Terms and Conditions
The Write Practice (Story Cartel LLC) is an online writing community and education site. We provide tools for writers to improve their writing skills and to become familiar with the publishing industry.
As a member of our community, you will have access to features of thewritepractice.com and our community (community.thewritepractice.com). Paying members have access to additional features. Those features depend on the level of membership or course purchased. The following terms apply to all members of our community, whether paying or non-paying.
We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any time. You will be notified of any changes.
Site Use and Behavior
By using thewritepractice.com, courses.thewritepractice.com, community.thewritepractice.com or any of The Write Practice’s affiliate sites, you are agreeing to the following terms. We cannot guarantee that we will monitor all postings or that material in violation of our policies will not be posted. We are not responsible for external links. We do not endorse any religious, political, social or other sentiments that may be expressed by users of The Write Practice or The Write Practice community.
Copyright
The content displayed on thewritepractice.com is the property of The Write Practice and as such is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Content made and posted by members of The Write Practice Pro on community.thewritepractice.com is the property of the member who posted and as such is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Member content is private from nonmembers, but other Write Practice Pro members are able to see and comment on content. Plagiarism will not be tolerated at The Write Practice. Any copying, distribution, selling, publishing, displaying, or broadcasting any member’s intellectual property will result in a revoked Write Practice membership without refund. The right to pursue further legal action is reserved by The Write Practice and the member injured.
The Permissions You Give Us
You own the copyright to your work at all times. However, to provide our services we need you to give us some legal permissions (known as a ‘license’) to use this content. This is solely for the purposes of providing our services. Specifically, when you post content on our site, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, or copy, your content. This means that when you post content, you give us permission to store and share it with others, such as other members on our site. You still own your work, but in order to use our services, you grant us permission to share it with other Write Practice Pro members as part of our writing workshops, grant our moderators permission to modify your content (if it is in violation of our content policies, for example), and grant us permission to store your content on our servers.
Content Policy
The Write Practice Pro is a diverse community of authors. The goal of Pro’s leadership is to encourage nearly limitless creative freedom; however, since our membership includes minors, we must impose a series of reasonable restrictions in order to not require a person to be over 18 in order to join our community.
Be aware that our system will flag “offensive” words for moderation. A moderator will look at the piece and decide, based on our content policies, if it is allowed and will add a content warning if such a warning does not already exist.
Our full content policy can be found here and at the bottom of this page.
Failure to abide by the policy the first time will result in a conversation between the offender and a member of The Write Practice team. Failure to comply with the policy beyond that will be dealt with according to the discretion of The Write Practice team and may include termination of access to The Write Practice community without refund.
Threatening Behavior or Inappropriate Speech
The Write Practice does not tolerate hate speech, bullying, or threats to any entity or person. This type of behavior will result in your removal from The Write Practice community without refund. We reserve the right to notify authorities if threats are severe.
Expectations
Membership entitles you to participate in writing workshops on The Write Practice.
You may submit original work and receive feedback.
You are also expected to read and give helpful and thoughtful feedback on other at least three other writers’ work each time you post a piece of your own. We reserve the right to remove you from the community without refund if you are a “taker” and never give feedback.
Payments
You are responsible for paying The Write Practice in full for any purchased product(s). All prices listed are in United States Dollars (USD). You may lose access to the program and/or coaching if payments are missed or full payment is not completed by the due date. Delinquent accounts will be sent to payment recovery. See Delinquency for more information about delinquent accounts.
The Write Practice reserves the right to terminate the agreement and write off the remaining balance at the company’s sole discretion. Once a payment is written off, you will have to repurchase the product in order to gain access. Prior payments may not be applied to any future purchases.
Contests
The Write Practice occasionally holds short story contests.
There are two entry levels in our contests:
- Basic entry, which gets you temporary access to our writing workshops.
- Premium entry, which gets you temporary access to our writing workshops and feedback from the judges.
Paying members in our Classes Tier (see below for more on membership tiers) and above will receive free basic entry to contests. There will be an option to upgrade to the premium entry for those members.
Members of the One Year to Publish program will receive free premium entry to the contests.
The process of the contests are as follows:
- Enter and write a new story on the given theme.
