The primary focus of our group is to support each other to become better writers through feedback and critique. We welcome submissions of creative writing excerpts, with the following acceptance criteria.
You must:
Already be part of the group (sign up using your email address)
Have attended at least one meeting before (so that you can get a feel for how we work)
Agree to include a written content warning at the top of your work if it includes topics which may require a warning
Submit your work in the required format (described in the section below)
Additionally, we only accept submissions which:
Adhere to our code of conduct
Are not excerpts from published work
Submission deadlines and format
If you want to submit writing, please send your writing as a file attachment to [email protected]. We have the following formatting requirements:
Files must be either a PDF or Word Doc (.docx) format
You must include your first name in the file name
The deadline for any meeting is 18:00 BST/GMT on the Wednesday before the meeting. (Meetings will always be Thursday.) You are welcome to send in your piece any time before the deadline.
Restrictions on length of submissions
We allocate twenty minutes to each piece for reading and discussion. We do this to make sure everyone gets a fair amount of support.
We recommend submitting work that is no longer than about 1200-1500 words (which is usually about 10 minutes of reading aloud) to allow time for discussion. People often bring much shorter pieces.
Content warnings
If your work includes a content warning, it will still be included in our meeting and open to feedback and discussion. It will simply give an opportunity to members of the group to opt out of that section of the meeting if they so choose. Usually we do this by inviting people to turn off their cameras and mute the Zoom meeting if they choose not to engage with certain topics. You will still receive feedback from those who choose to engage.
The purpose of a content warning is to be upfront and specific about sensitive topics such as graphic violence, abuse, discrimination, or self-harm, etc. (These are just examples, not a comprehensive list.) They follow a similar principle to film/movie ratings, eg. "Rated 18 for violence and strong language".
Content warnings are most helpful when they are specific. For example, "violence" is less helpful than specifying "domestic violence, violence towards animals".
The avoidance of 'spoilers' is not an acceptable reason to omit a content warning.
Disclaimer regarding content warnings
We rely on members to include content warnings in their work where appropriate. While we aim to make the group safe and welcoming, the admin team cannot guarantee that all pieces requiring warnings will have them, as we do not review every submission in advance.
If you encounter a piece that you believe should include a content warning, please contact the admin team in confidence so we can follow up with the writer.