Community Rules & Guidelines
Welcome!
Welcome to the Toronto Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers! Everyone is equally valued in our group, regardless of writing experience or how long you have been a part of the group. We welcome any feedback on stories or the group from all members. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to share your thoughts either during a meeting or by messaging an organizer or moderator through email, Meetup, or Discord.
We are all here to support each other and would like to do everything possible to make sure you feel welcomed and valued in our community!
Group mission
We are a positive, supportive, and inclusive group for speculative fiction writers. We meet to share our writing, to get reader feedback in a friendly, collegial, and constructive atmosphere, and to support each other in our development as writers.
Core Principles
Positivity. This includes being supportive and encouraging of one another's work. Being supportive means giving constructive criticism, but it also means offering the kind of moral support that will help people grow as writers. A good meeting is one in which everyone leaves wanting to write more.
Equality. The group is non-hierarchical. Everyone's voice is equally valued, regardless of experience, profession, or prior accomplishments. The organizer/host is not there as an expert; their purpose is only maintaining structure and adherence to rules.
Diversity. We value diversity in age, gender, sexual orientation, education, cultural background, religion, experience, ability, neurotype, and any other dimension that affects human experience. Diversity is valuable everywhere, but it is especially valuable in a community whose primary trade is writing about human experiences.
the one rule
Always use your best judgment to contribute in a supportive and encouraging manner to create a friendly, collegial, and constructive atmosphere for our mutual development as writers, in alignment with the core principles of positivity, equality, and diversity.
Format of Meetings
• 25 minutes per reader, including reading time and discussion
• Selections of work under 2000 words
• Reading is optional; giving feedback is optional
How to Give Feedback
• Respond as a reader, not an editor; give your personal reactions, not solutions/fixes to the writing
• Give big picture feedback (mark sentence level fixes on the document)
• Be encouraging and constructive, not destructive
• Voice disagreements, but don't settle them (there is no "right" reaction)
• Direct questions to the discussion group, not the writer
• Be specific and use examples from the text
• Give subjective reactions rather than objective judgments
How to Receive Feedback
• Don't preface your work, except for necessary context the reader would already have
• Listen silently during discussion, and don't defend your story or clarify things
• Don't feel obligated to change anything; use only what is valuable to you
• Be open to making changes in response to feedback
• Express appreciation for feedback received
Overall Meeting Structure
People who want to share their writing are given a 25-minute block of time. About 10 to 15 minutes of that is for reading the piece out loud (which should be under 2000 words), while others read along on printed copies. The remainder of that time block is for discussion and feedback.
We try to get through 5 or 6 readings per meeting. Meetings last 4 hours with a 10-minute break at the halfway point.
Reading Order
First Priority: Readers who were “on deck” from a previous meeting read first.
Second Priority: New members are given the option to read first.
Third Priority: Readers who RSVP for the event are selected randomly.
Fourth Priority: Readers who did not RSVP will be selected randomly.
On Deck: Anyone who brought something to read but was not selected will be placed “on deck” and will get to read first at the next meeting.
Split Group
At the discretion of the moderator, sufficiently large group meetings may be broken into two groups. As both groups occupy the same meeting space, please be mindful of volume so as not to distract the other group.
Steps for Reading
1. Distribute copies so members can read along and make notes (15 copies is a good baseline).
2. Do not introduce your piece unless it is a later section in a book or short story, in which case you may provide a brief summary of the plot thus far. Any further context (intention, spoilers, etc.) is discouraged. The only exception is that we ask you to provide a content warning when applicable.
3. Read the piece aloud or, if you’re not comfortable reading, ask for a volunteer reader. If your piece is a script/screenplay, you may assign speaking roles.
4. Feedback:
a) The writer should remain silent while they listen to the reactions of the readers. They should not interject or answer any questions.
b) Once all feedback has been provided, the writer may ask for reactions to specific issues that did not come up during the discussion. Do not use this time to defend or explain your work.
5. Printed copies are returned to the writer.
Note: because printing can be cost-prohibitive, it is only recommended, but not required, to bring paper copies. In the absence of copies, a writer can read from their own copy, and others can listen.
When/How to Share Your Work
To be added to the list of readers, let the organizer know you’ve brought something to share. For the in-person meetings, you will be prompted to answer whether you are planning to read upon RSVPing. For online meetings, please show up 5 minutes prior to the meeting so that the reading order can be determined. Sharing work is not mandatory; we welcome participants who would rather just listen.
