CTNW Policies & Application

Policy Doc & Artwork/Logos
Designed by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈. 4/2021

Mission

Our mission is to provide a safe and secure venue for serious authors to share in-progress works of fiction. Safe means that members treat one another and their artistic goals with courtesy and respect. Secure means that we do not share the works or discussions about the works outside the confines of the workshop. By serious authors we mean those interested in commercial publication who desire to hone their skills in writing effective fiction and are prepared to engage in thoughtful discussion about the craft of fiction. In progress means that the works are still in draft stage and that the author is seeking critiques to improve the revision process. While our primary focus is on longer works, short stories and novellas are acceptable.

Goals

Each member will have unique reasons for joining the Workshop, but we expect all members to share certain goals.

A commitment to the mission of the workshop;
A commitment to support and encourage all members in achieving their individual goals;
A commitment to deepening our understanding and application of the craft of fiction.
A commitment to participating in the seminar though posting both fiction and reviews.

Strategies

Our primary strategy is the exchange of professional feedback on posted materials. Professional feedback is specific, can include suggestions for improvement and praise for effective passages. Craft should inform feedback by providing a theoretical and practical framework for comments. For example, point of view, setting, characterization, and scene and sequel can illuminate the mechanics of a chapter or story.

Posting to the Workshop, whether with a story or a review, is an invitation to a conversation about writing. Members will engage in conversations about writing based on what's posted in the workshop.

The Workshop will periodically offer activities to hone various writing skills. Publication calls for short story markets are often specific about story elements, so we will have periodic contests--internal and external--to help enhance this skill. Similarly, the Workshop will include activities focused on point of view, characterization, and "show, don't tell."

The Workshop activities, including reviews, are primarily asynchronous, i.e., they happen in the message forum and members are not all together at once. However, with the advent of Zoom, the Workshop will have periodic Zoom meetings where members can read and discuss their work.

Members will engage in a robust and regular manner with the Workshop through posting fiction, posting reviews, and/or posting reactions to reviews whether of their own fiction or that of others. Members who fail to meet expectations will receive a notice from the Moderators and may be placed on Probation. Notice of probation will include specifics regarding why the member is on probation, what they must do to return to regular status, and the time period during which Moderators will be monitoring their activity for compliance with the terms. Probation will be between the Moderators and the members and not discussed with other members of the Workshop. Failure to meet the terms of the probation will result in dismissal from the Workshop.

In addition, members may post chapters from only one novel on the workshop, and at most one additional short story. In order to post a second short story or novel, the first must be completed or withdrawn. Only one new chapter or item may be posted in a given week.

Workshop Moderators will reward members with GPS, Merit Badges, and other awards for exemplary reviews and for other activities in support of the mission of the Workshop.

In order to sustain an active membership, the Workshop must maintain visibility on WDC. To that end, we will conduct actives for the wider WDC membership such as contests and reviewing.

Some workshop activities require expenditure of GPS, so the workshop will collect a modest, one-time application fee, a modest initiation fee, and monthly dues. Dues will be payable the first of the month. The fee schedule is:
Application fee: 500 GPS ($0.05)
Initiation fee: 25,000 GPS ($2.50)
Monthly dues: 10,000 GPS ($1.00)
We feel assessing $1.00 per month is one way of assuring that the members are committed to the Workshop.

Members may at any time take a leave of absence from the workshop by writing to one of the moderators. Payment of membership dues and Workshop participation requirements are reduced to 2,000 GPs per month during the leave of absence. Leaves should be for a specified period not to exceed six months, and may be extended for up to an additional six months with the approval of the moderators. During that time the member's work will go dark, and no reviews will be performed.

Members will treat each other and the moderators with courtesy and respect. Failure to do so can result in immediate dismissal from the Workshop. Members who otherwise fail to meet the expectations of the Workshop will receive a warning. Two warnings in any three month period will be grounds for dismissal from the Workshop. If a member is dismissed or withdraws from the Workshop, fees paid prior to the date of withdrawal or dismissal are not refundable.


Hint: THE KEY is: 11061989


Now that you have read our policies, you are welcome to apply for CTNW memership.

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