Other Worlds is a workshop for adults. It is "open" only in the sense that anyone who wants to write SF and fantasy is welcome. This is not a mainstream workshop. Sorry. Work submitted here must still fall into the categories listed at Genres. We do not support mainstream or horror, for the simple reason that those genres have their own needs unrelated to the needs of spec fi. There are other lists which would be better for that purpose, which you can find at our Links page. Beginners and pros are both welcome here, indeed actively solicited!

Members must agree to the rules posted here before being allowed to join.

GENERAL

• Members must be at least 18 years of age.
• All members must provide their real name to the admins and in their subscriber profile at Yahoo Groups. 
• All posts to the workshop must be signed with the sender's real name.
• No flames: rudeness will get you nowhere but off this list. Members will treat each other with respect at all times.
• All subs MUST be clearly speculative fiction
• All headers for all posts must reflect the subject as listed below
• Post a warning in the subject line for any extreme violence or graphic sex, re: "Sub: Aliens in Love (graphic sex)".

Headers must reflect the following allowable subject lines:

SUB: submission of new work
CRIT: critique of posted work
DISC: comments or discussion on topics related to writing
SHORTCRIT: a general comment on a work, not lengthy enough to count as a critique
REF: a request for help on a research question
ADMIN: reserved for administrators, used for announcements to the list

The DISC list is open to questions, comments, introductions, running discussions related to speculative fiction or the mysteries of writing and getting published.  If you felt you got an unfair crit, post your reasons (politely!) here. This is not a forum for slamming critters, only for rebuttals as regards the comments made in the crit. Flames here will get you removed as quickly as from the actual CRIT list. We value the give and take between writers, because often the critter missed something, or the writer is stubbornly clinging to something he/she can't actually support in the writing. Which, of course, calls for change, and the whole purpose of our being here is to learn what to change in our work and when.

REF is a valuable tool which allows you to tap the collective knowledge of the membership. If you have a research question you can't get answered anywhere else, post it here and let the membership help.

The OWWWNoise list serves as the workshop chat list, and is open to posts on any subject. Members will be added after they join the main OWWW list, and removed only upon request or when they unsubscribe from OWWW.

PARTICIPATION

• Participation is required: no one gets to come and read without either subbing or critting and preferably both. No one gets to sub exclusively, either. The rule of thumb requirement is two crits for every sub. This ensures that all members are helping each other and not merely coasting on others' good will.
• New members must post six critiques before subbing their own work.
• Members must submit at least two crits/subs per month to remain in good standing. Two consecutive months without meeting this requirement will result in removal from the lists. If personal circumstances do not permit participation at the required level, email the Admins that you wish to remain a member and will return on a specified date. Failure to update the Admins of status after the specified date will result in removal from the list. You may rejoin at a later time.
• "Short crits" do not count for credit. Short crits are classed as non-specific "Gee, I love this" or "Couldn't find anything to comment on, keep up the good work" type feedback. We expect thoughtful, in-depth reactions to the works, even if you don't feel qualified to do line critiques on grammar. Everyone has a reader's opinion, even if you're still struggling to write good dialogue and prose of your own.
• Material subbed to the list is copyrighted and will be treated as such. Nothing, we repeat nothing, will be disseminated to third parties by any member or admin, period. Prospective members who do not agree to this rule will not be allowed to join. Should any material which appeared on this list subsequently show up elsewhere under someone else's name, that party can expect legal action from the abused author. You know who we'll be rooting for.
• Disputes between members of any workshop will be handled by the admin. There are no exceptions. Private wars will most likely result in one or both parties being asked to leave. We treasure our members, but we treasure peace even more.
• Critique guidelines are specified here. Failure to abide by them will be handled off-list by the Admins.
• Some members may have browsers which do not support attachments or long submissions. Any single post to the list, therefore, will be kept below 4000 words. Multiple posts may be made at one time, however. No attachments are allowed. Please disable the HTML feature in your email program.

There is no length limit on what can be subbed here. This workshop is for short-shorts as well as epic serials. You can use the Files section of the OWWW workshop at Yahoo Groups to post your whole novel at once. Remember the sub to crit ratio, and be prepared to do a lot of critting in exchange for having your epic critted all at once. However, this flexibility allows those of us with works in final editing to move forward at a relatively rapid pace. Anyone abusing this privilege, i.e. dumping a novel, taking the crits, and never returning the favor, will be asked to leave the list. We expect that we're all above that here and this action will never be necessary.

CRITIQUE GUIDELINES

A critiquing workshop needs community standards or else anything goes. In that case, why bother showing up? You already have "anything"! Our standards are based on what is generally accepted or sought by contemporary publishers of both short stories and novels in our genres. The requirements generally held up for good fiction as opposed to cheapo-junko will be considered a norm here, too. Sure, you can get schlock published, but where, for how little, and if you are already decently published, how many readers will it lose you?

Those of you unfamiliar with the limitations of the World Wide Web with regard to formatting posts should go here before attempting to paste your work into email for the first time.

To help those unfamiliar with the vocabulary or standards, we are posting some essays and a tech-term index:

The Other Worlds Writers' Workshop Basics of Critiquing

The Turkey City Lexicon, Annotated
From the Austin, TX, SF workshops.

A Central Index of Writers' Technical Terms
Good to look up a single term someone threw at you in a crit.

Avoiding Shortcrits
All newbies to the workshop should read this to avoid unpleasant surprises.