Are you a writer? Let me rephrase that. Do you write? Are you interested in seriously developing your craft, with an audience in mind?
There are people who write for themselves, people who write for others, and people who write for income. One type of writer isn’t better than the other, but the types are nonetheless distinctly different and need different support systems. An example of this is someone who writes poetry as an intensely personal catharsis, versus someone who writes novels sold by major retailers. Each person would not benefit from the same kind of feedback and support.
So, what about people who have a strong desire to produce technically solid, commercially viable literature with the potential of reaching a mainstream audience? What about people wanting to learn self-editing skills, and how to offer serious critique to other serious writers? What if you could interact with published authors and professional editors, and learn from their experiences in the international writing community and Top Five publishing market? And what if all of this was absolutely free of charge, offered through a flourishing and friendly Steemit sub-community on Discord?
Well, guess what? “The Writers’ Block” offers all that, and more. We started as a small workshop on a single channel of a much larger group, but interest in our mission has been overwhelming. So, we’ve spread out into a bigger workspace and added several new focus categories. Over the past few months, we’ve incorporated the talents of not only novelists and writers of literary prose, but gifted poets, screenwriters, and even artists. These artists help us with cover art, and @andrewgenaille even sketches our own comic strip based on the outrageous conversations we sometimes have in chat.
The interesting thing about “The Writers’ Block” is that you never know whose company you might be enjoying. We let our hair down and have some side-splitting comedic moments, but the “rhino” who charges in commenting on the backscroll “like she joined us at the bar then talked past us to people who weren't there anymore” might be a professional editor and book critic on staff with a major science fiction magazine. The polite gentleman who comments with both acumen and graciousness on the story you submitted for critique might be an attorney for one of the largest corporations on the planet. Or you might be entertaining a curator with one of the major Steemit curation trails. Or a dolphin incognito, or even a whale. Maybe a Steemit Witness. We have several of those. Or maybe it’s an award-winning Steemit author dropping in to say hello. Then again, it could be just Abuse Boy leaving a trail of narrative breadcrumbs through every channel that, if you follow, will guarantee at least one LOL before he curls up on his waterbed full of ice cubes and goes to sleep.
You don’t have to have a sense of humor to join The Writers’ Block. But you’ll probably develop one if you stay. We do require that you leave your ego at the door and not assume the world is holding its breath in anticipation of your flawless prose. It doesn’t hold its breath for ours. You are welcome to come hang out, even lurk. And you are definitely welcome to participate in the workshops. Some are busier than others. Some have one senior editor to help you. Others have several. But if you submit work for critique, expect thorough, intense feedback. We definitely recommend that people new to the critique process read the stories and comments in the submission queue before submitting their own work, so they can become familiar with the process.
I’m not going to name all our Fictioneers and members. But here’s a rundown of our workshop leaders (alphabetically, by group):
@gmuxx (channel administrator)
@rhondak (channel administrator)
FICTION WORKSHOP SENIOR EDITORS
@bex-dk
@carolkean
@cristof
@jrhughes
@rhondak
@thinknzombie
FICTION WORKSHOP JUNIOR EDITORS
@jhagi
@mk40
@nexusfyre
@tinypaleokitchen
@writerofthings
POETRY WORKSHOP
@geke
@sunravelme
NONFICTION WORKSHOP
@anarcho-andrei
@jasonbu
PLAYWRIGHT WORKSHOP
@pegasusphysics
ENGLISH LANGUAGE HELP
@lenadr
This is by no means an all-inclusive list of our Fictioneers and other members. These are just some of the names you might expect to see when dropping into “The Writers’ Block” workshops for the first time. In general chat, there’s just no telling who you’ll see. Or what you’ll see. Manners are required. Pants are optional.
