This critique group is kept private to preserve the privacy of critique submissions. Most don't RSVP on Meetup.
To join, please message Laurie Parker. Include in your message: (1) A description of your current writing project(s), (2) Your goals for joining this writer's critique group, (3) A brief history of yourself as a writer, including past projects, education, and related. Your message doesn't have to be anything in-depth. It is moreso a way of making sure that you're serious about observing and that your intentions/projects are a good fit for this critique group.
About
As the title suggests, we critique writing that is speculative (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, surrealism, slipstream, etc.), philosophical (idea-driven, writing with a message, etc.), and experimental (unusual language, visual/musical aspects, transgressive, etc.). Prose poetry and plays will not be turned away. All writing submitted for critique should fit at least one of these categories.
Example Works
Of course, the authors that inspire us may vary, and widely. Nonetheless, here's a list of some authors that have inspired me, and which we might use as an (incomplete) list of the kind of writing that should be submitted to this critique group.
Virginia Woolf; David Gemmel; Upton Sinclair; John Steinbeck; Frank Herbert; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Salley Roony; Margeret Atwood; Isaac Asimov; Albert Camus; Henry James; Arthur Rimbaud; C.S. Lewis; Arundhati Roy; H.G. Wells; Chinua Achebe; Abdulrazak Gurnah; Harold Pinter; Alice Munro; Homer; Maggie Nelson; Shakespeare; Emily Brontë; Robert Jordan; Zadie Smith; George Elliot.
Critique Group Structure
- Meets weekly Thursdays from 6:00pm-7:30pm, PT.
- Both short and long fiction + non-fiction can be submitted.
- Submissions should be polished and appropriately formatted.
- Submission length maximum: 15,000 words (many submissions are shorter).
- Back-to-back weekly submissions for novelists + long-form writers are encouraged.
- Participants are expected to closely read the submission and arrive prepared to discuss it in depth for 1.5 hours.
- If, for whatever reason, a participant can't read the submission in time for our meeting and/or can't attend our meeting, that participant is urged to provide a 1 page written summary of feedback to the submitting writer.
Community
We're a serious yet fun group of writers with eclectic projects and tastes. We're always looking to meet new friends and grow our community so we hope you'll consider observing a critique group - and if we're a good fit for one another, continuing to hang out with us Thursday evenings!
We meet on the Blinding Cyclops Discord server. Join link: https://discord.gg/4uCVFs4vHw You can read our full syllabus under the category "Writer's Critique Groups." The rest of the channels under this category are kept hidden to preserve the privacy of critique group submissions, but will be opened up to you when your observation has been confirmed.
Commitments
This critique group's structure requires a weekly attendance commitment, so it's only right for writers who are committed to writing and critiquing.