Welcome to the ARWZ online writers' workshop. If you would like to participate, it is essential that you read and familiarize yourself with the way the workshop operates, as well as its rules for constructive critique. If you have any questions about how the workshop operates, please feel free to post them here in the Workshop FAQ & Rules forum.
How do I join?
If you're interested in joining our workshop, then the good news is that it's a breeze to get started. First, write to Vio at [email protected] to say you want to join the workshop; she'll grant you admittance to the Workshop forum. Then, just jump in and offer a critique. If you're simply interested in getting some critiquing experience, then there are no minimum word limits for the critique. Just read whatever of the posted pieces interest you and offer your thoughts. However, if you want to become a full-fledged member of the workshop and submit your own work for critique, you have to go through a bit of an initiation. Don't worry, we don't expect streaking through the quad, kissing of rings, mud-wrestling or twenty-one shots in an hour (though whatever you do on your own time is certainly none of our business).
How do I become a full-fledged member and submit my own work?
PLEASE NOTE: The initiation requirement of three (3) critiques has been waived until further notice in order to foster more activity in the workshop. If you're joining, please disregard the initiation requirement, go ahead and post your first Submission. You will need to post the required two (2) critiques before your second Submission, but you do not need to post any critiques before posting your first Submission. So find out how to post a submission, please read on.
Before you submit a piece of your own writing for critique for the first time, you must complete three (3) official critiques. It is wise for you to keep track of the works you critique (I suggest bookmarking them in your Favorites), because you will need to reference them in your submission. After posting three (3) official critiques in the Workshop, you will be permitted to post your first submission. If you post your submission before you complete three critiques, it will not be moved into the Workshop forum and opened for critique.
We ask for this "initiation" for few reasons: first, it is a good-faith offering to show us that you're serious about being a productive member of this workshop; second it gives you the chance to get to know the writing--and critiquing styles--of other members of this workshop by reading previous posts; finally, it is my firm belief that critiquing the work of unpublished writers at various skill levels is essential for improving our own skills as writers.
Okay, now that I've gotten through the "initiation," what now?
Once you've submitted your first three (3) official critiques, you may post your first submission. The good news is, when you're ready to post your second submission, you only have to submit two (2) official critiques per submission. This 2:1 ratio is required of all workshop members who wish to post submissions. Only Senior Members are exempt from this requirement. However, we ask that Senior Members keep roughly to this 2:1 ratio out of good-faith and interest in a productive and useful workshop.
What are the guidelines for an "official critique"?
Now we get to the basics of how our workshop operates. As I said above, anyone who visits this page is free to read any of the submissions posted and offer their thoughts. However, if your want your critiques to count toward your "critique:submission" ratio, you must submit "official critiques." In order for a critique to be considered "official" it must meet two (2) criteria:
1. It must be at least 350 words. This isn't as much as it sounds. It's approximately equivalent to one page, double-spaced.
2. It must be written in the spirit of our constructive critique guidelines. These aren't hard and fast rules, per se. But critiques must be thoughtful and useful.
As I said above, I suggest you bookmark each thread into which you post an official critique. If you are not a Senior Member, you will be required to reference your completed critiques at the front of each submission you enter into our workshop.
Please post all critiques, official or otherwise, as replies to the submission thread. Before posting an official critique, please familiarize yourself with any critiques and discussion that have already been posted for that submission. If the discussion has already been quite lengthy, do your best to skim the previous discussion for highlights so that your critique can be a productive part of the dialog.
What are the guidelines for submissions?
Once you've completed your three (3) initiation critiques, you may post your first submission. All submissions (except from Senior members) must be posted first in the Submissions forum. When posting this submission, you MUST include the URL of each of the three threads containing your critiques. Please post (i.e. copy/paste) these URLs first thing at the very top of your submission posting so that the moderator can reference them easily. The same goes for anyone else bound by the 2:1 ratio (i.e. everyone beyond initiation who is not a Senior Member). You must post the URLs of your three (3) or two (2) requisite official critiques at the top of your submission, or your post will not be moved into the Workshop forum for critique.
Once you've given us the URLs of your most recent critiques, you may feel free to offer a short introduction to your submission. If it's a continuation of something you've posted previously (i.e. Chapter 2), you may want to include the URL of that previous submission so that people know where to start. When you're ready to post the actual text of your submission, you must follow these rules:
1. All submissions must be in the form of a new topic. Please include the title of your submission plus any installment information (i.e. Title of Novel, Chapter 3; Title of Story, contd. Part 2; etc�) in the title of the thread.