Do your best to reciprocate when others present their work. Feedback is a mutual process. If you have to leave a meeting early, consider waiting for the next meeting to share your work so that you can fully contribute.
Modifications for Online Format
We meet using the Discord software, which can be downloaded either for your personal computer or as an app. We have our own Toronto Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Discord server.
Instead of physical copies, the reader provides a link to their story as a Google Doc using the "share" button, making sure that the section that reads "everyone with this link" is set to "can comment". This allows readers to add comments while leaving the original intact. To hide comments while reading, set your mode to “reading” in the top-right of the page. Please feel free to ask for help with any technical difficulties.
Virtual meetings lack cues like body language to indicate when someone is about to speak. Be mindful of other participants to ensure that everyone feels welcome and their voice is valued. You may use a “hand raise” emoji in the chat to indicate that you wish to speak. Raising a hand is not necessary, but if someone has raised a hand, please let them speak first.
Genre
There is no general consensus on a definition for Science Fiction or Fantasy. As such, the genre of a piece will be left at the discretion of the author. Readers are encouraged to share pieces they believe fall under the umbrella of speculative fiction, including but not limited to: science fiction, fantasy, supernatural horror, magical realism, weird fiction, and slipstream.
Longer Works
Our word limit for reading selections is 2000 words. Novels and stories longer than the word limit can be broken into segments and brought in over multiple meetings.
Someone who rarely reads at the meetings can be afforded an extra ten to fifteen minutes to accommodate a larger piece, at the discretion of the moderator. This is a special exception made for consistent members who have requested the additional time but who do not ordinarily read.
Completed books can be exchanged for review outside of normal meetings, so long as all participants are willing (do not pressure anyone into reading your work outside of the group and respect their decision if they refuse). A novel exchange with another member is a good way to get feedback on a novel in its entirety.
Formats Other Than Prose Fiction
Besides short stories and novels, it's also okay to bring in plays, poetry, screenplays, and other forms. If it is made out of words, it's okay. Pictures are okay on occasion, too.
In all cases, regardless of the form, we are responding as readers. It's not necessary to be a poet to know how a poem makes you feel. It's not necessary to be a screenwriter to know if a story grips you. It's not necessary to be a visual artist to know what emotions are evoked in you by a painting.
For reading plays and screenplays, we typically assign speaking parts to different members of the group, and the narrator and screen-directions are read by the writer.
Content Advisories
It is important that shared spaces are positive, encouraging, and welcoming to all participants; in some cases, this requires judgment and care in terms of what to share, and this decision should be made in accordance with the core values of the group. If in doubt, ask the moderator.
If there is a risk that sharing a work could cause adverse reactions among the group, those sharing the work should provide a general content advisory so that listeners can make an informed judgment about the material they are exposed to. This judgment may depend on factors such as the graphic or extreme nature of the content, the suitability of the material given the group composition, or sensitivities among group members that have been previously communicated.
Content advisories are generally required for pieces that contain: sexual abuse, extreme graphic violence, R-rated sexual content, and self-harm. This, however, is not an exhaustive list, and whether to provide a warning is a matter of subjective judgment decided on a case-by-case basis that sharers will do their best to assess. The moderator may also exercise judgment with respect to any story shared with the group by intervening before or during the reading.
If there are any questions about the suitability of material for the group, or the requirements for content advisory, ask the moderator. The moderator will have a good understanding of the sorts of material that are typical and the kind of material that calls for content advisories. In addition, the moderator will know more about the members who are present, who may also have shared personal and private information with the moderator relevant to making decisions about content.
Promoting a Positive Atmosphere
In accordance with our group mission, members should do their best to conduct themselves in a way that promotes a positive, supportive, and encouraging space; individual behaviour should be friendly, collegial, and constructive.
Harassment of members is not appropriate whether within or outside of the hours of meetings, and whether within the physical space of the meeting or outside of it. Maintaining a positive atmosphere within the group requires maintaining positive relationships outside of the group as well, since those relationships are necessarily brought into the meeting space. For this reason, the treatment of members in a friendly, positive, supportive, and collegial way should be seen to extend beyond the time and space of group meetings.
