About

  Con Policies

Advertise

Art Show

Contact

Dealers Room

Hotel

Buy a Membership

Programming

Writers Workshop

 

Writers' Workshop at ArmadilloCon

 

The ArmadilloCon Writers’ Workshop has become a major event for aspiring SF/F writers. It meets on Friday morning before the convention opens, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The curriculum is designed for beginning and intermediate students. Workshop participants will have their work critiqued by instructors who are professional editors and writers working in the field today.

 

The morning panel sessions will cover a wide range of topics from managing craft elements such as style, plot, theme, and characterization to the dos and don’ts of preparing your work for professional markets and different approaches to publication (e.g. traditional vs. independent). During the afternoon breakout sessions, participants work together in small groups along with two instructors to exchange critiques in the Milford style. Each participant will receive a personal, in-depth critique of their work from both the instructors and their peers. Learning to receive – and to give – a meaningful critique of a work in progress is an invaluable skill for writers who would like to better assess and improve their own writing.

 

The ArmadilloCon Writers Workshop is committed to diversity

Diversity is vital to speculative fiction. A genre centered on exploration and encountering the Other must include voices and visions from writers, readers and thinkers of all kinds. For this reason, the ArmadilloCon Writers’ Workshop actively seeks to include students, faculty, visiting scholars, and volunteers from a variety of backgrounds including, but not limited to: race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, and ability.

 

This year we are pleased to offer a limited number of sponsored seats to writers of color. If you would like to be considered for a sponsored seat please complete and submit this form. If you have any questions contact the workshop coordinator at .

 

How to Enroll

Pay the workshop fee, $90.00, which includes the full ArmadilloCon convention membership.

Submit your original, unpublished work of science fiction, fantasy, or horror fiction. Maximum length 5,000 words. Please read and follow the Manuscript Submission Guidelines, below!

Fill out and submit the permission slip.

 

Manuscript Deadline: Sunday June 11, 11:59:59 p.m.

 

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS ONLY

 

We must have received all three elements (registration, manuscript, and permission slip) before you are officially enrolled in the workshop! If you have not received a confirmation email within three days of submitting everything, please contact the Coordinator.

 

Manuscript

Only one submission per workshop participant,

Only your own original work,

Only NON-PUBLISHED work,

Only science fiction, fantasy or horror, please!

 

Submission Guidelines

• Send your electronic manuscript in WORD DOCUMENT or RICH TEXT (.doc, .docx, .rtf) only in proper manuscript format to
• MAXIMUM LENGTH IS 5,000 WORDS. The word count limit is FIRM. No exceptions. Manuscripts longer than the maximum length will be either returned to the author for pruning, or if submitted at deadline, they will be shortened by the workshop coordinator without notice.
• You may send either a complete SHORT STORY or the FIRST CHAPTER of a novel. Short stories are preferred as they generally yield a more productive discussion of your abilities as a writer in this type of workshop setting.
• If you are submitting a complete short story, make sure you write “The End” on the last page; otherwise, indicate that the story continues after the first 5,000 words.
• If you are submitting the first chapter of a novel, indicate on the first page that it is chapter one. This will ensure that the instructors will be able to evaluate each manuscript properly.
• Please do not use pen names for workshop submissions as it causes confusion.

 

PLEASE NOTE: the workshop staff will only view the manuscript after you have paid for the workshop and signed and returned the permission slip.

 

Permission Slip

Please sign and return this form granting us permission to distribute your story to the instructors and other workshop participants for the purpose of this workshop.

 

What Happens When You Enroll

About two weeks before the workshop you will receive an email packet with the manuscripts of the other students in your group along with other materials concerning the workshop and the day’s the schedule. Review and critique the manuscripts in your group before the workshop meets. You will not have time to do so once the workshop begins. You are required to read and critique all student manuscripts sent to you in your workshop packet.

 

Cancellations

No refunds will be given once manuscripts are released to the instructors and other participants. If, due to unforeseen circumstances, you cannot attend the workshop on Friday, August 4, we will mail your group’s critiques to you. You will also be responsible for getting your feedback to the other students in your assigned group.

 

Instructors*

Nisi Shawl

Trevor Quachri

Don Webb

Martha Wells

Nicky Drayden

D. L. Young

Christopher Brown

E. J. Fischer

Jessica Reisman

Marshall Ryan Maresca

Stina Leicht

Rachel Neumeier

Claude Laumière

Skyler White

Adam Soto

Rebecca Schwarz (Workshop Leader)

 

 

Questions

If have any questions about the Writers' Workshop, please e-mail the Coordinator at.

See you August 4!

Rebecca Schwarz

Workshop Coordinator

ArmadilloCon 39 Writers Workshop

The Fandom Association of Central Texas, Inc. (FACT) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit literary/educational corporation.