I just had to give a review of a story that was good on Level 1 and I am pissed. Where are the students for Level 2? Why aren't they doing assignments? I feel like ripping on someone, so get your asses in here and take my shit!
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I just had to give a review of a story that was good on Level 1 and I am pissed. Where are the students for Level 2? Why aren't they doing assignments? I feel like ripping on someone, so get your asses in here and take my shit!
Hey Dean,
I think I can shed some light on the issue here. At the moment we have one active level two student, who is working on his second assignment. There is another who was out of the loop for a long time, and who after a very recent PM from me, is hopefully ready to do his 3rd assignment and move up the levels.
I am really looking forward to some new students from level one very soon! It is getting far too quiet around here again.
I am getting hungry!
Would it help if a frequently absentee level 3 student ripped some more of your stuff to shreds? Just to keep you occupied? :D
Are you trying to give me a complex?Quote:
Originally Posted by moptop
Do I need to try? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by H Dean
Awwww - wasn't meaning to be horrid - I wouldn't rip it to shreds if I didn't think it was worth it!!!
Ah, she starts out gentle and sweet, with a soft whisper of near apology, then turns towards the cruel and calculating.Quote:
Originally Posted by moptop
I am so hard right now!
I'll have my second assignment posted up here soon, if not today. This is just an area of writing that gives me more trouble than I like to admit. Sorry for the delay.
Boy - you are so EASY!!! Get mean again, Dean - I like it :blurp_aniQuote:
Originally Posted by H Dean
Easy to get to, but hard when I'm got.Quote:
Originally Posted by moptop
Thanks HGZero, I will look forward to seeing it.Quote:
Originally Posted by HGZero
There has been no delay either, as I would much rather you did your best job, than rushed something just to get it done! H Dean was just wondering why the level was suddenly so quiet, but it is just the nature of the beast. But he has the vision of tessa and Dragon's muse dancing to keep him busy for a while now anyway LOL
Good luck
AG
So you are sharking for level 2 students, eh? Admittedly, not the most active person here lately, I have not made a writing post in level 3 yet. However, there is a little story or two of mine, here in 2, you said you would get back to... hey! You forgot me!
Damn Dean. I thought you were a sweetie. Huh.
Typical. Wanting more, and you have not sufficiently attended to what you already have...I really looked forward to you getting back to me.
Then I forgot about it too. Then I saw this thread.
Couple of more edits and there will be something new from me in Lev 3 for you and Ruby to rip on. In the meantime, slow your roll my friend. Feel free to lend your hard but wise ripping to my old stuff. It's writing after all, not week old, stinky pussy. It keeps.
Now Dean, please, don't get too ruffled, I am just playin'. Nah, you wouldn't want to go back look at those old scenes I wrote while you were out of the loop.
La la la. Tapping my hand on the desk, wondering what you will do next.
Beswitchingly
You have angered the great and mighty H Dean. Something for which you shall be punished. For this I shall chastise you with large words and unfortunate syntax. I shall beat you about the head and shoulders with homonymns, bisquits and yams! You have angered the Beast. The Beast is me. The Beast is loosed upon you, foul creature from the netherworld!
Oooh, he's lovely when he's angry!
Oh, ye, Moptop! Ridicule the anger seething from within the belly of the beast will you? Shall I turn my bisquits upon your worthless soul? I've yet to reveal the depths to which I am capable of sinking.
Be warned, Moptop, my eyes are on you. They are squinting, like a young Sean Connery might if he were the incarnation of evil.
You are warned!
Oh, great and mighty H Dean, you have fallen right into my snare. Receiving punishment is my specialty. I want to be chastised with long words, but unfortunate syntax is right out. After all, rythm and flow are important. I am not homonymophobic, so help yourself. Being beaten with bisquits and yams, well, as long as someone else cleans it up...Quote:
Originally Posted by H Dean
Hey, beastly beast, my frustration and need to be chastised knows no limit. Did you call me a foul creature?
Besides, you did skip over my stuff. I am just trying to give you some writing to rip on, a little sweet release...you know, for your pleasure beast, er Sir, um, Sir Beast?
Meow
I shall, if my memory does not leave me, venture to that place that houses your story; the one I have not read. I shall do this as soon as I can give it the proper attention. Then I shall return with pudding and pretzels.
Yes, the pudding is for me. The pretzels are for me too. You shall get nothing! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Wow, fine, you can have all the food...I won't fightcha for it. Not a huge fan of pudding. Pretzels is barfood, only good with beer.
So nice to hear you laughing. I think there are a couple you have not read. Every day the list grows longer. Please, take your time. No rush. I'll just keep writing without your clever help.
With all due respect, really, at your leisure
BP
What's wrong with barfood? I love pretzels. Specially soft pretzels. With mustard. I like brown mustard. Brown mustard is best. But it burns if you get it in your eyes. Don't get brown mustard in your eyes. Especially, don't get it in my eyes.
I wonder if it burns anywhere else?
Did you read my little strip club story, Dearest Dean? I am dying to see what you think of that one. It was one that you initially inspired when you suggested I do a dark scary story.
If you ever come visit, I'll introduce you to Victoria...
Soft pretzels? Really? Maybe I just haven't met the right one.
I much prefer the hard pretzels.
I will give you all the pretzels and pudding if you read all of my homework.
Do you cook your goose twice, sirrah? Or only your cookies? My soul is glorious and smarts not at your sneers. However, it is pretty certain it doesn't want to go anywhere near your unrevealed depths. I tried to encourage it, but it made little squeaking noises and twitched its nose and whiskers.Quote:
Originally Posted by H Dean
Your eyes may be on me; but my cat's eyes are on the unicorn. My, just look at the pointy-ness!
