Okay i think along with the killer-kid this has some legs. 

Good voice in this.

also really love how you signal the trainset brands... i don't know the brand you mention, but the way you describe it i know exactly an analogue to it in another domain i do know. and i know what it signals.

speaking of signalling I'm reminded of our summer club. The 

Echo and Narcissus

writing club hehe. 

keni

 

Okay so you can totally turn this pending critique against me. Lol because if you go back and read all my posts for the 

Echo and Narcissus

assignments you'll be able to say 'BUT ABE YOU'RE LIKE THE KING OF DOING WHAT YOU JUST SAID I'M DOING'

But when we give critique were often giving it to ourselves as well. But anyways here it goes.

please subscribe to my substack to read this critque

There were no specific examples in the form of sentences of the first two. There were specific attributes however.

I believe the thing you are trying to deliberately avoid -- keeping the reader in the dark chasing you -- was one thing that made the first two more theatrical. Just the right mix of details and meaningful action ( 

George Saunders

likes meaningful action vs the word plot lol ).

I think that because you were following

William Gibson

to a tee you got that for free. Kind of like getting a ton of things for free when following the conventions of an

MVC

webapp via 

Ruby on Rails

or 

Laravel

.

I think these last two assignments reveal how difficult it is to get that blend of details + meaningful action right. I think going forward that would be a great Daniel thing to hone your craft on, but given that this is the final week of

Echo and Narcissus

club it's a good opportunity to just do some more Gibson copying.

PS I'm already reading that Saunders' book

Maggie Appleton

mentioned and it is so necessary for fiction writers. You will love it. Please check it out. I hope Maggie does end up organizing a club around it!

I still find

communication

to be too broad for the 10,000 kicks? I think you would have to scope it down. something like

I even think

persuasion

to be a bit too broad too.


The

Echo and Narcissus

club has been making me want to reach out to 

dealingwith

and 

GabrielGreco

to really ramp up our fiction practice.

Like the small amount of consistent fiction Daniel and I have been writing for this club has been exhilerating. Exhilerating because it shows us what's possible if we just timescope it and commit.

Also I see how my fiction can improve by copying bits and pieces of my  

narcissus

, it makes me think... keep doing this. Not with the same guy, but keep doing it until I've ilked all the greatness out of all the great writers that I can encounter.

Lol you must elaborate more on 'do author's do details and descriptions in the same way?' because I am in complete disagreement. 

While talking with Andrew this week of

Echo and Narcissus

club -- he's echoing

Paul Graham

we could tell immediately that Graham was very minimalist when it came to details.

And I have never thought while reading any of the other assignments that this is how

Scott Adams

would write except for your assignments!

keni

I thoguht 

200WAD

did encourage deliberate practice. However it encouraged only the daily-input part... which is important. But I don't think it ever got to the point where it gave more 'guidelines'.

For the 

Echo and Narcissus

club a guideline we got was A writer we admire.

I believe that competitions/contests are trigger concepts. Just as it pumps you up to be a part of a contest it pushes people away -- remember 

jasonleow

? 

This is why I find being a part of this writing club so fascinating. I feel that I'm goaded into showing up more impressively -- and I know 

dealingwith

  feels this way as well just by reading what he's showing up with -- without being a contest.

When I think contest I think people competing against each other. With this club I feel like it's more us elevating our curiosity. Expanding our openness to what we're willing to do. 

dealingwith

that was my initial intention with Tribes! However, I learned that to make Tribes work you need enough people that it warrants it. Right now we only have 4-7 writers a day -- depending on the day --- so it's never felt needed. 

I've also since formed the opinion that I should tailor the features of the main feed and then just spin that off later when/if tribes is needed again.

Ha but TLDR yes. That's what I wanted Tribes to be but couldn't pull off on it's first iteration. 
Learning what makes the 

Echo and Narcissus

club tick will help me figure out a better way next iteration. 

RIght now I'm under the impression that 

Maggie Appleton

's thoughtful approach to the assignments is one of the key drivers. Whenever I feel lost at worst or even just purely unmotivated at best, I can look at the doc Maggie is working on and it never fails to put me back on track... I shouldn't even say back on track because that implies that I've been placed where I wanted to be... but it's more that seeing the thought and care she puts into her assignement allows me to find myself on a path that I didn't even know existed. So it's not back on track. It's transported the a new track altogether.

keni

  I know sometimes you struggle with the assignments... not knowing how to go about it. I feel that when you feel that way seeing what Maggie is doing for that week will help a lot.

Ha believe me it doesn't. I have practiced a lot and actually i need to practice more. Being in the 

Echo and Narcissus

club has been good for jumpstarting that because it gives me clear defined goals that I can work towards within a timebox.

Have you begun writing for Saturday's assignment?

Also thank you for this comment. It reminds me of the times when I used to write fiction on 

200WAD

and would love getting your comments on them ;)

The

Echo and Narcissus

writing club is starting soon! I just introduced myself on there. 

keni

and 

dealingwith

don't forget to introduce yourselves! I think we're supposed to before Saturday. 

https://forum.hyperlink.academy/t/welcome-and-intros/2653