Horror Writers of the Capital Region

This is a group for writers of all backgrounds and genres, but you must be okay with some dark subject matter, and absolutely no A.I. use.
About this Event

Hi all,

My name is Shawn, and I'm a horror author who's interested in getting a writing group together to share, discuss, and workshop together. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A HORROR AUTHOR TO JOIN. This group will be open to all writers, but you must understand that dark subject matter will at times be discussed and shared in this group. I am understanding and empathetic if individuals would like content warnings before readings or discussions, but I would like to restrict attempts to censor. Writing, exploring, discussing and or consuming dark subject matter is not the same as endorsing it. With that said here are some ground rules;

- We do not share writing that is not ours outside of this group. Any individual caught doing this, feeding other's work to A.I., plagiarizing work, etc. will face consequences such as removal from the group, legal consequences if appropriate, etc. Please, just don't do this.

- I take a strong stance against A.I. use, and do not recognize individuals who utilize A.I. to be actual creatives of any kind. If you use A.I. this group is not for you. You will find no empathy here.

- Hate speech, threats, physical violence, etc. of any kind will not be tolerated. With regards to censorship and writing this becomes a tougher subject. It's important to discuss and peer into all aspects of life, even the worst parts, lest we turn a blind eye to it and leave the real life victims to face it alone. I believe that reading can help create empathy by putting us in other's shoes, and good writing is meant to make us feel and question things, carry us down a path we may not normally go down and give us a greater understanding of life and the expansiveness of it whether good or bad (horror's very essence is exploring dark subject matter most would rather look away from). With that said this will be a safe environment for people of all backgrounds, races, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, etc. If you're writing is being used intentionally and specifically to target, ridicule, or bully individuals in the group you will be asked to leave.

- Each story or section of story that's being shared will require an intro (an overview, content warnings if necessary, and what feedback or help you're looking for), and time afterwards for discussion (the intro (aside from content warnings) will not be required if we're doing a writing exercise together as a group).

- This group will be held inconsistently (ideally once a month, but could be more or less depending on amount of attendance, holidays, scheduling etc. I'm a father, an author, going back to school and I work full time. Stuff is gonna come up. If enough people are able to make the meetup, and I am unable to for some reason you all will be more than welcome to still meetup, but all the same rules for the group still apply).

Rough idea of what a meetup might look like;

Introducing new members > touch base on what everyone is working on / intro for sharing / intro for writing prompt or exercise > time to write or to share > discussion > closing remarks / scheduling for next session (this or as we're packing up would be the time to bring up if you're interested in sharing a piece at the next meetup. I'm more than happy to hangout for a bit if someone is a bit nervous to discuss right away in front of everyone or if there's too much going on. I have been published before, but I don't consider myself a teacher nor an expert. The intention of this group is to give everyone a space to grow and develop as creative humans and to have fun in a social setting and that goes for me as well. I'm no better than any of you just because I'm hosting the event. If you need help with anything, just ask.)

Location;

My plan is to hold this meetup at local libraries mostly with the hopes of centering it so it's a comfortable commute for as many people as possible (a previous writing group I was apart of did this, and it worked out quite well). If you're interested in attending you'll be invited to join a group chat (most likely a discord server for everyone's comfortability -- not everyone will want to exchange phone numbers -- although as the organizer I would be happy to share mine with you if you preferred).