Frequently A{sk,nswer}ed Questions
Every thing must have its confusions. Every thing must have its questions. Every thing really ought to have its own answers. So, with that in mind, I hereby try to present you with the answers to the questions that belong to this thing, imaginaries.
- The core of imaginaries (purpose, history, membership)
- The "quarterly" challenge
- The Rising Star Awards
- The Workshops
- The core of imaginaries
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- What is the purpose and history of imaginaries?
We are a global community of would-be writers. Different members have different goals -- some wish to become commercial successes, some would like to get one or two pieces in print, or maybe than novel that has plagued them for years... some want to improve their writing for its own sake.
The basic flow of imaginaries is that stories are posted and critiqued through the website. Chatter happens in cycles on the 'coop' mailing list, sometimes even directly concerning writing.
The "Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Co-operative" was founded back in 1996 or so by one Mark Bonica. Slowly, writers added their names to his "list o' names", and stories were posted, and critiques were sent. For more history, see the logical or fantastical accounts.
- What does it mean to be a member?
It means you'll receive a fair bit of email. It means you have the right to post one story per 30 days in the 'imaginings' section. It would be nice if it also meant that you would participate in the co-op, but these things sometimes take time. If you just want to look around for a while, that is fine as well.
- So how do I join?
go to http://imaginaries.org/user/edit.jsp :)
- How can I critique other people's stories?
Send a plaintext email to crit@imaginaries.org with the story id as the subject of the email, or use the handy link under any story.
Several people have submitted their suggestions on critiquing--
- Debra Khattab
- Laura Stephenson
- Kelly Watt
- MKMKachina -- critiquing with ADD
- How do I submit my own stories for critique?
Join and click 'submit'. You're allowed one post every thirty days. You can submit stories in word, rich text, or plain text--all stories will be converted (manually) to html; posts last for thirty days from the time of their conversion.
- How do I leave?
Simply choose "I wish to remove myself from your organization" from your user info. Your information (including stories) will not be visible or accessible to other users. You can later undelete your account by logging in and revalidating your email address. If you just want to leave for a bit and not have your inbox flooded, you can simply toggle 'vacation' mode in your user info.
- I'm worried about my publishing the stuff I get workshopped on imaginaries -- can I still sell it after it's been posted?
Of course it depends on who you talk to, but it's generally accepted that a) pieces being workshopped are not finished pieces and b) they're not "published" if only a select few folks (like imaginaries members) can see them. Posting a story for critique is not publishing.
While stories are visible to the general public while they are in the crucible, spiders are disallowed from crawling them, so they will not wind up on google or any other search engine years down the road -- or at least not from here.Stories are no long visible to the general public: publishers are much more internet-savvy and much more connected that they used to be. Let's not make getting published harder than it has to be..
- How often does the challenge actually occur?
The quarterly challenge generally happens about once every three months, though sometimes they happen less often and sometimes they happen more--there are also 'micro' challenges interspersed, generally with a reduced timeframe and wordcount.
- What are the rules of the challenge?
Each challenge has a couple of different rules.... a maximum wordlength (your story will be REJECTED if it goes over this length), a maximum number of entries (all of your stories will be REJECTED if you submit more than the maximum)... then there's the theme - - TRY to stick to the theme.... your story won't be rejected, but people don't tend to vote for stories that are only loosely associated with the theme. You must be a member to enter a story.
- How is voting handled?
Votes should be sent to jeffcc@thegrid.net (Jeff Clinton) - - you should select your first, second, and third place choices. You may NOT vote for your own story. You MUST vote if you enter a story. You're WELCOME to vote if you haven't entered a story. You must be a MEMBER to vote. Voting ballots will be passed out over the mailing list. :)
I hope to have an instant-runoff voting system integrated with the site 'soonish'. Or at least have the voting integrated on the site, period.
- How on topic does a submission need to be?
TRY to stick to the theme.... your story won't be rejected, but people don't tend to vote for stories that are only loosely associated with the theme.
- Where do submissions get sent? What format do they need to be in?
Submissions are handled as normal, through the website. When a contest is open, you'll have the option of submitting to it.
- What are the Rising Star Awards?
The Rising Star Awards, or RSAs, are how we in Imaginaries recognize the work of our peers and as of the fourth annual RSAs they include a degree of non-member recognition. The RSAs are currently awarded in four categories: Best Imaginings Science Fiction Story. Best Imaginings Fantasy Story, Best Challenge Story and Story of the Year.
- Do I need to be a member to nominate a story?
No. Previous Rising Star Awards have been member only, but we will now accept nominations from visiting readers. The final voting phase remains member only.
- How do I nominate a story for a Rising Star Award?
When you read a story that you feel deserves to be recognized as among our best, just click the link after the story; select a category, verify that you're nominating the story you intend, and sing its praises to the high heavens. :)
- When are nominations accepted?
Nominations will be accepted year-round with the cutoff being January 31st at midnight EST. The story must have been posted in the year for which the awards are being presented (i.e. a story posted two years ago is no longer eligible), although rewrites of previously posted stories are eligible. Nominations for Challenge stories will not be accepted. The winners of each of the year's Challenges will appear on the final ballot. The top four vote getters in each category will appear on the final ballot, with the exception of the Challenge category which will include all of the years contest winners.
- Can I nominate my own work?
Yes.
- How many stories may I nominate?
As many as you like. This is a change from previous years.
- How does the final vote take place?
Shortly after the nomination cutoff, the RSA coordinator will send out the ballot to the co-op list for review. Shortly thereafter any necessary corrections will be made and the ballot will be finalized. Members may vote for one story per category and may vote for his or her own work. Ballots must go directly to Brian Krahling at bkrahling_imaginary@yahoo.com. Anonymous ballots will not be accepted. In the event of a two way tie the RSA will be shared. In the event of a larger tie there will be a runoff for that category. Ballots will be accepted until February 20th at midnight EST.
This also falls in the category of "things Kaolin hopes to automate more fully in the coming months".
- What are the workshops?
The workshops is a collective grouping of collective projects, all of which are currently defunct. More effort needs to be put into collecting the information and putting it into a ... system, of sorts, and figuring out what else will be done with them.