And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten.
--Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:33
One of the most wondrous powers of God is the power of creation: so much so that one of
the names of God is Creator. And one of the most wondrous generosities of God is his
willingness to share this power with us, his immature children. The greatest manifestation of
this is our ability, in concert with God, to create life itself through procreation. But our
incredible brains (also a wondrous gift of God) have the power of creation in many ways to an
infinite degree. To verify this, one only needs to gaze at all the creations of man that have
occurred throughout the millenia, from the pyramids of Egypt to the amazing technologies of
today.
But perhaps the circumstances under which our creative abilities most mimic that of God are
when storytellers create new worlds, even universes, for our entertainment and edification.
The power of the storyteller to evoke and control the destinies of his own private cosmos of the
imagination is rivaled only by God. Of course, any of our creations pale in comparison to
those of the Divine Creator. But after all, we are still only apprentices.
WorLDSmiths is an online group of LDS-oriented writers who are helping each other become the best writers we can be. We
critique up to six manuscripts per month with a maximum of 10,000 words each. The manuscripts are LDS literature.
That means at least one of the following three things must be true about them:
- They are written by LDS members.
- They are written for LDS members.
- They are written about something LDS.
The group is not likely to be favorable toward manuscripts that are virulently antagonistic to the LDS church or that are blatantly pornographic. But we do allow our writers great latitude to explore all facets of the human experience. Our focus is on fiction, but we will consider other genres as well. Some of us prefer to emphasize speculative fiction.
If you are interested in joining us, feel free to do so. All applications are subject to approval
by the moderator. But save yourself and us time and grief: do not join unless you are committed to
serious writing and to making your membership in the group work! You don't need to be
a good writer, but you do need to want to become a good writer.
WorLDSmiths is sponsored by Worlds Without Number.
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