Writers’ Workshop

The Fairwood Writers are pleased to sponsor the writing workshop for Norwescon 38 during April 2-5, 2015. We accept both short stories and novel excerpts to be critiqued by professional writers during Norwescon 38, according to the guidelines below.

Submissions Overview & Deadline

The Fairwood Writers will accept electronic submissions of short stories or novel excerpts in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. We do not accept scripts.

We are looking for manuscripts that you feel are your best work. If you have taken it as far as you can, and need outside review to move your writing forward, send it to us.

For 2015, you may submit up to two pieces per author, totaling no more than 18,000 words. (See below for special rules for short-shorts.)

If your manuscript has been critiqued at our workshop in a previous year and you’ve significantly revised it since, we will accept it for a second workshop. Once a manuscript has been through our workshop twice, it’s time to send us something new.

What We Will Accept

You may submit three pieces if two of the pieces are “short-short” stories according to the short story guidelines below. If three manuscripts are submitted, they may total no more than 14,000 words together.

Otherwise, you may submit no more than two pieces per writer; only one of which may be a novel excerpt, and which together total no more than 18,000 words.

Whenever feasible, we accept all submissions that meet our guidelines. However, we reserve the right to reduce the number of long submissions accepted into the workshop, or the total number of manuscripts per writer, so that more writers may be included in the workshop.

Due to the widespread popularity of Norwescon 38’s Guest of Honor, we anticipate increased attendance at the convention and a proportionate increase in submissions to the Writers Workshop. In recent years, we have operated at or near maximum capacity for the space, time, and manpower available to us. If we receive more submissions than we can workshop, submissions will be prioritized as follows:

1. The first manuscript submitted by each author (or the manuscript the author designates as first, if two are submitted simultaneously) will generally be placed into a workshop session on a first-come, first-serve basis, with the following caveats:
   1. We will reject manuscripts that don’t meet our guidelines.
   2. In some cases, we may prioritize manuscripts which can be placed into round-robin sessions. These sessions maximize our use of available resources. We recommend that repeat workshoppers consider electing for round robin sessions.
2. We will accept more than one manuscript per author if space permits. Second manuscripts will placed into sessions to best match the reading preferences and availability of our critiquers and rooms.

In all cases our goal is to workshop as many manuscripts from as many authors as possible.

Submission Requirements

Cover Letter Requirements

Please include a brief cover letter as the body of your submissions email. Please do not attach your cover letter as a separate file. The cover letter should include:

• Contact information: Your name, email address, street address, and a phone number where we can reach you, if necessary.
• Attendance: The days you plan to attend the convention and are available for critique.
• Submission information: Title, genre, and format (short story or novel excerpt) of your piece(s). Please let us know if your manuscript is intended for a YA audience or could fall within any other genre (i.e., paranormal romance).
• Critique preference: For short stories, please indicate whether you prefer an individual critique session, Round-Robin session, or have no preference.
• Manuscript priority: If you’re submitting more than one manuscript, which manuscript would you prefer that we include in the workshop if we have space for only one?
• Brief biography for the workshop pamphlet: Tell us about your writing goals, writing experience, and workshop experience in around 150 words.
• Survey information: To better help us prepare workshop spaces and materials, please answer the following questions:
  • Are you currently submitting your work to professional, paying genre markets?
  • The convention rooms we are usually assigned require participants to navigate a short flight of steps (about 4). Please let us know if you would have difficulty navigating the steps, or otherwise think you might have a need for special accommodations in order to participate.
  • And last but not least, just to help us in creating our workshop pamphlet for this year: are you male or female?

Short Fiction

• Short fiction must be complete.
  • To be considered for the short fiction category, a manuscript must be complete the 10,000-word limit and must stand on its own. Excerpts of longer works don’t belong in this category, even if they appear self-contained (such as flashbacks).
• Short fiction must total at least 1,000 words per piece.
• Short fiction must total no more than 10,000 words per piece. But the shorter your work, the greater your opportunities to workshop!
  • Manuscripts of 1,000 to 3,000 words may be considered “short-short” stories. Two short-shorts totaling no more than 4,000 words together will be considered a single submission, and will be critiqued together in a single workshop session. If two of your manuscripts are short-shorts, you may submit a third manuscript.
  • Manuscripts of 7,000 words or less may be submitted for round-robin or individual critique.
  • Manuscripts of 7,001 to 10,000 words may only be submitted for individual critique.