2. All submissions must be under 6000 words. NO ONE is exempt from this requirement. Even Senior Members must post their submissions in 6000 word installments. We make this rule in the interest of making the work of offering critiques a manageable and predictable process.
These 6000 (or less) word submissions may be posted in one of two ways. Please choose the method that is most convenient and comfortable for you:
1. Submissions may be copy/pasted into the body of the post itself. Critique URLs must be posted in the body of the thread. But the submission itself may also be posted in the actual thread to be read right out of the Workshop forum. If you pick this method, be advised, you must post in plain text. Please consult our Plain Text Tutorial for details.
2. Submissions may be posted in the Files section of the ARWZ Workshop Group. The advantage of posting in ARWZ Workshop Group is copyright safety. Submissions posted with the copy/paste method are publicly accessible. Submissions posted in Files are accessible only to ARWZ Workshop Group members (thus you have to join either to post or read). Posting at ARWZ Workshop Group does not compromise your copyright or first publication rights. Submissions posted through Files in ARWZ Workshop Group must be introduced here using a new topic. Official critiques must still be linked in the body of this topic, as described above. After any words of introduction, please provide a link to the location of the file at ARWZ Workshop Group. Submissions posted through Files should be posted as Rich Text documents or Plain Text documents (not MSWord, WordPerfect, or PDF documents) in 6000 word or less increments. If you have questions on how to do this, or how to use the Files feature, please ask in the Workshop FAQ forum.
Finally, all submissions must be posted first in the Submissions forum before they can be moved into the Workshop forum. Once posted in the Submissions forum, the submission will be reviewed by a moderator or the webmaster. If it meets all submission requirements, it will be moved into the Workshop forum for open critique. The only exception to this rule is for Senior Members. They may post submissions directly into the Workshop without having approval first.
What privileges are available to Senior Members?
So you've heard that Senior Members get some special treatment here at the workshop. That's because they are long-time members, or highly active. Senior Member is a title earned by posting a substantial volume of material on these forums, or granted at the webmaster's discretion.
Senior Members who wish to participate in the workshop earn the following privileges:
1. Once they have passed the initiation, these Senior Members may post as many submissions (they still have to comply with the 5000 word maximum) as they would like, regardless of how many critiques they have completed. As a consequence, they do not have to reference the critiques they've made at the top of their submission post. However, in the interest of running a productive and useful workshop (an interest, I'm sure, is shared by Senior Members), we ask that these privileged members hold themselves to a critique ratio of approximately 2:1 of critiques to submissions. This means that Senior members may, for example, post all parts of their story (in proper submission format, of course) at once, and then catch up on their critiques at their leisure.
2. Senior Members do not need to post submissions first in the Submissions forum to await approval. They may post directly into the Workshop forum. However, if a moderator finds that your post does not meet submission guidelines (i.e. over 6000 words, etc.) the moderator may close your submission. Please contact the webmaster ([email protected]) for details on how to post submissions directly into the workshop forum.
3. Senior Members may request to have a separate forum for their submissions. This privilege is useful, for example, if a member has a novel or long story and wants to keep all their submissions together. Additionally, it is easier for finding one's submissions and reading one's critiques. They're all in the same place!
When someone gives me a critique, am I allowed to respond?
Yes. Once someone posts a critique in response to your submission, you may ask them for further clarification. You may not, however, explain what you were "trying to do." If there are specific issues in the submission that you would like people to watch out for and respond to, please indicate those in the introduction to your submission. However, keep in mind that a good piece of writing ought to be able to stand on its own. In this spirit, we ask that, if you respond to a critique, you limit yourself to asking questions of the critic (for the purpose of further clarification). Even if the original critic does not answer these questions explicitly, they will be useful for guiding further critics toward feedback that will be useful to you.
I've written my requisite critiques and entered my submission, but no one is reading it.
To a certain extent, my advice is to be patient. This workshop happens at its own pace, a pace that is dependent on participant interest and free time. However, if you want to do something more to jumpstart interest in your submission, try offering a critique exchange. Post a topic here or in the Writers' Zone forum inviting fellow workshop members to negotiate a critique exchange. It's simple: I'll critique yours if you'll critique mine.
If you have any further questions about the way the workshop operates, please ask them here in the Workshop FAQ & Rules forum. Please include your question, or some shorter version of it, in the title of your post so that people with similar questions will be able to find it easily.
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