Detroit Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers

• Prepare up to about 3,000 words or 10 double-spaced pages of your work.
• Bring at least six copies, or enough to share with all attendees (the RSVP count tends to go up last minute, so please bring more than enough).
• Upload a copy to an available workshop slot in our Discord's "Our Writings" section. If you only have paper copies, drop a message in one of the workshop slots instead. (This guarantees we have enough time to focus on each person's project)
• Explain what type of feedback you'd like from the workshop (character, structure, tone, prose, etc.).

If you'd like to share feedback, please:

• Share what you liked about the project.
• Follow the presenter's feedback expectations (e.g., if they'd like general structure feedback, please don't critique grammar).
• Ask questions about any elements you didn't understand.
• Keep your suggestions light (e.g., don't recommend that the writer "fix" anything that isn't broken).

Of course, if no one has anything to share, we can just relax and talk about writing. If this is your first time attending, we recommend sharing feedback before workshopping your own writing.
We're looking forward to yet another constructive workshop. Visit our Discord Server to learn more and get in touch.

The first 15 minutes of the meeting will be dedicated to saying hello and waiting for latecomers, then we'll dive in. Visit our Discord Server to learn more and get in touch.

THE HOMEWORK
The theme today is related to worldbuilding. Specifically, we'll look at how something in your world's past affects life in its present.

To that end, your assignment is to bring one printed page total which answers both prompts below. For simplicity, write for clarity more than style, as if it were from a wiki / encyclopedia about your world.

1. Historical Cause: First, describe an important fictional historical event or development in your world. The date could range anywhere from ancient times (aliens built the pyramids) to just far enough back that everyone is completely used to it (alien first contact happened 20 years before the story begins). The point is, the event helped shape the world your characters live in.

If your fictional world is basically our world, consider a historical event that would set up your sci-fi fantasy plot. For example, a family of vampires was established in victorian times.

2. Modern Effect: Next, describe something in your world today that can be explained in terms of this event. For example, a recent string of murders can be explained by the customs of the victorian vampire family. Or your Federation of Planets can be explained by first contact with aliens 300 years prior.

EXAMPLE
To get a feel for what should be on the page, I'll use a brief example from the real world. Hiroshima, Japan will be our setting, a real life post-post apocalypse city.

Historical Cause: At the climax of WWII, the most powerful country in the world dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which killed 80k civilians and destroyed 70% of the city's buildings.

(Obviously, there are countless effects of this. But for the sake of the workshop, I'll pick one specific thing with some immersive details.)

Modern Effect: In Hiroshima, most of the buildings are new. There are prominent "peace monuments" in the city. Every year, residents and visitors hold a ceremony where they light candles to remember the dead: candles float down a river, and the church bell rings at 8:15am, the moment when the bomb dropped.

(This works because could easily imagine this ceremony as a meditative or emotionally charged backdrop for any plot we want. But only history can explain the ceremony)

• Prepare up to about 3,000 words or 10 double-spaced pages of your work.
• Bring at least six copies, or enough to share with all attendees (the RSVP count tends to go up last minute, so please bring more than enough).
• Upload a copy to an available workshop slot in our Discord's "Our Writings" section. If you only have paper copies, drop a message in one of the workshop slots instead. (This guarantees we have enough time to focus on each person's project)
• Explain what type of feedback you'd like from the workshop (character, structure, tone, prose, etc.).

If you'd like to share feedback, please:

• Share what you liked about the project.
• Follow the presenter's feedback expectations (e.g., if they'd like general structure feedback, please don't critique grammar).
• Ask questions about any elements you didn't understand.
• Keep your suggestions light (e.g., don't recommend that the writer "fix" anything that isn't broken).

Of course, if no one has anything to share, we can just relax and talk about writing. If this is your first time attending, we recommend sharing feedback before workshopping your own writing.
We're looking forward to yet another constructive workshop. Visit our Discord Server to learn more and get in touch.