Who are we?

The Collegium Scriptorum Catholicæ is a collaborative writing and discussion group, where many Catholic authors write stories and post them to a list.

The “Collegium” was founded in 2005 as a way for Catholic aspiring fantasy/science fiction writers on the Internet to meet and become better writers through mutual contact and collaboration. The focus of the group is on mutual support, encouragement, and improvement. While our ultimate goal is for our writers to see publication, the Collegium itself is very strictly non-commercial in nature.

What do we write?

Above all, we write stories with Catholic content. This can mean stories with Catholic protagonists and environments, or simply a Catholic theme “hidden” in what otherwise appears to be a “mainstream” story (J.R.R. Tolkein’s masterpieces, The Lord of the Rings stories, are excellent examples of novels with no overt Catholicism but a very Catholic world view). Aside from the requirement that the Faith inform your writing, we are fairly flexible. Although Science Fiction and Fantasy are the focus, we welcome writers of any genre. We welcome submissions of any size including poems, short stories, novellas, novels, and multi-novel series.

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for more detail.

What do we mean by “Catholic”?

Unfortunately in today, world, this is a loaded question. Someone once said, “fifty years ago, there were good Catholics and bad Catholics, but everyone knew which was which. Today there are still good Catholics and bad Catholics but no one knows which is which anymore.”

Far be it for us to define what is a Catholic, but it should be noted that the members of the Collegium are “traditionalist” Catholics. We are, therefore, completely dedicated to Our Holy Mother the Church who is One, Holy, Apostolic, and Catholic. Catholic means universal, and that’s not just limited to space – it covers the dimension of time as well. As such, we wish to be united to the faith of all time throughout the whole world. The Faith that has been proclaimed always and everywhere, always the same, organically developing as defined by the First Vatican Council, but which has been proclaimed with varying degrees of clarity in different eras owing to the state of Holy Church. In short, we are Catholic as Catholics have always been.

Therefore, we expect that anyone that submits works to the Collegium put forward traditional Catholicism in their works and expect to receive critiques of their works from this worldview. We do not require that members attend traditionalist chapels, but do expect this worldview in their work. We feel that only a radical adoption of the Traditional Catholic Faith can counter the radically anti-Catholic dictatorship of Relativism in which we live and this applies to our writing as much as anywhere else.

What are Collegium members expected to do?

Not every member is expected to write on a regular basis or at all, even. All of members are expected to be active participants in the discussions that take place on the Collegium message board. All are expected to provide opinions and critiques of other authors' ideas and stories in a timely manner. This is not a place for “lurkers”, although we welcome non-writers who wish only to offer their thoughts on Catholicism in science fiction and fantasy. That said, we recognise the duties that our fellow Catholics (especially parents) have in the real world, so we are willing to be flexible according to each writer’s station in life.

Individuals who do not actively participate in the project and are “idle” for several months at a time will periodically be removed from the mailing list at the leading members’ discretion.

When you join the Collegium, you will find some people who are better writers than you, and some who aren't as good, and many with specific areas of knowledge. One of the difficulties you face is taking blunt criticism of your writing maturely, without getting emotional. Remember that criticism is intended to improve your writing.

You are also expected to provide criticism of others' works in a respectful and constructive manner. The goal of the Collegium is to provide a beneficial environment for aspiring writers who wish to improve their skills with a view towards publishing science fiction and fantasy with traditional Catholic content and themes. This is not a place for theological debate and therefore any such discussion will be strictly moderated.

Above all, “… Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew XXII,xxxix, Mark XII,xxxi). In other words, treat others the way you wish to be treated.

It is also hoped that you'll help promote the Collegium by telling your Catholic friends and encouraging fellow Catholics that you meet on the Internet to join us and assist in our mission.

How do I become a Collegium member?

To become an official Guild member, email the Collegium’s Chancellor, Nicholas Wansbutter, at NwansbutterEsq(a)gmail.com requesting that you be added to the group. You will have to register with forumup to use the forum; once you have done so email your userid to the Chancellor and he will give you access to the private fora.

What is the submission procedure?

The first step in the creation of a story is coming up with a story idea. Keep in mind the guidelines. Once you've got an idea of what you want to write about, you should post a brief description or outline to the Writer’s Forum, who will discuss it with you. We’ll help you hash our any theological issues, and possibly suggest alternative story lines and point out potential problems.

Once you’re happy with your basic plot, you can go off and write your initial draft. When you're done, spell check it, proof it, and have some of your friends read and comment on it. When you're satisfied that it's in good shape, post it to the Forum. Be aware that if you post a story that has obviously not been spell checked or proofed by another person, you are likely to receive strong feedback.

The other writers will make general and specific comments on your story and recommend changes. Depending on the size of your story, allow a couple weeks to a couple months for people to read and comment. Consider what they have to say and make any changes you think are appropriate and re-post the story. Keep doing this until you are happy with the story as is. Then, we an start looking into publication possibilities.

The Collegium does not publish any work, we just work together to help each other get our stories into “publishable” shape. Once that’s done, we will try to help each other find appropriate venues to submit the story for publishing or to self-publish. This is all completely up to the individual author, but we are partial to the print-on-demand self publisher iUniverse based on a comparison of the different “P.O.D.” publishers out there.