- Submit your story to the contest workshop to receive peer feedback. Give feedback on at least three other stories each time you post your story for feedback.
- Submit to the judges and await the winners!
- Premium entrants will receive their feedback in 6+ weeks.
There are no refunds given for contest entries for any reason.
If you cancel your membership or downgrade your membership to a level that is not entitled to free contest entry before the judges' deadline, you will be removed from the contest.
Pricing Tiers
Free Tier ($0/mo)
The Write Practice Pro offers a free tier for members who are interested in completing the practice challenges on blog posts and receiving peer feedback. This level does not include access to courses, contests, or coaching.
Feedback Tier ($10/mo)
Membership to the basic tier is a monthly or yearly subscription and you can cancel at any time. If you pay monthly, your subscription will be canceled at the end of the payment period and you will not be refunded for any unused portion of the month. If you pay yearly, you may cancel at the end of your yearly billing period. No prorated refunds will be given.
Membership at this level gives you access to our workshops. No courses or contests are included in this membership level.
Classes Tier ($49/mo)
Membership to the courses tier is a monthly or yearly subscription and you can cancel at any time. If you pay monthly, your subscription will be canceled at the end of the payment period and you will not be refunded for any unused portion of the month. If you pay yearly, you may cancel at the end of your yearly billing period. No prorated refunds will be given.
Membership at this level gives you access to courses, workshops, and basic entry to our contests. All courses are self-guided. Access for some courses may be for a limited time only.
100 Day Book Tier ($119/mo)
Membership to the 100 Day Book tier includes all of the benefits of the courses tier plus access to the 100 Day Book and Write Structure courses and a dedicated book coach to give you accountability and help with the writing process as you complete your draft. See more about 100 Day Book here.
The Write Practice runs three 100 Day Book courses a year. As long as you are a member of this tier, you may take 100 Day Book unlimited times.
The Write Practice occasionally offers different pricing, payment packages, and add-on packages to the 100 Day Book membership tier. All policies, including refund policies, associated with the base package and listed in these terms, apply to any variations we may offer at any given time. This includes the Book Coaching package, the audit/self-guided pricing, the single session pricing, and any other variation offered.
The $100 Incentive
Each time you participate in 100 Day Book, you will have the opportunity to receive $100 back. If you finish your draft within the 100 Day Book program and don’t get more than two strikes (you report progress on your book each week without missing more than two weeks' deadlines) and finish your draft in the 100 days, you will be eligible to receive this money back.
Note: You must contribute at least five (5) payments each session you complete and expect to be eligible for the $100 incentive. Previous payments during other sessions do not count toward the five required payments. Payments at a lower membership tier do not count toward the five required payments.
If you get three strikes or more OR don’t have a completed draft at the end of the 100 days, you forfeit the $100.
Incentives are paid out thirty days after the end of each session.
This incentive is the best way to make sure you stay on track with your writing and finish your draft.
Members of the self-guided version of 100 Day Book are not eligible for the $100 incentive.
Finish Your Book Guarantee
We started the 100 Day Book program to help writers finish their drafts. We believe our program is the best way to help you finish your draft, and we want you to feel confident in trusting us through the process.
If you:
- Fully complete all course lessons;
- Miss 0 deadlines, including the book plan deadline;
- Are never short more than 10% of your weekly word count goal;
- Check in twice during the course to make sure your word count estimate is accurate and readjust your weekly goal accordingly;
- And still don’t finish, you get the money you paid during that session back.
If you did all that, didn't finish, and want to claim your guarantee, please email admin@thewritepractice.com to set up a call with a member of our team.
The Finish Your Book Guarantee is only applicable to members of the full, guided experience of 100 Day Book. Self-guided members and members who purchased prior to 1/1/2023 are not eligible.
One Year to Publish ($1000 setup fee + $250/mo OR $1000 setup fee + $2500/yr)
Author Coaching/One Year to Publish is our premium coaching program. Acceptance is through application only. Apply here.
The program comes in two parts:
Part 1: Setup
- For a one-time fee, a writing coach will develop an action plan consisting of step-by-step instructions guiding you through the process of writing and publishing a book over the course of a year. An editor will also work with you to develop a book plan.
