The Rules

A Note About the Rules

The Cat Vacuuming Society has been helping its members on their writing journeys since January of 2001.  We have managed to do so by having rules that structure the group.  I’ve been in groups without rules or with the wrong sorts of rules.  They always ended badly.  Or worse, didn’t end at all, instead keeping members in an unhappy situation.

The rules aren’t laws, they’re guidelines.  They are subject to change if they don’t work anymore.

A Note on Writing Groups in General

Not all writing groups serve the same purpose.  Nor do they even serve in the same way.  Not all writers are suited for groups.  Not all groups are suited for all writers.  The important thing is to understand what you want out of a group, what your personal goals are for your writing, and see if the group is a match.  A good group will support you in your endeavors.  Please read these rules to see if CVS can provide what you want.

Membership Requirements

  1. You need to be committed to your writing.  You don’t need to want to get published, but your aim does need to be to write publishable fiction.
  2. You must be willing to help others achieve their goals.  This includes doing all critiques as thoroughly and helpfully.
  3. You must attend the group on a regular basis.  While a weekly schedule can be hard to maintain, we expect to see you at least twice a month.  The more you participate, the better you become.  (You are still responsible for critiques even if you don’t make the meetings).
  4. On that writing thing:  you need to be writing regularly.  We all hit slumps, but overall you should have writing as one of the higher priorities in your life.
  5. Also on writing, you must be working on fiction.  This can include any genre, short story, novel, or screenplay (television, movie, or even stage plays–all of which will be critiqued for story elements, not necessarily format).  This does not include poetry, narrative non-fiction, or memoir.

What We Don’t Do

  • CVS meetings are not time to be writing.  While we often do exercises, workshops, and other writing during a meeting, we aren’t structured to be the time to get your daily word count in.
  • CVS is not a social group.  At least, not primarily.  Our focus is on writing, discussion of writing, and putting our lessons into practice.  Catching up on life stuff or other non-writing topics is for before and after a meeting.
  • Direct support of nonfiction projects, poetry, essays, memoirs, etc. is not within the purview of the group.  However, unofficially, there may be members who have the skills and inclination to help with critiques/feedback/etc.to each other.  Meaning that if you are an active CVSer, outside of meeting times we may be able to help you with not-fiction.

Submissions and Critiques

Members may submit manuscripts for critique under the following guidelines:

  • Each meeting has one submission slot.  Sign-up with Jennifer to get on the calendar.  Manuscripts are submitted one week for critique the following week.
  • Each submission must be no longer than 6500 words.  Scripts for screenplays and the like should be no more than 30 pages.
  • Each submission must be a complete short story, a distinct part of a longer work (i.e., full chapters or scenes), or a working synopsis or outline for brainstorming/plot breakout.
  • All submissions must follow standard manuscript formatting rules.  If in any doubt at all, check with Jennifer about the accepted formats.  Basics:  clear readable font, double-spaced, 1″ margins, single-sided.  For screenplays, follow the accepted standards for that format.
  • Submissions must also include either a header or a title page with the following information:  Title, Author, Date of Submission and Critique, genre, and intended length of final draft.  If the submission does not start at the beginning of the work (such as a middle chapter from a novel) then include a summary of all relevant information needed to understand this section.
  • Authors may also include with their submissions any additional questions they want critiquers to answer (either at beginning or end of draft).
  • Please note what level of critique you are looking for:  Level One is for general overview (good for a first draft) of major elements; Level Two considers that major plot/character elements are in place and looks instead towards structure, pacing, and the like; and Level Three is for help with final polishing, word choice, and sentence-level editing.
  • Please note that Jennifer is a Benevolent Dictator and that is is much easier to get permission to bend/break these rules than it will ever be to get forgiveness.

Critiques are done by reading the manuscript over the week and noting both what worked and what didn’t work, with suggestions made for improvement.  More detailed critique guidelines are available from Jennifer.

Critiques are presented in the Milford style (common to many workshop such as Odyssey and the various Clarions).  The author does not speak until after all commentary is given.  Each critiquer  is given a short amount of time to provide a verbal report of their main issues with the manuscript.  The author is then given time to ask questions and respond to what was said.

Sadly, It Needs to Be Said

In case it isn’t clear by now, CVS is meant to be a nurturing place for writers.  All critiques and suggestions can and should be done tactfully, without personal attack, with the aim to be as helpful as possible.  However, we also stress being truthful in all our dealings with each other.  That means that flaws within a story will be pointed out, that wewill be honest in our evaluations of work, and that we aren’t here to just say that everything is wonderful.  Respect is the key word in our group.  With that in mind, there will be zero tolerance of disruptive elements:

  • Personal attacks are not allowed: we critique writing, not writers.
  • What is shared in circle stays in circle (In other words, do not post details of critiques you give or receive, information about others’ works-in-progress, and other internal details to Twitter, blogs, forums, etc.)
  • If you have a problem with someone and don’t/can’t solve it between the two of you, it must be brought to Jennifer.
  • If you have a problem with Jennifer, take it to her.  She’s more reasonable than she looks.
  • If there is something you’d like to change about CVS, either bring it up in group or talk to Jennifer.
  • If something is on submission to the group, you may not submit it elsewhere, either for publication or to another critique group.  This includes sharing it with ‘beta readers” or others who will be providing feedback.  (Note that this is one thing Jennifer is very inflexible about!).
  • You must do your best to do all critiques, even if the genre is not one you normally read.  Story is story.  The ONLY exception to this is due to content warnings.
  • Speaking of content warnings, this is a group of adults who write a large variety of stories.  If you have any issues at all with any kind of subject matter, content, types of stories, etc. speak up so that you can get fair warning if these appear in a story.  Do not assume that everything will be PG rated even if there is no warning–we try to be good about these things but everyone’s tolerance/threshold/triggers are different.  Letting everyone know where your boundaries are is crucial.  (Note that this content wavier is only related to actual topics/events in the stories.  Genre and format are not exceptions!)
  • All of these rules are subject to change, this is not an exhaustive list, etc.