Novel Excerpts

• Novels must be submitted only in part.
• We will accept only one novel excerpt per writer.
• Novels are not eligible for round-robin critique sessions.
• Along with your chapter(s), please submit a novel synopsis of the entire novel, totaling no more than 1,000 words. Please include the novel synopsis in the same file as your novel excerpt. It may be included either before or after your excerpt, but it must cover the full scope of the novel: beginning, middle and end. You can find a number of excellent articles about synopsis writing on the Web, including:
  • Hunting for an Agent (with Sample Synopsis)
  • The Synopsis
  • The Dreaded (NOT!) Synopsis
  • The Novel Synopsis – Just What Is It?
• We will accept up to the first three chapters, or about 9,500 words, whichever is shorter. Please do not send chapters from the middle of your novel. Our critiquers want to start reading where your story starts.
• The novel excerpt and synopsis together must total no more than 10,000 words.

Manuscript Format

• We will accept manuscripts in .doc, .rtf and .txt. Please, no .docx files or PDFs.
• Name your file with your last name, the title of your work, and the word “short” or “novel,” as follows:
  • Short stories: Lastname_Title_short
  • Novel excerpts: Lastname_Title_novel
  • If the title of your work is more than a couple words long, feel free to abbreviate.
• All submissions must be in proper manuscript format. Please note, since manuscript format is an important part of the process of submitting fiction to markets, your manuscript format will be considered when your story is read for the workshop. You can find excellent examples of proper manuscript format online at SFWA’s Information Center and here.
• General format should include:
  • 1-inch margins on all sides
  • Type must be double-spaced
  • Font no smaller than 12-point size (Courier 12-pt or Courier New 12-pt preferred; Times New Roman 14-pt is also acceptable)
  • Use underlining instead of italics
  • Do not use boldface
• First page must include:
  • Author’s name and address in upper left corner
  • Approximate word count in upper right corner
  • Story title and byline (start halfway down page)
  • Story starts double-spaced (at least) under byline
• Upper right corner of second page (and all following pages) must include:
  • Story title (shortened, if necessary)
  • Author’s last name
  • Page number

How the Workshop Works

All manuscripts submitted on time will be scheduled for critique by up to four professional guests attending the convention.  Most “pros” are professional writers, but we may opt to include other professionals, such as scientists or editors, as appropriate. Each session is led by a Fairwood Writer acting as moderator.

All workshop participants must purchase a convention membership. If you are planning to purchase a day membership only, plan to arrive at the convention early enough to pick up your badge before attending your critique.

Individual Sessions

In individual critique sessions, workshop participants meet with up to four pros who have read their manuscript. Participants receive feedback from each pro.

Novel excerpts may be critiqued in the individual session format only.

Round-Robin Sessions

In a round-robin critique session, two to three workshop participants meet with up to four pros who have read their manuscript. In this session, each workshop participant also reads each manuscript scheduled in the session. Workshop participants receive feedback from both their peers and pros, and offer critique to their peers.

Only short stories of 7,000 words or less may be submitted for round-robin critiquing.

If you have participated in a workshop or other critique experience, or attended our “How to Offer Critique” workshop last year, we strongly recommend submitting your short story to a round robin session. We believe that reviewing other manuscripts helps you hone your critical reading skills.

If you are scheduled to participate in a round robin session, we will send you information about how to prepare a critique along with manuscripts to critique when we send your session schedule. This information is usually sent 6-8 weeks prior to the convention. You may also find useful information for composing a critique online at the section of SFWA’s Information Center focusing on workshops and critique groups.

How to Submit

E-mail your cover letter and manuscript submission(s) to the workshop at submissions@norwescon.org.

NOTE: This address is for submissions ONLY.

• Whenever possible, please send only one email with all submissions included as file attachments.
• Your cover letter should be the body of your submission email. You do not need to attach your cover letter as a separate file.
• Attach each work as a separate file. If you are submitting a novel excerpt, include your synopsis in the same file.
• Please use the file naming convention and file format listed in the “Manuscript Format” section of the guidelines.
• You will receive an email confirming that we have received your manuscript. Please query if you do not receive a confirmation within 3 days.

We reserve the right to reject submissions which are clearly outside the scope of the workshop due to genre, quality, length, or extreme objectionable content.

After You Submit

You will receive an email confirming that we have received your manuscript. Please query if you don’t receive a confirmation within 3 days.

We will be working with the convention’s programming department to finalize our available resources in December. At this time we will make a final decision as to which manuscripts we can include in the workshop. We expect to notify all authors of their manuscripts’ status by mid-December. Please query if you don’t hear from us by December 20, 2014.

Due to the anticipated increase in attendance for Norwescon 38, we strongly urge you to purchase a convention membership as soon as possible after we confirm that your manuscript will be workshopped. We cannot guarantee that day or weekend memberships will be available for purchase at the con on the day of your workshop session. You will be required to have a convention membership to participate in your sessions and all other workshop activities.

Questions?

E-mail your questions or comments to us at: writersworkshop@norwescon.org.

The Fairwood Writers, and all writers from the Con who participate in the workshop, look forward to reading your stories and meeting you at Norwescon!