Wordos

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The Wordos is a writing workshop based in Eugene, Oregon, United States. They meet once a week to critique stories and discuss the art, craft, and business of writing. It is one of the longest-running speculative fiction critique groups in the United States, and has a high concentration of published authors. However, having prior publishing credits is not a prerequisite to joining.

The goal of the group is to help each other produce fiction that will sell, and to continually improve their writing abilities even after they've achieved that initial goal. The workshop's primary focus is on short speculative fiction, but members have had fiction of other lengths and genres critiqued.

The Wordos meet once a week, every Tuesday.

Contents

[edit] History

The Wordos are the continuation of a Eugene-based writers group that began in 1987, and was named "The Wordos" in 1995 when its members decided it needed to be called something shorter and friendlier than its business-name (The Eugene Professional Writers Workshops, Inc.). Someone suggested "wordos" as a term that connoted people who work with words in a fiercely Eugenian kind of way. The name stuck, and it has come to mean "someone to keep an eye on" in the writing world.

The membership over time has included Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Ray Vukcevich, Jerry Oltion, Bruce Holland Rogers, Leslie What, Jay Lake, Eric Witchey, Devon Monk and many others.

[edit] Method

The Wordos follow the Clarion Workshop model of critiquing. A member reads a submitted story, writes comments on it, and then, on the evening of the workshop, speaks for one to three minutes offering those and other comments aloud. At the end of the evening the critiqued story is given back to the author.

Members also report on news over the previous week, including accepted stories, rejections, and re-write requests from publishers.

[edit] Awards

A member of the Wordos has won or placed in the L. Ron Hubbard 'Writers of the Future' consistently since 2001. There have also been several Nebula Award-winning workshop members and members who have been nominated for or won the Endeavor Award [1], World Fantasy Award, and Philip K. Dick Award [2].

[edit] Wordos Award Winners 1995 to present

  • Echo
    by Eric M. Witchey
    New Century Writer Contest; 9th Place Novel
    1999
  • Why I Wash the Dead
    by Leslie What
    1st Place, Oregon Writers Colony Essay Contest
    2000
  • Life and Death and Stealing Toads
    by Eric M. Witchey
    1st Place, Ralan's Spectravaganza "Grabber" Contest
    2003
  • Asleep in the Forest of the Tall Cats
    by Ken Brady
    Published Finalist, Writers of the Future Contest
    2004
  • Mars Hath No Fury Like a Pixel Double-Crossed
    by Stephen R. Stanley
    1st Place, Writers of the Future Contest
    Q3, 2005

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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