this is an email from the gu worldbuilding & storytelling society (guws). you are getting this email because you signed up for membership on the src site during 2022-23
TL;DR (?)
- going forward, guws info will be announced in this newsletter and our discord server will be secondary
- there'll be frequent events this year; usually 2 per week
- we're doing a welcome week event involving collaborative worldbuilding
- you'll be able to reregister membership on friday
hi folks!
this is cel (pres) from guws. i hope your summer's been good! we, the committee, have been busy at work planning for the coming year and i am, to put it mildly, a bit excited about things. below, i'm gonna go into more detail about those tl;dr points. i won't take up too much time, i promise.
newsletter & announcements
over the past year, we've been using the discord server to announce events and that's been fine — for the people already familiar with the site. discord can be an incredibly inaccessible social media to people not accustomed to it, and i do not want to commit the offense of forcing you to use a social media solely for our society.
as such, this newsletter will be the primary place where we disseminate information.
don't worry: the discord will still get updates, and if you're instagram-inclined then we have an account there which'll get the same updates; we're simply going to be prioritising the newsletter. all of us need an email; not everyone needs social media.
standard events
this year, we'll have 4 frequent events throughout each month:
- writing sessions: weekly group writing sessions. facilitated by our secretary, maggie
- critique club: fortnightly gatherings to review, critique, and help folks' writing. facilitated by our welfare officer, cinder
- monthlies: monthly events where we'll either play boardgames, do jackbox, give presentations, or do something else altogether. facilitated by our treasurer, adonis
and new this year, replacing the late book club,
- reading circle: a monthly get-together to discuss what you've been reading! bake something, bring snacks, whatever; chill out. facilitated by our president, cel
no 100% guarantees yet, but here's a theoretical example of the nice little interlocking pattern they'll be forming:
WEEK A: critique club, writing session
WEEK B: reading circle, writing session
WEEK C: critique club, writing session
WEEK D: monthly event
repeat so on and so forth for the semester. again, no 100% guarantee but this is our plan!
welcome week social
our opening event will be collaborative worldbuilding game where you begin in pairs, coming up with small-scale things for a world, such as animals or tools or jobs.
eventually, two pairs will join into a quartet to discuss their ideas, see if they can connect them, and come up with something slightly larger scale. the quartet will become an octet, and so on until we're all in one group together and can talk about the world we've made together!
it will be silly, it will be incongruous, but it will hopefully be fun! we're very excited for it. there'll be breaks between some rounds to give you some breathing room, paper to note down your ideas, and a bag of prompts if ever you're struggling to come up with anything. (if you have any accessibility needs we're not meeting here, do send us an email!)
all are welcome, fresher or not, and we hope you enjoy :D
membership registration
come this friday, the 1st of september, your membership to various societies will end and you will need to reapply for membership. guws will still be operating under our model of free membership and optional donations, so it's gonna be just as easy to join. in fact, here's some insider knowledge: it's going to be even easier to join, because a problem with the website was fixed, removing the hassle there's been with signing in for the past while ??
closing remarks
great, you've made it to the end! thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing you around this year! if you have any friends you think might be interested, be sure to point them our way in september! we'll also have a stall at the welcome fair (more info to come soon) if you'd like to say hi or ask any questions. we'd love to chat!
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cel (they/them), guws pres