Part 2: Monthly Coaching
- If you agree to your action/book plan, you will commit to the full year of coaching and monthly payments. This coaching includes a mentor, live mastermind meetings, a critique group, guest presentations, all of our courses, editing, premium entry to our contests, and more.
- Coaching will continue for one full year. After that, you are welcome to continue monthly coaching for as long as you like or cancel your subscription.
If you wish to continue with the program after the first year to work on different books, the setup fee for subsequent books is discounted to $500.
Note: One Year to Publish is not a subscription for the first year and cannot be canceled at any time. See Terminations and Refunds.
Subscription Renewal
Monthly subscriptions to The Write Practice Pro automatically renew each month until you notify the company that you wish to cancel. A payment reminder is sent seven (7) days before a payment is withdrawn. Cancelation and refund requests must be submitted in writing to admin@thewritepractice.com at least two (2) days before your subscription renews.
Annual subscriptions automatically renew each year until you notify the company that you wish to cancel. A payment reminder is sent seven (7) days before a payment is withdrawn. Cancelation requests must be submitted in writing to admin@thewritepractice.com at least two (2) days before your subscription renews.
Note: One Year to Publish cannot be canceled in the first year. The Book Coaching 100 Day Book Membership cannot be canceled within the first five months.
Subscription Modification
You may upgrade or downgrade your membership subscription at any time. If you wish to upgrade or downgrade your subscription, send your request to admin@thewritepractice.com.
Note: One Year to Publish members cannot downgrade in the first year.
Termination and Refunds
All Write Practice memberships are monthly or yearly subscriptions, with the exception of the first year of the author coaching/One Year to Publish level. We do not offer refunds–either in full or prorated–on subscriptions, but you may cancel at any time. Send cancelation requests to admin@thewritepractice.com and your account will be canceled at the end of your billing period.
One Year to Publish has two parts: the setup fee and the monthly coaching fee. You can request a refund for your setup fee if you’re not satisfied with your plan. If you accept your plan and continue with monthly coaching, you must commit to one full year of coaching and payments. After that, payments will continue monthly until you notify us that you are no longer interested in receiving coaching. Notice must be submitted in writing to admin@thewritepractice.com at least two (2) days prior to the date your payment is due.
No refunds will be given in any circumstances not listed above.
There are no refunds for contests for any reason.
Delinquency
It is your responsibility to keep your card information current. If you need to update your card information, email admin@thewritepractice.com and our team will send you an email to do so securely.
Failure to keep an active card and to update us with your information will result in a delinquent account and suspension of access to your course lessons, The Write Practice workshops, and your coach, if applicable. Access will not be restored until you provide us with the current information for your card and a payment successfully goes through. Any materials due to you, such as a manuscript review, will not be given to you until your account is in good standing. Delinquent accounts will be sent to payment recovery and canceled completely if payment is not made.
Past payments will not apply to future subscriptions.
Individual Courses
Occasionally, we will sell individual courses that are not associated with a monthly membership. Individuals purchasing these courses will get the access they need to complete the course, for the duration of the course. There are no refunds for individual courses. This includes our Book Coach Certification training.
Information and eBook Products
For information and eBook products, all sales are final with the following exception: if alerted to a gross defect in the product/eBook, The Write Practice will make every effort to correct the defect. If it cannot be corrected, The Write Practice will issue a full refund.
The Write Plan Planner
Purchases of The Write Plan Planner will be refunded under the following conditions: the planner must not be written in; the purchaser must return the planner and pay for the return shipping; the planner must arrive back to The Write Practice in good condition within thirty (30) days from its delivery. If these conditions are not met, no refund will be issued. Notify admin@thewritepractice.com if you would like to begin the refund process.
If you need to reach our staff, you may email admin@thewritepractice.com.
Content Policy
The Write Practice is a diverse community of authors. The goal of The Write Practice's leadership is to encourage nearly limitless creative freedom; however, since our membership includes minors, we must impose a series of reasonable restrictions in order to not require a person to be over 18 in order to join our community.
By making small sacrifices, we can all make it safe for younger people to write, read, and critique here.
