A virtual critique meeting for short stories and novel excerpts written by our members. We will be critiquing one to two pieces at this session.

An overview of how the critique meetings are formatted can be found on this page – please note that you need to read the stories we’ll be discussing ahead of time and prepare your feedback for the authors.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. This will be a virtual session held on Discord (voice/audio only). Instructions on how to join our server can be found on this page. IMPORTANT: This is not an instant virtual meeting like Zoom. You’ll need to create a Discord account and join our server, which runs all the time, and then join the Voice Chat at the time of the session. Please allow extra time to complete this ahead of the meeting.
2. We aim to post the new submissions for this session around a week or so before the event. Please wait until we have confirmed the new submissions are live before downloading anything. To access the documents, you need to sign up on our website and download them from the Members Area under ‘Next Critique Session’; they will be clearly marked for this date, so please make sure you download the correct submissions.
3. New members are absolutely welcome – please feel free to come say hello and see how the group works. We do ask that you participate by giving your comments to the people who submitted their work for this session, even if you have never done so before. Please check out our guide on how to give a good critique if unsure.
4. Registrations close 2 hours before the event. If you cannot make it anymore, please update your Registration as soon as possible. Failure to update your Registration or let an organiser know you will not be attending can result in us revoking your membership, so please be considerate.
5. Waiting lists are managed through Discord. Please put your name down in the appropriate thread on the #critique-meeting channel on the Discord server, and if a spot opens up an organiser will ping you to let you know. You can also keep checking the website ahead of the event, with a maximum 2 hour buffer, in case any spots open up. Please note you need to have read the pieces in order to participate in the meeting, so do account for that if you are registering at the last minute.

Lastly, we are fundraising for the year’s running costs, and are asking for a small donation towards that at each session. You can pay online on our Ko-fi page, where you can even make your donation monthly, or speak to an organiser at the pub if you’d prefer to give cash. Monthly Ko-fi donors get a special role on our Discord, as well as discounts on any Spectrum-branded merch and special events tickets.

If you are having trouble getting onto Discord, signing up on the website, or have any other questions, please email us through our contact form and one of the organisers will get back to you.

Hope to see you there!