Reviews: Riley Darkes

I love bootcamps. Participating in them forces me to sit down and write. I didn't get as much writing done as I had hoped, but the 8,000 plus words I did do, I'll take. Thanks Savvy Authors.

Excellent idea and just the kick start I need to start writing again.

This was a great event. I enjoyed getting feedback from three other people. The different perspectives gave me a lot to think about and different avenues to follow. It was also beneficial to compare the feedback I gave to the feedback others gave to each writer. My only suggestion would be to give a little more time to read each story and provide feedback, especially as it seemed some writers were also still working on their own stories.

I would like to know where to find the results of the pitches. I spent the whole day trying to find them. Georgina sellwood

I learned so much from this class. Being a new author, this group helped build my confidence in my work.

I really liked the Crit Group I participated in. The people were nice and really accommodating when I was unable to complete the crits due to the unexpected death of my mom.

One thing I think would really improve the experience is laying down a foundation of expectations for the crit group to make sure everyone is on the same page. I don't need someone to work on grammar/punctuation/sentence structures--I have an editor for that. I was very specific regarding my needs for the one piece I was able to submit and maybe my needs are very different from the others in the group.

I know the groups were of mixed experience, so maybe I had authors that weren't able to accomplish my purpose of having a crit group.

While it wouldn't promote building relationships--and would be hugely time-consuming--maybe having a small pod of authors to which one author submits material and others review and another group where authors critique would meet needs better.

This was an excellent chance to get more input on my opening chapters and I found it very helpful. The only drawback for me was not being able to access the profiles of my team members to see what they were looking for before starting to critique their work. They may have been available, but I couldn't find any instructions on how to access them.

Although I loved the idea of learning to be part of a critique group, I didn't like the lack of participation. Perhaps the time lines were too close. In a group of 4, you have to read 3 writers pages and if you work full-time and have a family that can be a lot to do in a week's time.
I did stick to the schedule but am disappointed others did not. However, I am hoping I can stay in contact with at least one of the members in my group. And, I did get PM from another savvy author about being critique partners.
Thanks for the opportunity

I enjoyed my Critique team. They were a great group.
Things to improve?
*Improve start time: This event had a slower start (especially for people on Austrailian and European timelines). We were two days into the event before things really kicked off. Could we make a practice of team assignments prior to the event, so the time when the Event begins is limited to lessons posted and interaction between participants?
*Improve team interaction: Could we encourage a cross-over between teams? Encouragements? Information exchange? Sometimes the team forums can become dry and seemingly inactive while the 'critiquing' is being done, so when a person is 'online' and looking for something happening, they can perceive that nothing is happening here. Having the exchange of encouragements or insightful writing/critiquing/editing tips can make a lull in forum/thread activity a learning experience.
*Feedback to the Critter: It would be good to give feedback to the critiquer on the critique. On Scribophile, where most of what they do is critiquing, they try to help give feedback to the critiquers in the form of affirmations...a means to click on five categories: Thorough, Enlightening, Constructive, Encouraging, Like -- If we had some means of providing a click feedback for critters then we would have an easy means of providing affirmation to the critter as well as the one critiqued.
On the other hand, what was offered ROCKED as usual. @Riley Darkes has terrific Lessons and posts. She is a terrific instructor and organizer. I bow to her greatness!!!

I'm using 5 as the best. If you didn't mean it to be, then have the least and most liked options marked.

I thought the session beneficial and constructive. The only change I'd like to see is to have an area accessible by those doing critiques with references in it directly related to critiquing, grammer, plotting, and other associated themes. But limited to those themes related to critiquing and writing a novel.

There were three members in my group but only two of us really participated. I did enjoy it though.

The entire event was well planned and flowed easily. Once we were in our groups, it was simple to figure out how the group wanted to do the critiques. I really liked the encouragement thread and the watercooler thread as well.

Great event--thank you. I'm so glad I joined. Looking forward to forming a crit group after the event.
Just a note--iI'm presuming 5 is great and 1 not so good as it doesn't give the scale.

Loved the instructors! I am planning my goals for 2017 based on the information I received in this group. I would love to participate in more Bootcamps!

Very helpful suggestions, esp. for a seat-of-the-pants writer.

Great workshop. Now I have the tools, ideas and inspiration to plot and achieve my goals in 2017. Riley and Jamie were awesome!

I enjoyed the class. I didn't realize most of the discussion would be about planners, although that makes sense. Thank you!

This was a great workshop with lots of ideas on how to focus on your goals and figure out what works best for you to get them done. I really loved it.

Riley and Jamie were the best on goal setting. Great information on various ways to manage the writing process. Terrific guidance. Awesome feedback and suggestions.

I always like participating in Savvy Events even when I don't feel like I'll 'win' an event because of the companionship. I get to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Writing is a fairly solitary career and it is nice to meet with others and learn how they are dealing with issues that crop up or their processes for writing. As usual, the Admins did a good job of keeping up with everything and handling issues, however, it was pretty low key and I'd hoped there would be more interaction from the Savvy side (I know this is probably caused by a lack of volunteers) but good job overall.