Weekend with Your Novel: Critiques

Weekend With Your Novel Menu

"A workshop like this makes the writing life real. From the instructors to the other writers, the group shared their stories and often received on-the-spot remedies for problems. My critique group was a gift. Laurie was wonderful in guiding us through a thoughtful and rich discussion of strengths in our opening pages. We all left ready to finish our drafts with renewed energy."

2014 Participant

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Critique Group Workshops

Limited space—enroll now to reserve your place!

Manuscript Critique Workshops provide a personal critique experience for a small number of writers who seek honest and supportive feedback and an opportunity to develop critical reading and critiquing skills. Each Critique Group Workshop is facilitated by one of our experienced writing instructors and is limited to 6 participants. This year’s group leaders: Christopher Chambers, Christine DeSmet, Ron Kuka, Ian Graham Leask, Kristin Oakley, Angela Rydell, Laurie Scheer, and Tim Storm.

Select a workshop, register, and submit 10 pages of your manuscript by mid-October. Each participant will receive up to 5 manuscripts to read and critique. At the scheduled Manuscript Critique Workshop at Weekend With Your Novel, the workshop leader and the other participants discuss each manuscript using the traditional workshop method. Writers receive comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions for revision, as well as written critiques from the workshop leader and the other participants. Writers not only receive valuable feedback on their writing from a group of serious readers and writers, but also develop critical reading skills, critiquing skills, and etiquette for use in critique groups of their own.

The Manuscript Critique Workshops are limited to 6 writers per group.

Critique manuscript guidelines

double-spaced
1-inch margins, aligned left, unjustified
12-point Times New Roman or similar typeface
title and author’s name on first page
last name and page number in header on subsequent pages
electronic file name: author’s last name + “[last name of group leader]_critique group”: e.g., “Smith_Chambers critique group.”

Include a brief synopsis (up to 250 words single spaced) on a separate page with the manuscript; if the excerpt is not the first ten pages, indicate where in the novel it occurs. Click here for 5 steps to writing a perfect synopsis» Email your manuscript as an attachment (MS Word, RTF, or PDF) to Laura Kahl, laura.kahl@wisc.edu, by mid-October with the subject line “Novel Critique: [leader’s last name]”.

Workshops: 2017

Friday, Nov 3, 1:30-4:30pm

Christopher Chambers
Christine DeSmet
Angela Rydell
Laurie Scheer

Sunday, Nov 5, 9am-12pm

Ron Kuka
Ian Graham Leask
Kristin Oakley
Tim Storm