Some guides on submitting and formatting work for our groups here, as well as tips on giving feedback, along with our policies on AI.
Submission Guidelines
Strange Birds are a group of writers who come together to exchange feedback on work they hope to publish. This is done in an informal and lively manner, and these guidelines are here to help members present their work and to give and receive feedback in a sensitive and helpful way.
Our code of conduct isn’t meant to police thought, opinion or creativity, but rather to create a safe and trusting space in which to explore challenging subjects and engage in brave conversations. It also covers things like being respectful of one another’s work, being mindful about absorbing people’s ideas and not plagiarizing people’s work. Basically, it’s about respect — respecting freedom of speech, respecting art, respecting difference, but most importantly respecting one another.
What to submit
We don’t focus on specific genres unless a group has been spun up with that specific intent. We welcome all kinds of creative fiction. However, while there are no rules regarding the type, style or content of reading samples, the range of skills and experience of group members means we can’t always offer appropriate critique on every type of writing. If you are unsure, please ask in advance if the group can offer relevant feedback.
Submission lengths vary depending on each groups’ format. Often the contributing writer will be asked to read out part of their piece if they’re comfortable with doing so, and will then receive feedback during the session.
Violent, bigoted, sexual or other graphic content: We don’t generally stop people from talking about these subjects, but bear in mind that different people have very different ideas of what is challenging material. Some may have experienced what you’re fictionalizing. If you’re unsure, please flag this with your group organizer ahead of time or use content warnings.
We are not accepting of racism, homophobia, transpobia, sexism, or any sort of biogtry in submitted work or in critique.
How Submuissions and Feedback Work
(If your group uses our submission system.)
You’ll receive an email reminder to submit your writing about a week before the session. This could be a short story, poem, novel extract or flash fiction depending on the group you are submitting to. The length depends on the group and the host.
We use a proprietary bit of code that automates the entire submissions and feedback delivery through Gmail. You will need a Google Drive account to upload your submission to a Google form.
When all of the submissions are collected, you will receive your peer’s writing in an email. The links in that email are individual copies of your peers’ work for you to leave notes in.
After the session is complete, you will receive these copies, complete with your peers’ feedback, ready for you to digest however you see fit.
We purge these copies every 60 days. Please back up any feedback you would like to keep.
Tips for feedback
We have to feel comfortable sharing our writing, so it’s important to be able to trust each other. We’ve been running these groups for seven years, and over those years we’ve developed the guidelines below. Mostly, we focus on promoting mutual respect for ourselves and our writing. The following are a few points to bear in mind before and during a meeting.
Be kind
Writing is a vulnerable act, so be empathetic. When you’re preparing your feedback, make sure you acknowledge what they’ve done right as well as what needs improvement. Every piece of writing has some strengths, so look for them and be prepared to point them out. But instead of sandwiching harsh criticism between empty positives, be honest. “Diplomacy” is your watchword.
Don’t nitpick
If you want to give grammar notes, make them brief and written. Unless they affect the clarity of the piece, please do not spend time in the feedback sessions on double-spaces, indents, forgotten commas etc. Make those suggestions as comments in the doc, but use the live feedback session for reviewing larger overall themes.
Keep it within the group
Anything read out during a Strange Birds session or uploaded to our shared drive must be kept within the group. An author’s writing is their intellectual property and should not be shared outside the group without their explicit permission.
Use feedback as indicators not absolutes
Because most of us feel vulnerable when others critique our work, receiving feedback can be challenging. It’s important to remember that critiquing your writing isn’t personal! You’re entitled to disagree with suggested changes, but do it internally, not at the group. However, if the majority of the group has the same comment, it’s likely that they’re right. But it’s more important to look for the cause of the comment, though you don’t always have to act on the specific advice.
In general:
- Be respectful
- Please RSVP (and don’t be a flake)
- Ask questions
- Listen after speaking
- Give positive feedback first
- Consider genre and writing experience
AI Guidelines
Use of AI in submissions
We run our groups hands-off and leave it up to the discretion of the groups’ hosts to decide whether AI-generated or assisted writing is welcome. As of the time of writing all current Strange Birds groups do not accept AI-authored work. If you’re unsure just ask the host.
In line with most publishers, we ask that the work be your own and not be written by or in collaboration with generative AI. Likewise, we ask that you do not use generative AI to analyse stories or generate feedback so as to avoid content scraping.
Use of AI in giving feedback
Critique groups are an exchange of labour – you read theirs, they read yours. The sole purpose of beta readers is to elicit a response from them.
If you cannot commit your time to reading others’ work do not come to the group. Once again, this is ultimately at the discretion of your group’s host, though currently there are no groups are willing to accept AI feedback, and generating your feedback will result in being blacklisted.
Our Google-based back end
Though we use Google Workplace and custom Sheets script to duplicate and send out submissions, we have reached out to Google and had all Gemini services disabled from our accounts.
Trust us, we understand the concerns around data safety when it comes to Google. Unfortunately, there is no other back end for us that is as customizable, as easy to use, and as accessible for so many people. We do not have the resources to code and administer a fully custom system.