WritePods: Write-Reader Interaction to Engage Platforms Opening Destinations

Writers workshops—the lifeforce of any writing movement. Electronic literature has had its share of writing workshops, and we’d like to revitalize that tradition. Yet electronic literature opens up dimensions of meaning—and just as reading electronic literature becomes convoluted and complex, so too does critiquing works in progress. Can a small, dedicated group of people be brought together to surmount these challenges? Are there people willing to commit 5 hours of their lives to yet more meetings, as well as homework? Probably. After all, we are crazy enough to write and deep read this stuff, so we may well be crazy enough to share our addictions.
This engagement series would happen mostly before the ELO 2021 conference. We will provide a survey and ask for volunteers in early February for two pods of six writers each. Each pod would have a moderator. An introductory meeting with all pods would take place in early March, and then schedule two pod meetings in March and April. These working sessions would allot 30 minutes per work to discuss and react.
Pod participants (max of 12 people unless we get someone else to moderate a new pod) would gain training in user interaction and reaction and be able to workshop their works in progress.

At the conference, a virtual engagement session with all participants would discuss what went well, what could be improved, and how this preliminary pod approach could be extended to provide an outlet for electronic literature creators to explore each other’s works. All ELO conference participants would discuss ways that reacting critique techniques, user experience and interface testing, and plain old writing workshops could help electronic literature creations.
WritePODS will provide an outlet and a voice for works in progress. It will also be ideal for newcomers to electronic literature as this would ensure that participants will know at least the 6 others in their pod before the conference. WRITEPODS can also spark new collaborations and creations.

DURATION OF EVENT AT THE CONFERENCE: 90 minutes, with the first 30 showcasing some of the works, 30 minutes to discuss the pods, and 30 minutes to dream about the future.
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 12 in the pods (unless someone else volunteers as a moderator for another pod) and unlimited in the conference event.