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Double meaning intentional
SUBMISSION GUIDLINES 1) Writers submitting a piece to be critiqued must be an active member of the critique group. It is understood that not everyone can make every meeting, however, attending only those meetings where your work is being reviewed is not in the spirit of being a critique group member. 2) Weekly submissions are limited to five thousand words. Longer submissions, long short stories or larger novel segments require longer reading time. Additional reading time will be based on 1 week for every 5000 words. Final word count includes title, indexing and any additional frontpage or index notes you wish to include. Note, 5012 words is over the limit. Weeks that the critique group does not meet (holidays or other reasons) are not counted as extra reading time for long submissions. 3) Please do not submit partial chapters: Submissions of novel chapters should start at beginning of the chapter and end at the end of the chapter, even if this means the handout will be under 5000 words, or long enough to require additional reading time. 4) Authors are expected to bring 12 printed copies of their work when submitting. Electronic submissions are not a substitution for hard copies. Submissions posted in the Yahoo site files are only intended to supplement the printed copies distributed at Wednesday meetings, and as a courtesy for members who were unable to attend that meeting. Posting electronic copies is only a benefit to you, to allow more feedback on your writing, it is NOT Mandatory. 5) Authors are expected to attend the critique group (1) when passing out their work, and (2) the week when their work is scheduled to be critiqued. If you have submitted something to be critiqued and can’t make the next meeting please notify Mary, Ryck or Jenny. 6) The only time the group will consider electronic submissions with no hard-copy handouts is when there have been no handouts at the weekly critique group meeting. 7) Anyone wishing to submit an electronic version of their work should e-mail a copy in RTF format to Jenny Engleka at JENNYENGLEKA@YAHOO.COM. Submitting an electronic version is not mandatory. CRITIQUE GUIDLINES 1) We subscribe to Milford Rules. While your work is being critiqued, please withhold your comments or responses until everyone has finished with your piece. 2) Members should come prepared. Please keep your oral critique to three-to-five minutes. For example, if you are handing back your copy of a submission, you needn't verbally point out every misspelling and missed comma. 3) Be honest in your critique, and fair, but also be kind. Remember, critique is opinion, not fact. Critique the story, not the author. Many constructive comments are best made in writing on the copy handed back to the author. 4) Should you find material offensive, or if you are simply unable to read something, you're not obliged to take the manuscript. No explanation necessary, simply don't take a copy. 5) Please sign your critique. this makes it easier for people to know who said what. FORMATTING GUIDLINES The following should not be confused with rules for our critique group. However, if you want to be a professional writer, you might as well get used to the rules of the game. Basics: Need I say double-space your work on 8 1/2 by eleven paper? Feel free to use recycled paper for the group. However, kill a tree when dealing with real editors. You can save a lot of paper using the right font. Please don't. Bigger is best. There are a lot of editors out there with eyes as bad as mine. Courier or Times New Roman are preferred fonts in the publishing world. Arrange your pitch, points, or font size setting as close to ten characters per inch as possible. (Pica for us old typewriter hands.) By the way, if terms like 'pitch' and 'points' are confusing to you, ask your computer guru. One inch margins are the bare minimum. Your word processor can do many marvelous things. Save them for your correspondence. Editors want your text plain and simple. No proportional spacing, no justified right margins. If you want something (such as a foreign word) in italics, underline it. If you want it in bold, draw a wavy line under the word or phrase. For our critique group, you may staple your story or chapters. Editors, however, hate staples. Paper clips are the way to go. Always, always include an SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) with your submission to the editor. First Page: There are numerous ways to do this. A few minutes of research in the library will suffice to show them all, or you can observe how various members of our group do it. You need your name, address (real and e-mail), and telephone number on the first page. Don't forget to include your word count. Round up to the nearest hundred, if you're honest. Round up to the next thousand, if not. Your word count is how you are paid. Below that stuff goes the title of story. Do not use your Social Security number. That is only necessary in the contract phase. Do not use a copyright citation. It's a given. And it is considered the mark of an amateur. Headers: Each page of your story after the first should have at its top: your last name, title, and page number. If you have any questions, feel free to drop a line to Rych Neube or Mary Fitzpatrick MORE RULES are forthcoming. They cannot, will not be repressed. [Site Map] [Latest News] [History of CWP] [Writing Group Protocol] [Rough Draft] [Our Mission] [Officers] [Who's Published] [Join CWP] [Critique Groups] [Opportunities] [Writing Tips] [Links] Yep, we're under construction. But give us a break. We're writers not web monkeys. We hope to have this whole shebang revamped by the end of summer, 2008. Stop back, or shoot us an email if you're interested in learning more. Last updated by Tgroh, October 5, 2008 |
