Introduction into Workshop

Bi weekly/Monthly meet up

Oct 18, 2024

The workshop will be broken into three segments where writers & artists can pop in with the links given via mass email:

Introductions

[Time: 515 PM PST, 715 PM CST, 815 PM EST]
[Introductions will open at 5 PM PST/ 7PM CST/ 8PM EST respectfully, you have a 15 minute grace period.]

[Optional outcomes]

3 line writer or artist bio
What are you working on writing/art
What are you not working on or considering
What are your current struggles
5-10 min intro + per person, after will be muted.

Prompt Exercises
[Time: 615 PM PST, 815 PM CST, 915 PM EST]
[The recording will still be going on but there is a break for 15 minutes in between, writers & artists are welcome to hangout during the 15 minute break]

3 Word prompts, 30 words minimum, no maximum words.
Put words in vessel of choice, choose randomly. Each participant gets a 3 word prompt. No picking favorites. You can cap the amount of prompts you would like to receive.
Duplicate words are ripped up, deleted or discarded.
No words can be used that harm communities or minorities. DM me for more info.

Social Meet up
[Time: 715 PM PST/ 915 PM CST/ 1015 PM EST]
[Break 15 minutes after prompt, the video will still be streaming in case you don’t need a break]

Indie writers & artists meet up
Talks about Indie presses stories, art & culture

No bigotry, read the rules.

Breaks will happen in between and the video feed will run for the entire time. Depending on the writers & artists consent will depend on recording for the event. You’re welcome to take breaks any time during, and join at either segment: introduction, prompt exercise or social meet up.
The purpose of this free workshop is to bring writers & artists together and try something that’s free that builds your usage of words, pushing your boundaries and creating a community for all genre writers & all artists of different mediums used.
Most writers & artists in this workshop come from horror/noir & sci-fi backgrounds, all genres are welcome, even poets. Artists who use the prompts are welcome to use the words metaphorically to evoke feeling from their preferred medium.
[Optional: Writers: Tag your writers/artists on substack in your prompt exercise, and free write the story without editorial work. Artists: Tag your writers/artists on substack and use any medium for art without edits, only adding layers. No fix ups. Go with it.]
[Optional: Writers & Artists keep the prompts to themselves and use it as a learning exercise.]
[Optional: Come for the social meet up to meet other writers & artists within the indie lit scene from all over. Support your local artists and non local artists who work from book covers, illustrations, photography, and film. The purpose is to create. People who try to sell their classes, their businesses without any desire to get to know people participating will be kicked.]

How it Works

What are the vessels of choosing for the prompts? They can be used in a hat, a cup, a mug, gas mask, etc. Anything with a deep vessel to hold 30+ words bent together inside of it. Think of a raffle with numbers except they’re replaced by words. Get creative have fun with it.
[Examples of Vessels]

Each of the prompts will have 3 words, in example: Interchangeable, Bliss, Waterfalls.
You will need three words to complete the prompt, a one word prompt looks like this:

Bend and fold the words, so that they’re able to go into your vessel of choice, and that way they’re picked at random.
For those with disabilities where you’re not able to cut up your words for prompts there are insert generators where you can choose your words at random.
They are: Random Generator & Random Generator
There is also another option for prompts, you can combine all prompts given such as
Sandolore Sykes
has proposed and will do and add it in a story. This is completely acceptable, you just have to tag all the writers, and their prompts somewhere in the post.
Rules
We do not pick our own words. Our Prompts are given by writers/artists who are not us.
We rip up/delete duplicates. All prompts will not share the same word.
- Cat and Tiger are not the same word. Corvid and Crows are not the same word. Those words will not be duplicated however, when chosen. Cat and three legged cat are the same word.
If we run out of time for any of the segments it will be extended up to 15 minutes, the breaks will change as follows. If you miss your introduction time you can go over it during social meeting hours. Social meeting can run anywhere from 12 AM -2 AM CST depending on how long the conversations want to go. I will leave it running on Google one even if I’m checked out.
I will cap the meeting at 20 participants per Workshop POV. To get in you must DM me on (here) or Edith Bow when I make the announcement and send me your email to be part of the tally.
If you live overseas, and cannot make the times but, want to be part of the workshop. You can email me your prompts and they will be used during the prompt exercise, you’re welcome to include a 3 line bio of who you are and it will be done. There will be a directory for every person in the workshop to make sure you tag your writers/artists. If you cannot make it the DAY BEFORE the workshop, email me your prompts with a bio, and I will go through your prompts in your steed. If you do not respond to me by the day of the workshop, I will assume you are no longer with us, and I will leave it open for someone else.
If you do not want your email included in the mass email, email me to be excluded, but still apart of the mass email that holds the google meet up link.
There will be no welcome to volatile, rude writers/artists who interject during the workshop with hate speech that harms communities or minorities. That will cause an instant ban. Many of the writers come from horror/noir/scifi/erotica backgrounds, we can write words that can cause triggers, you have been warned. This is a safe space without censorship however, we will not allow racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, anything against the LGBTQ+A community or smut. If any of this bothers you, this is not the workshop for you. No slut shaming, or shaming of opinions that harm communities or minorities. If you partake any of this, you will also be forever banned.
Any writer/artist who interjects during/or in the middle of the prompt exercise with something irrelevant to the workshop or tries to take over the workshop with their own “hot takes” will be muted until that’s over. We’re trying not to create unnecessary confusion. If you want to co-host DM me ahead of time! Of course, interactions with the words themselves are welcomed. Curse like sailor if you get a word you hate.
How to think of Stream of Consciousness POV
[There is no right or wrong answer to this]
As a writer/artist journey somewhere isolative & calm with options for music or silence.
Treat the exercise prompt as you would an art class with words, take the objects (3 word prompt) and decipher how to look at it from multiple angles, insert yourself as the main character, and start imagining what the main character is thinking through our thoughts, how it feels, what you’re seeing, what you’re touching, go on sensory details here.
From here start to describe around the sensory details and let your mind take you to places you wouldn’t have otherwise thought, these 3 word prompts will be included in your story in someway whether they are labeled, metaphorically, or described by definition without the word itself being used. We welcome heavy on word play and during free writing it’s expected that there will be no edits. You’re welcome to step away from the process and delete any sentences that don’t make sense. The audience needs to see what you’re seeing. Imagine a film is being played, where is it going? what’s happening? Take us on that journey.
For artists look the words how they feel from an angle, and incorporate the words by how they make you feel as you create. Any medium can be used, you don’t have to use the words themselves and put them into the art piece. Think metaphors. Think memories. Think Trauma. Whatever gets you to where you need to be, and let it be cathartic.