Protect your tender wobbly bits, Mr Dean! Unicorns like only clean and perfect souls...
I think one of the reasons for the low conversion rate from Level One to Level Two is that Level Two does not start with activities that immediately fuel somebody's imagination.
In Level One, new students are given a short and interesting prompt to develop into a story.
In Level Two, new students are given... reading assignments. Not really the same type of thrill.
Oh but to fuel imagination, many students need somewhere to start! I think it is wrong also to assume all students have the same amount of knowledge when it comes to writing - and this is a writing course after all, there needs to be some time for reflection and new learning, it is not all about thrills.
I also don't think what the first assignment is here in level two has any bearing on students coming up from level one, as they can't even see what the level offers till they get here!
Razor,
The goals are different for the Levels. In level I, my goals are for the students/mentees to find their creative voice -- get in touch with their inner storyteller, so to speak. My secondary goal is to get them used to and depersonalize the review/critique process and to show, by example, the sorts of things that revision and rewriting should focus on.
Here in level II, i think (and feel free to correct me, Aussiegirl), students are asked to think more about the thought processes that go into writing.
Both aspects are necessary to make a good writer. If you understand the thought process you go through when you write a really kick-ass story, you will be more likely to repeat it. On the other hand, if you write a kick-ass story and have no freaking idea how you did it, then it will be like playing golf with a grass-green ball -- you don't really know what you are aiming for.
Just a simple sub's tuppence.
rose
I'm not saying that the differing approach is not necessary. Just, for me, I had a long pause after Level One because I was not immediately interested in the initial tasks of Level Two.
I don't know any statistics, of course- only my own experience. However, I wonder how many people get passed up from any given level proceed to stop working on assignments, compared to how many seem to stop during the middle of a level.
Truth be told most "real" writers will say the most important attribute of a good writer is that they are avid readers. Check out Steven Kings book "On Writing". I keep no statistics but I'm fairly sure the drop out rate rises with each level.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor7826
There's always attrition. i post assignments for people who have asked to join level I that i never hear from again. Others just fade away after one critique. It all comes down to desire and perseverance, at the bottom of it all.
i am a firm believer in reading a great deal. In my real time writing group, we are working on a study of first chapters of best-sellers. Whether you like them or not, you have to at least admit they are doing something right.
A lot of folks have managed to get through level's one and two. Where they find themselves stuck is at level 3. We rarely have anyone pop their heads into Level 4. Thus, the three instructors (Lews, Mad, Me) in Level 4 must relegate our critique's to the lower levels. This means much overturned milk.
hello everyone.............
Im bbbbbaaaaccckkkkk!!!
Mad and Dean.........****ay nice with the new kids on the block.......
look at that...........being edited already..........its supposed to say p*l*a*y
I dunno how to play nice.
yes..........so i have been told.........so i have been told.......*wink*
Yeah, the thread counts for each progressive level tell the whole story. Ten threads in Level Four? Are there no active students there?
-----
I really would like to make a blanket thank you to all of the teachers and helpers that make this little online writing workshop possible. Due to scheduling, class size limits, and general life circumstances, I've not been able to take any creative writing classes at any level, and it means a lot to me that people are willing to take the time to help people like me.
Hey Thrall, welcome back! I will be looking forward to seeing your work in Level 2 very soon. :)
Thanks Razor, though I would be lying if I said I wasn't insulted and a bit upset by your earlier comments. I think the part you failed to take into consideration is just how many students have actually commented on how much they enjoyed doing the readings and/or how much they learned from them. As far as I know, you are the only student so far that has delayed posting becuase they didn't like doing the task. To be honest though, even if there have been others, it is a very important part of the whole process of learning about writing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor7826
I think too a lot of the reason students tend to drop out more as they get to the higher levels, is time to do the work. I have had maybe 2 or 3 students out of all the level two students who have not completed the level and each time it was because real life just got in the way.
Oh I didn't edit your post above, just hit the edit button instead of the quote one, sorry!
Students may like the reading assignments (I did), being having them listed isn't the same draw as being given a story prompt that fuels a brainstorm of ideas.
I didn't mean to offend you with my comments. H Dean's initial post made it seem like there was a general shortage in Level Two and beyond, but it doesn't seem like the statistics really bear that out; it is a pretty regular pyramid, it seems, which would obviously result from the generally different paces at which people complete assignments.. I was just raising one possible explanation, but it isn't something that should be changed. The reading assignments are a necessary part of the learning process.
The reason for H Dean's intial post was not so much a lack of students getting their assignments done, but that he had returned to the level at a time when several students had just moved on and I was waiting for more to be sent up from level one.
Anyway, I do appreciate your comments, and understand that each level does have a different style which may not always suit all students. I also appreciate you saying you hadn't meant to offend, and I accept that it was not meant to appear that way by you either.
Yeah, I was looking forward to skewering people and thee was no one to skewer.
As for the assignments - one thing I discovered a long time ago is that if you read a story and then destroy it - give it a critique as to why it was lacking - you can take a more critical look at your own work. Critically looking at your own work is hard unless you have a clue why things work or don't. This is part of the reasons Aussiegirl made these assignments as they are.
No, they aren't th emost creative type of assignments - but they do get writers to look at things from a different angle. Something most authors can't or won't do.
By the way - how come no one has wanted to destroy my chapter on Level 2? Those no good thankless students! I am so gonna rip someone a new asshole!
Oh - love you all...really.