Workshopping novels
The structure of novels calls for different methods of workshopping than short stories do. Workshopping a novel chapter by chapter, over a series of months or even years, does not really work. A novel will be read by the reader (or the agent or publisher) in its entirety, and it has to be looked at in this way for the critique to be appropriate.
Points to note regarding workshopping novels are as follows:
- Novel workshops are to be co-ordinated by the novel’s author, and will be completely separate from regular story workshops.
- Novel manuscripts should only be sent out by email if the recipient has agreed to receive it in that format. Novel manuscripts may take up too much space for some people’s email servers to deal with, and it’s unfair to expect everyone to print out 500 or more sheets on their own printers. THE AUTHOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING ENOUGH COPIES OF THEIR MANUSCRIPT COPIED OR PRINTED.
- Attendance at a novel workshop is entirely voluntary. If you don’t feel you can fairly critique the genre, or you know you will not be available to attend the novel workshop, do not take a copy of the manuscript.
- The number of people in attendance at a novel workshop is up to the novel’s author. Given that the author has to make copies of their manuscript, they may decide to put a ceiling on the number of people they want to critique it.
Author Guidelines
If you are ready to arrange a workshop for your novel, here are some more recommendations to help you:
The first three chapters can be dealt with in an ordinary workshop. You can either send them out together, or one at a time over three consecutive workshops, depending on how long they are and what you feel comfortable with. Since the first three chapters have to sell the entire novel to potential agents and publishers, it is reasonable for these to warrant closer scrutiny than the rest of the manuscript. It will also give the T Party members a feel for your novel, so that when the time comes to workshop the rest, they can decide if they want to be involved in the workshop.
The author may also send out their synopsis to be critiqued in a regular workshop. In fact, since most publishers and agents demand a synopsis with the first three chapters of a new novel, it’s probably a good idea to spend time on this document, which may well sell – or not sell – your novel.
When you are ready for your novel to be workshopped in its entirety, you should arrange a separate workshop dedicated to your manuscript. You can decide on where and when this workshop should be, but bear in mind that you need to give people sufficient time to read your manuscript (see point 4 below).
Once you have decided on date and venue, sort out your attendees. There are two ways of doing this. The first is to poll all T Party members and ask who wants to workshop your novel. The second is to put a ceiling on the number of people you want to be there (given that photocopying and postage costs are an issue), and approach T Party members individually until you have filled your quota.
Ensure that each person who is attending your novel workshop receives a copy of your entire manuscript at least SIX WEEKS in advance. Novels these days have to be at least 80,000 words (fantasy novels can be 120,000) and as such you need to give people sufficient time to read your manuscript.
You may only arrange one workshop per novel manuscript. You might therefore want to think about at what stage you feel it will be the most helpful.
Reader guidelines
If you are involved in critiquing a novel manuscript, please bear the following points in mind:
Only agree to attend a novel workshop if:
- You know you will be able to make the date arranged
- You know you will have time to read the manuscript before the arranged date
- You feel you are sufficiently interested in the genre to make useful comments.
Once you have committed to a novel workshop, you must then make sure you abide by the above points. If you consequently discover you can’t make the arranged date due to unforeseen circumstances you must read the manuscript you have been given, and give it back to the author with your written comments as soon as possible. If you don’t have time to read the manuscript, then give it back to the author unread and unmarked. By the time the novel is at workshop stage, the author is going to be getting ready to tackle agents and publishers, and it is unfair to delay this when they are waiting for your comments.
Be aware that the critique for a novel is different to that of a short story. When reading the novel manuscript you should be looking most carefully at plot structure, character development, and so on. You could also highlight any inconsistencies that stand out. If you pick out spelling and grammatical errors, by all means mark them in the manuscript, but do not waste time at the workshop talking about these. Novel manuscripts could involve 500 pages – there will not be time in a single afternoon to talk about everything, so be selective about what you discuss.
Remember that the novel’s author calls all the shots regarding their novel workshop. If you are not invited to attend a novel workshop, do not be offended! If the author has decided to have a limited number of people attend, they probably feel that there are other T Party members more familiar with the novel’s genre than you are.