A workshop is a group of people who meet to give feedback on a creative work.

Historically, the creative writing workshop has employed something called the “Iowa model” named after the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. The Iowa model is one in which a writer shares a piece of writing and sits silently as the others discuss it.

Having been in many workshops myself using various models, I choose a more structured approach, one in which a writer may opt to be more interactive during their workshop.

It’s-a me! Beth!

You’re on my website so you can poke around at my credentials, but the gist is: I have a Master’s degree in creative writing pedagogy and half a PhD in creative writing (long story). I’ve been teaching writing for 6 years and I’ve been a writing coach for 2. I’m also an avid fic writer myself and I’ve posted over 2 million words of fanfiction.

I hosted the first Fanauthor Workshop in 2017 as an independent study in my MFA. It was a big success and, since then, I’ve had a lot of people ask when I plan to host another. I decided it was finally time to bring it back.

The Fanauthor Workshop takes place twice a year in spring and fall. It lasts for 5-7 weeks: the first week is an introduction/priming session, and there are 4-6 sessions of workshop thereafter.

Each session will have two groups, one that meets in the early afternoon and one in the evening (EST). This is so that writers in different timezones can participate.

We’ll meet weekly over Zoom. A working camera , mic, and stable internet connection are necessary to attend.

Any writer over the age of 18 who considers themselves a participant of fandom.

Participants will have an opportunity to request specific trigger warnings. However, because there are no content restrictions to workshop, you must be willing to read work of any nature.

Unfortunately each workshop only has a maximum of 12 spots, and so I have to limit the number of participants I can accept. Also, occasionally I have applicants who are not in fandom and have never read or written fanfiction.

If you apply and don’t get accepted, please know it has nothing to do with the quality of your work, and I encourage you to reapply for the next round.

You can workshop any piece of fanfiction, original fiction (a short story or the first chapter of a novel), or creative nonfiction up to 6,000 words.

Note that if you workshop fanfiction, there is a chance there will not be participants in your fandom, and so we will not be able to speak to aspects of the piece like characterization or canonical accuracy.

It is ill-advised to workshop poetry, scripts, or flash fiction. However, if you would like feedback on any of these forms, you can schedule a consultation with me.

Your piece should be ready to be workshopped and uploaded to our shared drive one week prior to your scheduled workshop.

Yes!

You can email me at ekweeks@gmail.com or fill out my contact form.