2019 will mark a new beginning with the Norwescon Writers Workshop (NWW). The workshop’s mission is the development of writerly skills, teaching the do’s and don’ts along the road to being published, and the deepening of communities.
One of the key changes you’ll see is that the NWW is a Milford-style workshop: a peer-to-peer, round-robin critique facilitated by professional writers, editors, and agents. Milford (or Iowa City-style) critique develops the critical skill of the writer. With all participants critiquing, writers learn to critique their own manuscripts more effectively, a fundamental part of learning to write well.
The convention will continue to offer writing “classes” conducted by experienced publishing professionals. In fact, a few of these classes will be developed with input from the NWW directors, aimed at addressing topics of interest to writers who’ve submitted stories to the workshop that year. These classes will go beyond what could be covered in the limited time frame of the workshop.
We are pleased to announce that Neil Clarke, publisher and editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, will be joining us as a NWW guest moderator in 2019. Neil is one of five or six moderators who will be critiquing manuscripts for the workshop.