unexpected?
If a story from the POV of a weapon counts, then yes. And I did okay on the chase one too, it was by and far the better of the two.
Which challenge was hardest for you?
‘Loss’. I just couldn’t decide on anything, and eventually gave up. Even though I had an idea where I could use it in my series. I should try it again, since my protagonist loses his brother – although he does come back later.
Which challenge did you find the easiest?
The chase. Simple, visceral, to the point. I don’t really do subtle.
Which challenge was your favourite?
Again, the chase. It turned out the easiest (to get in the zone, anyway) and its momentum carried itself. I think I might actually use it, when it comes to that book (the section is from a planned future novel in my established series).
This Asylum was intended to be across a broad range of topics, styles, and genres. Should it always be broad, or would ‘themed’ Asylums be worth trying? What kinds of themes?
Both are good ideas. I liked the variety in this one, but I can see the benefit of a themed one too. We’ll have to see.
Any other suggestions?
If every month is too much for you, you could go for every second, or every third, or delegate it to someone else to organise.
April 30th, 2013 at 2:03 pm
Mel says:
Thanks, Daniel! Appreciate your comments. More fuel for the fire.
May 2nd, 2013 at 2:39 pm