If you're looking for a readers' convention featuring writing workshops that will give you professional critique of your story or chapter and teach you about subjects such as screenwriting, creating characters through dialog, writing and marketing paranormal romances, and writing and selling media tie-ins, please visit the Context SF convention.

About Writeshop

Writeshop is a writers' workshop group based in Columbus, OH. We hold meetings twice a month. While we are involved in all types of writing, our focus is on science fiction, fantasy, and horror short stories.

As much as we all love novels, Writeshop's format has proved to be most useful for short fiction; those who are exclusively interested in working on novels should probably seek another group.

Our members have been published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Bedtime Stories To Darken Your Dreams, Chiaroscuro, Civil War Fantastic, Cricket, Cosmic Visions, Dark Matter Chronicles, Dark Planet, Eclectic Literary Forum, Foxfire, The Further Adventures of Xena: Warrior Princess, Guardian Angels, Highlights For Children, Jackhammer E-Zine, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Midnight Zoo, Millennium Science Fiction and Fantasy, Modern Haiku, On Spec, 1000 Delights, Piedmont Literary Review, Quantum Muse, Realms of Fantasy, Science Fiction Age, SF Site, Snow Monkey, Speculations, Strange Horizons, Talebones, Villains Victorious, The Wall Street Journal, Whispers From the Cotton Tree Root, Writer Online, and more.

Writeshop's members have participated in other groups such as the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop, Pittsburgh Worldwrights, The Semi-Omniscients, and The Sock Monkey Parade.

Workshop Guidelines

• All types of writing are welcome; members must be willing and able to provide thoughtful critiques of genre stories.
  
  
• We distribute the work we want to have critiqued at least 5 days before the workshop.
  
  
• Work is distributed via the "Files" section of our Yahoo! Group.
  
  
• Manuscripts workshopped on a first-submitted, first-critiqued basis.
  
  
• New members must attend (and do critiques at) two meetings before they are eligible to have a manuscript critiqued.
  
  
• Participants must attend at least 6 meetings each year to remain active members in good standing; this requirement may be waived for working professional writers.
  
  
• Participants should submit at least two manuscripts for critique each year.
  

We use the Milford model for workshop critiquing: we go around in a circle, and each person gives their critique in a timely fashion with as little interruption from others as possible. Members are encouraged to discuss both what works in a manuscript as well as what needs improvement.

Our goal is to get submitted manuscripts into publishable shape. Participants have an obligation to provide honest, constructive, thoughtful, polite criticism as best they can.

For tips on critiquing, visit:

• How the Workshop is Supposed to Work by Ed Bryant
• Guidelines for Writing a Critique by Janet Kent
• The Diplomatic Critiquer by Andrew Burt
• How to Critique Fiction by Victory Crayne
• How to Deal with Critiquing by Rich Hamper
• The Turkey City Lexicon
• Tips on Critiquing by Amy Sterling Casil
• Four Steps to a Useful Critique by Maureen McHugh

We may, depending on the needs of the group participants, use portions of meetings to discuss writing-related issues or to allow members to practice reading their work aloud in front of an audience.

Calendar

We hold workshop meetings the 3rd Sunday of every month at 7:00 p.m. at Jerry Robinette's house in Worthington, OH. You can find directions at our Yahoo! Group if you are already signed up as a member.

Be sure to visit the Downtown Writers' Network for more Columbus, OH writing events.

Joining Writeshop

All serious writers who share the workshopping philosophy outlined in the Workshop Guidelines above are welcome at Writeshop. If you wish to join, send an email to Jerry Robinette at jrobine1(at)columbus.rr.com. Explain who you are, what your writing background/writing credits are, and include a short writing sample as plain text within the body of your message.

Current Members

Tom Barlow
Holly Bell
Cory Daughton
Gary A. Braunbeck
Catherine Callaghan
Matt Cook
Dave Daulton
Richard Gams
Katrina Kidder
Jerry Robinette
Jason Sanford
Lucy A. Snyder
Gary Wedlund

Writeshop Alumni

Tobias S. Buckell
Charles Coleman Finlay
Rosemary Laurey
Melissa Long
Paul Melko
Jennifer St. Clair
Robert Freeman Wexler