BayCon 2007 Writers' Workshop
By Sandra Saidak, writers at baycon dot org
What is the Baycon Writers’ Workshop?
It is an opportunity for writers to have professional writers critique their work based on story structure, plot, style and character development. It is conducted quietly in a small room with a limited group – the writers who have submitted work, the three professionals who have critiqued the work, and the moderator who makes sure the group stays on task and on time. This is not a competition or a bragging contest. Participants must be at least 18 years old, and able to accept criticism in a mature manner.
Why the Baycon Writers’ Workshop?
To quote Kent Brewster, our previous Workshop Sensei, and most recently promoted to Chief Experimental Subject, Donjon, #13, “The results can be astonishingly good: over the years, participants from the Workshop have gone on to sell stories and novels, collect Hugo and Nebula nominations, and returned in subsequent years as honored guests of BayCon.”
Submission criteria:
- Stories must be either Science Fiction, Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, or have a fantastic element of some kind.
- All submissions must be emailed to writers at baycon dot org no later than April 15, 2007.
- Manuscript submissions can have up to 7,500 words. Manuscripts should conform to professional submissions standards.
- Longer pieces or novels must include a summary with a writing sample (the beginning is preferred). The summary counts as part of the 7,500 words.
- Authors must be pre-registered BayCon 2007 members. Manuscripts must be accompanied by your BayCon 2007 membership number or payment of an attending membership.
- If the piece of writing is a collaborative effort, then the team will be treated as “one author”. To put it another way, you will be given the same total amount of time as an individual author. All present must have a Baycon 2007 membership to be present at the workshop.
- Manuscripts must be emailed to writers at baycon dot org. Your manuscript must be in either Adobe Acrobat PDF or Microsoft Word Format. We will not be accepting hardcopies. This allows us to quickly email our professional writers, and saves us the cost of mailing the manuscripts. This makes the Workshop FREE OF COST!!
- If for some reason, you need technical assistance, please let us know soonest at writers at baycon dot org so that we might help. My husband will happily assist you in converting your manuscript to an approved format. I do writing. He does computers. Our children take care of the house.
And remember, if we cannot find enough submissions or panelists, we will be sending our crack team of boffer enthused minions out to, ah, liberate manuscripts and panelists.
Deadlines are much closer then they appear — we'll need your work by April 15th, 2007!
Sandy Saidak, Rebel In Chief, BayCon Writers' Workshop