About the Short Fiction Roundtable

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Reasons you should consider joining:

People will read your stories.
Not just any people, either. These readers will be other authors.
These authors will give you feedback.
Getting feedback will make you think about whether or not to take it.
Getting feedback and thinking about it will make you a better author.
You'll have an opportunity to read and give feedback to other authors.
Giving feedback makes you think about what constitutes a good story and effective writing.
Giving feedback to other authors helps you read your own work critically.
Giving feedback will make you a better author.

The Roundtable is an opportunity for peers to learn from each other and improve their craft. In the Roundtable, we mentor each other.

Many professions involve a period of mentored learning as part of acquiring professional skills. Medical doctors have internships and residencies Engineers and architects have mandatory training under a liscenced professional before entering independent practice. Librarians, social workers, and teachers all have mentored learning components as part of their training.

In case you think this kind of peer mentoring isn't valuable, consider this true story. In 1964, a then-unknown rock band achieved their boyhood dream and got a contract to be the opening act for LIttlle Richard in a series of fourteen concerts in Germany. Little Richard saw their potential, and spent considerable time mentoring them. When theiy returned home, they sounded nothing like the band that had left just a few months earlier. They built on what they learned from Little Richard's peer mentoring, and the Beatles were born.

The Roundtable includes published authors, some with many works in print. It probably doesn't include the equivalent of Little Richard. It encourages all active authors to participate, from beginners to published. Everyone's feedback in the Roundtable is valuable and valued. And who knows? Maybe the next Stephen King or Shirley Jackson is in the Roundtable right now. It could even be you.

You won't know unless you join.

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We are open to members of Writing.Com who

have at least one item in their portfolio;
have completed at least one public review;
have posted at least once in a public forum;
are at least 18 years old; and
agrees to abide by the "Crosstimbers Code of Conduct" 

While there are ten items in the "Crosstimbers Code of Conduct" , the quick summary is, be kind, be respectful, be helpful, and don't be a jerk. The Code of Conduct articulates standards for a community that is respectul, helpful, and safe for everyone.

When you apply for membership, you'll have the option of also becoming an Affiliate of the "Crosstimbers Author Consortium" .

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The primary purpose of this forum is to provide a roundtable for authors of short fiction to exchange peer-to-peer reviews of their stories. Since it's an exchange, members both give and recieve feedback on the stories posted here. It's also a place where authors can discuss the craft of writing, the business of publishing, and generally support each other in their creative endeavors.

It's not a place to get feedback on a novel, novella, or the chapters of one of these. If that's what your looking for, consider "Crosstimbers Novel Workshop Application" .

It's not a place to get a one-time review of a story. If that's what your looking for, consider "Crosstimbers Review Forum" 

In fact, it's not a one-time place for much of anything. It's for a continuing exchange of feedback.


How long can a story be and still be short fiction?
Most of the stories in the Roundtable are less than 5000 words, and many are much shorter. There's no formal, cast-in-stone definition of short fiction, but, at least for now, in the Roundtable we consider anything less than 20,000 words to be short fiction. The usual categories, in ascending order of word count, are

Drabble--up to 100 words
Flash fiction--between 100 and 1,000 words
Short Story--between 1,000 and to 10,000 words
Novelette--between 10,000 and 20,000 words
Novella--between 20,000 and 50,000 words
Novel--longer than 50,000 words.

These word counts aren't universal, nor are the categories. We've omitted "dribbles" and "sudden fiction," for example, two sub-categories of flash fiction.

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Other than abiding by the "Crosstimbers Code of Conduct" , the Roundtable has no rules. Instead, we rely on the good faith effort of the membership support and sustain the purposes of the Roundtable.

That said, note that respecting other authors is part of the very first principle listed in the "Crosstimbers Code of Conduct" . In particular and in the context of the Roundtable, that means respecting author wishes and expectations with respect to the privacy of their items and discussions in the Roundtable. Roundtable authors therefore should not share links to

other author's stories
passkeys to other author's stories
reviews of other author's stories.

Likewise, posts to the Roundtable are private conversations between Roundtable authors only, and thus posts by other members to the Roundtable should not be shared outside of the Roundtable. Respecting the privacy of Roundtable authors is a fundamental part of making the Roundtable a safe place for authors and for encouraging authentic discussions among members.

The Roundtable managers will, of course, keep an eye on the activities in the Roundtable and, if necessary, initiate approrpate steps to assure the health of this community of authors.

If you have questions, feel free to contact one of the managers:
Allan Charles
Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