I'm involved in a writing group and it's full of some brilliant people. We're putting together an anthology at the moment, Hot in Oz, due out in June (although that's getting mighty close now!), and the stories are amazing, and diverse.
I learned about my lack of emotion and visceral responses from this experience - and then my love of repetition. It's improved my stories out of sight.
But I had another great experience due to this anthology. I started reading Kaliana Cole's stories. Her anthology story blew me out of the water, it was amazing. So I read some of her published work and they were as good. And then, in one of those incredible quirks of fate, she asked if we could be crit partners. Could we?! :)
So in a very one-sided partnership, I now get a sneak peek at her new stories and I love it! They keep me up at night and make me think lots - more about how to improve my writing than hers (that's beyond my ability!).
This anthology has been the best thing for me.
I learned about my lack of emotion and visceral responses from this experience - and then my love of repetition. It's improved my stories out of sight.
But I had another great experience due to this anthology. I started reading Kaliana Cole's stories. Her anthology story blew me out of the water, it was amazing. So I read some of her published work and they were as good. And then, in one of those incredible quirks of fate, she asked if we could be crit partners. Could we?! :)
So in a very one-sided partnership, I now get a sneak peek at her new stories and I love it! They keep me up at night and make me think lots - more about how to improve my writing than hers (that's beyond my ability!).
This anthology has been the best thing for me.