Writing Workshops

There are divergent views about how useful workshops are, and whether they help you up or bog you down, but almost everyone agrees that some amount of workshopping is a great help.

The basic intention of all workshops is to enable writers to get crits (critiques) of their work, and this is done by making writers critique the work of others before they can submit their own work for receiving crits. Workshops vary in terms of the ratio of crits you need to give in order to be able to submit a story, and they have different definitions of what constitutes a crit, in terms of acceptable lengths, content and style.

Here are some online workshops/ groups I have found particularly helpful for the speculative genre.

Critters is a free workshop run by Dr. Andrew Burt, and has a very vast number of members. It requires a participation ratio of 75% (three crits for four weeks) to stay active enough to submit, and has a queue system. Dr. Burt also includes a number of links on what a crit should do, and how to be polite while critting, and these links are available whether or not you join critters.

OWWW is another free group, run as a yahoo group. Their website explains the rules in detail and also provides a number of very useful links and references. Again, these resources are available to anyone who visits their site. This group is very particular about the quality of crits, and posts are moderated.

OWW is a paid workshop, where many professional and yet-to-become-professional SFFH writers exchange crits. This workshop also has a scheme of editor’s choice, where a few of the submissions receive crits from professional editors, and so the members can also study both the story and the expert crit. Crit to sub ratio is mandated at 1: 4.

There are other online workshops, too, which may be used to share crits, and/ or for a sense of community. Here are some I know of:

Codex Writers. This is intended for “neo-pro” speculative fiction writers. Membership is free, but to quote, “requires either at least one pro fiction sale or completion of a major, by-audition-only speculative fiction writing workshop such as Clarion, Odyssey, Literary Boot Camp, Clarion West, etc.” Codex is valuable both for its crits and the forum where members discuss various aspects of speculative fiction writing, and share experiences and provide updates.

Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Hosted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury, and part of Orson Scott Card’s network, this provides a forum for discussions, writing classes, and a place to share comments on the first 13 lines of a story–go to the site for their explanation of why they allow only the first 13 lines This site also announces the dates, eligibility, and application procedure for Orson Scott Card’s Literary Bootcamp.

Also, there are some workshops that are for all genres of fiction writing, and which may have special groups that focus on SF/F/H.  Examples are: Forward Motion, Zoetrope, and Critique Circle.

For those who are in a position to attend in-person workshops, there are a number of workshops that offer an intense, immersive experience. Many professional writers have said in interviews that they experienced a major improvement in their writing after attending such workshops. Also, such workshops provide an excellent opportunity to connect with fellow aspiring writers, as well as with well-established editors and writers.

Some well-known workshops are: Clarion, Clarion West,  Odyssey Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Workshop, and Viable Paradise.