Following the Law
We realize that other cultures and countries might consider different things to be suitable for minors, but since this is a US-based company, we have to abide by US laws. The specific law we’re worried about is this:
Federal law U.S.C. § 1470- prohibits “Transfer of obscene material to minors.” Of course, the definition of “obscene material” is vague:
The standard of what is harmful to minors may differ from the standard applied to adults. Harmful materials for minors include any communication consisting of nudity, sex or excretion that (i) appeals to the prurient interest of minors, (ii) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable material for minors, (iii) and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
The official policy of The Write Practice is that no post, critique, or Cafe comment shall contain pornographic material, hate speech (other than historic depictions), and excessive depictions of violent acts.
As with all art, this is somewhat vague, and requires individual discretion. However, The Write Practice's team of Moderator/Mentors will police this policy for the good of the community.
As a guiding principle, keep these two ideas in mind:
- Don't post inappropriate content; this way we can keep the community in good legal standing
- Post a Content Advisory for appropriate mature content in order to keep the community in good emotional standing
Child Safety
We have a zero tolerance policy towards content that exploits children.
- Child sexual abuse imagery: We will terminate the accounts of any user we find publishing or distributing child sexual abuse imagery. We will also report that user to law enforcement.
- Pedophilia: We do not allow content that encourages or promotes sexual attraction towards children.
Referencing sexual abuse in your story or memoir does not fall under this policy. If your story must reference sexual abuse, make it as brief as possible, do not go into graphic detail, and include a content warning at the top of the piece.
Sexual Content
We fully support every author's right to write the material he or she chooses. However, due to our no-age limit policy for users, we cannot allow graphic sexual content to be distributed on any of our platforms. We encourage writers who wish to publish in these genres to share their work privately by soliciting beta readers in The Cafe.
- Definition: “Sexual Content” is defined as any writing that describes physical intimacy with reproductive and/or sexual organs; this includes thoughts and actions by narrators, characters, and any other element in a post, and does not require nudity to qualify as graphic sexual content. Acts that do not qualify as sexual content include hand-holding, hugging, kissing, and simple acts of affection like touching a character's arm or leg.
- Content Policy: If your scene contains sexual content, it must be brief and worded in such as way as to avoid numerous references to specific body parts and/or using pervasive sexual language.
- Graphic Sexual Content: Sexual situations in mainstream genres tend to focus on the characters' emotions and inner goals; sexual situations in erotica/pornography focus on the physical sensations and the explicit details of the act, and are much more graphic. Know which type of scene you are writing, and whether it belongs on The Write Practice or not.
- Sexual Assault (Rape): If your story must describe or show a scene of sexual assault, it must be done in such a way that follows the guidelines above. It should be as brief as possible and must be accompanied by a content warning that specifically advises the reader about the description of sexual assault.
- Requirement: All posts with sexual content of any kind must include a content warning, otherwise they may be removed by Admin.
Sample Content Warnings:
- Content Advisory: Sexual Content (Sex Scene with Brief Nudity)
- Content Advisory: Sexual Content (Description of an Assault)
Graphic Violence
Great stories often include scenes of violence, include horrifying elements like blood and gore. Authors should be aware of the following guidelines about what kind of graphic violence is permitted with a warning, and what kind is not permitted whatsoever.
- Definition: “Graphic Violence” is defined as any scene that describes a severe bodily injury in which there is gratuitous blood and/or sufficient damage to the body that bones are broken or body parts are removed. This includes sports injuries, car accidents, animal attacks, etc.
- Content Policy: If your scene includes graphic violence, it must be brief and worded in such a way as to avoid numerous descriptions of excessive blood, bodily fluids, and grotesque disfiguring injuries.
- Torture: If your scene must include graphic violence in the form of torture, it must be brief and worded in such a way as to avoid numerous descriptions of blood, bodily fluids, and grotesque disfiguring injuries. (Note: Sometimes a character will be captured and endure a chapter of torture or interrogation; this is fine, so long as restraint is used and a content warning is posted that specifically labels torture as an element.)
- Requirement: All posts with graphic violence of any kind must include a content warning, otherwise they may be removed by Admin.
Sample Content Warnings:
- Content Advisory: Graphic Violence (Descriptions of Torture)
- Content Advisory: Graphic Violence (Blood and Bodily Injuries in a car crash)
Graphic Language
Writers are free to use practically any type of language for their stories and posts on The Write Practice. However, there are several types of language that must be accompanied by a content policy, and a few that are not permissible whatsoever.
