Tomorrow: Slush Pile

From 6:30 until 9:30

Tom Always Said

Ninety-nine percent of the good any workshop does is that it simply keeps people writing. In Slush Pile we’re tweaking the workshop model. Writers will get a chance to read their work to an audience and feel how it lands. If listeners want to offer suggestions or praise, they’ll do so during the breaks for socializing. My guess is that such comments won’t be needed because the raw genuine response of an audience will suffice.

Bear in mind, this isn’t open-mic comedy. Clowning isn’t encouraged. Clarity and creating the effect of your plot point will be everything. Please keep explaining context — “This part comes after the elephants have escaped the zoo, but before Hannibal knows, okay?” — to a minimum, and try to present a stand-alone scene, chapter, or story.

In typical workshops, once we wade into intellectualized feedback — “That part worked, but I wanted to see more of the dog” — the workshop dynamic becomes a little performative. Let’s simply allow the work to fail or succeed on its own merits.

We’ll meet tomorrow, March 12, at Salon Rouge, 7804 SE Salmon, Portland, 97215. It’s a small theater, not a bar, thus you won’t have confused bar patrons talking over you. Please consider this as a gentle social support system that will expect you to produce work every couple weeks. The next event will be March 26th, same time, same place.

For the time being I’ll not set a page limit, but please police yourself. If you sense you’ve gone too long and that the audience is no longer engaged, take the initiative to cut yourself off. Above all, don’t suck.

See you tomorrow.