- Definition: Graphic Language is defined as any words or phrases that are considered cursing, swearing, or ethnic slurs in a generally known context. These include well-known curse words (damn, shit, etc), the ‘F-word,' crass language that is insulting in most contexts (p-ssy, f-ggot), and words that are designed to stereotype and insult various ethnicities. Whether the author is offended does not change the status of the language, and whether it is graphic and must be accompanied by a content warning.
- Content Policy: If your scene includes graphic language, it cannot include ethnic slurs that are not contextualized in a historical basis.
- Historical Hate Speech: If your scene must include ethnic slurs based in history (American slavery, Nazi Germany, etc), it must be brief and worded and such as way that the reader knows for certain that the ethnic slurs are the opinion of the character, not the author.
- Requirement: If your post includes common curse words not including the ‘F-word,' and the number of curse words is fewer than 10, you do not need to post a content warning. If your post includes any uses of the ‘F-word,' you must include a content warning. If your post includes more than 10 curse words, any uses of crass language, and/or any uses of historically accurate ethnic slurs, it must include a content warning.
Sample Content Warnings:
- Content Advisory: Graphic Language (Historical Hate Speech)
- Content Advisory: Graphic Language (Cursing and Crass Language)
Abuse and Self Harm
Many of our members have a history with two very delicate subjects: Abuse and Self-Harm. That's why we want to make sure readers are informed before they read a story with this content, as encountering these scenes could be psychologically damaging to others. Remember: This isn't about being politically correct or shielding people from being challenged. This is about loving our neighbor and giving him/her the benefit of the doubt. A brief content advisory is a small favor to ask for the good of our members.
- “Abuse” Definition: “Abuse” is defined as any scene or description of physical or sexual harm by an authority figure, and/or neglect. This includes withholding basic resources like food, clothing, or shelter by an authority figure.
- “Self Harm” Definition: “Self Harm” is defined as any scene or description of a character (including the narrator) harming him or herself by inflicting physical wounds on the body (including the ingestion of pills or toxins), by refusing to eat food, by repetitively regurgitating food (bulimia), or by attempting suicide.
- Content Policy and Requirement: If your scene includes Abuse or Self-Harm, it must be accompanied by a specific content advisory. Make sure your content advisory includes specific references to the type of Abuse or Self Harm depicted in the post; this allows the reader to make an informed choice about reading, or abstaining from your post.
Sample Content Warnings:
- Content Advisory: Depiction of Abuse (beating a child)
- Content Advisory: Self-Harm (cutting and excessive drinking
Drug Use
While there are varying opinions on the use of drugs and alcohol, these behaviors generally do not warrant a content advisory. The only major exception is the use of “hard” drugs, which must include an appropriate warning.
- Definition: “Drug Use” is defined as any scene or description of the use of “hard” drugs, including cocaine, crack, heroine, methamphetamine, acid, or other broadly illegal drugs. Due to its legality in many places, marijuana does not fall under this definition, though you may provide an advisory for it if you wish.
- Content Policy and Requirement: If your scene includes Drug Use, it must be accompanied by a specific content advisory.
Sample Content Warnings:
- Content Advisory: Drug Use (cocaine)
What to Do With Your Inappropriate Content
Even if you want to write content that doesn't fall within our guidelines here at The Write Practice, we still want you to be able to get the feedback you need.
That's why we urge you to solicit private beta readers in The Cafe. By informing readers up front about the nature of your story, they are opting in to the content you've created. This also keeps the material off our platforms and away from the eyes of underage users who shouldn't be reading and critiquing it.
Keep The Write Practice Appropriate and Advised
We are all eager to explore creative frontiers. That will often have us exploring topics that aren't appropriate or acceptable to everyone, and that's perfectly fine.
The important thing is to know if your most daring creative explorations are a good fit for this community. Many of them are, so long as you post a helpful advisory to keep your neighbors in the know. If you ever have a question about the appropriateness of a piece of content, just reach out to a moderator or admin to get a clear answer.
Thank you for your creativity and kindness to others as we enjoy this journey together!
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to admin@thewritepractice.com.