I wanted to make mention of a couple of summer writing programs that might be of interest to you.
First, the legendary Clarion workshop, which began with Damon Knight in Clarion College, Pennsylvania, and is now in scenic San Diego. An intensive six-week writer's boot camp that will make you, break you, maybe change your life. I will be one of the instructors at this year's Clarion, along with Delia Sherman, Dale Bailey, Samuel R. Delany, Jeff Vandermeer, and Anne Vandermeer. For more details, check out
http://clarion.ucsd.edu/
Applications for Clarion are being accepted now, and will close on March 1... so if you've ever wanted to have me read and critique your work, and learn the secret handshake and the diagonal relationship, speak now or hold your peace until the next time I do a workshop (which probably won't be for a few more years).
[[ I do NOT read unpublished manuscripts that are mailed or emailed to me, so don't even think that. I do my teaching and critiquing only with a workshop context. And sorry, no, I won't be your mentor.]]
Clarion has been helping to turn out professional SF and fantasy writers since the 60s. Maybe you're the next one. You'll never know unless you apply. But be warned, only a few are chosen. Admissions are extremely competitive, with only one of five applicants getting in.
For writers who are already published, but are looking to take the next step in their careers, there is the Taos Toolbox, founded and run by my friend Walter Jon Williams and held right here in scenic New Mexico.
http://www.taostoolbox.com
Walter Jon's pitches his Toolbox as more of a "graduate study" program, for writers with a bit more experience. Graduates of Clarion, Clarion West, and Odyssey, neopros with a few sales under their belts, even journeymen looking to improve. I am not connected with the Toolbox, but I did a guest lecture there a few years ago, and it struck me as a great program. This year Nancy Kress will be assisting WJW with the teaching, and Carrie Vaughn (of Kitty and Wild Cards fame) will be giving a guest lecture. And when you're not writing, reading, critiquing, or listening to lectures, hey, you'll be in Taos.
Clarion Workshop and the Taos Toolbox. If you want to write, check 'em out.
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Comments
Looking forward to the day I can take on Clarion! :-)
I attended this workshop in 2005...after finding out about through my favorite author's blog. :)
I'd go if I didn't have a 16 month old who doesn't give me vacation time!
Notes from your guest lecture are scrawled across several pages of my TT notebook.
Oz
I just write, and hope someday when I'll finish my book, some publisher will like it enough to publish it. At least I am enjoying writing.
Still, it should be truly interesting *________* I've done some workshop in LJ with a friend - who sadly deleted her LJ - and it was truly interesting and challenging. I loved that.
Unfortunately Clarion is a luxury for most of us. But who knows--maybe someday there will be both the time and money.
Just the process of applying was valuable (I recommend applying with your best two short stories, get the scary bit done... then have your brain expanded by reading people's blogs and reading all your potential instructors).
I can honestly say Clarion has joyously changed my life
Good luck
Liz (Class of '09)
For those who are considering it, I recently read Donald Mead's interview with Glenn Cook, in which Cook said this when asked if Clarion was important to him:
"Early on, very important. I learned a lot there. Clarion can’t teach you talent, but it can show you what you’re doing wrong. I learned not to overwrite, to keep things simple as far as sentence structure is concerned. My early attempts at writing were very much influenced by classical British fantasy writers who tended to be very flowery and ornate and lapsed into classical Greek as they were going along and expected you to follow it. I learned that modern American readers aren’t interested in that. I learned a number of valuable lessons at Clarion."
William Shunn also mentions his time at Clarion in this advice for beginning writers.
Also, the Clarion Ex Machina site he links to isn't up anymore, but someone put together this collection of people's blogs on their experiences there.
http://clarion.ucsd.edu/scholarships.ht
Edited at 2010-01-08 03:17 am (UTC)
*weeps*
http://clarion.ucsd.edu/scholarships.ht
I'm going to go cry now.
Viable Paradise, http://www.sff.net/Paradise/, with Theresa and Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Elizabeth Bear
and Clarion West in Seattle: http://www.clarionwest.org/ There used to be a Clarion in Mi, but I can't find it on the web.
Also, for those who don't have $5:
Nalo Hopkinson does email mentorships:
http://nalohopkinson.com/mentorships_20
and the Online Writer's Workshop has writer's critting each other, and pros that pick out and crit random manuscripts:
http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.co
Also, Critters.org-free crits from other writers and Forward Motion is a good writer's community:
http://www.fmwriters.com/
Plus, Holly Lisle does online workshops and stuff:
http://hollylisle.com/
I hope all these links don't get me dropped in spam. Mr. Martin, I hope all these links are not offensive to you.
And I hope that maybe the linkspam will help someone. =)
George, I'm sure they'd love to have you as a guest author. The URL is: www.writingexcuses.com.
I've been a long time follower of this blog and hope Dance is going well. I can't wait to read it.
:)
Only a handful are as short as a week, which is still a lot of vacation time for someone with family commitments. "Sorry, honey, we can't spend the holidays with your folks because I used my vacation for that writers' conference" puts a strain on even the most suppportive partner.
That said, Jeff Carver and Craig Shaw Gardener run the Ultimate ST Writers Workshop (http://www.starrigger.net/workshop.htm
The other went to community college, played pickup games and in local street ball tournaments. He chose not to travel or use his resources to attend the many good camps. And then he blew his knee out. The highlight of his basketball life was taking a younger Anthony Mason to task on the playgrounds.
I've noted that many of you view this workshop wistfully. If you feel that you are a writer and this workshop is truly important to your development, then please, please make the personal commitment to attend such a workshop in the future. Don't do it for me and the other readers. Do it for you. Or, do not. You can always talk about the book you are working on.
Clarion is a short-story workshop for the most part. Toolbox is more about the novels.
That said, Nycfalcon is absolutely right. This kind of commitment is only a shadow of the kind of commitment necessary to turn yourself into a writer. Workshops are far less intimidating than trying to go it alone: it's tough, but at a workshop you've got supportive staff, you'll make very close friends, you'll make connections that may last your whole life.
It's something you should do for yourself.
The gates are open, and you can walk through them or not. Make the choice that won't leave you kicking yourself twenty years down the road.
Thanks.
One of the short stories I got into Clarion with was general fiction, set in contemporary Australia about five people going to a funeral!
I know that your blog, really isn’t the venue for this kind of message but as internet incapable as I am, I don’t know where to look to find your fan-email address. (I assure you, I’ll stay on topic here though.) I just wanted to say that I’ll be applying to Clarion this year—partially because of how good I’ve heard the program is—but let’s face it—mostly because you mentioned that you’d be one of the instructors this year.
I hope to get in, but knowing the odds against me, I’m writing this to thank you now. For a long time I had considered myself and excellent (though yet unpublished) fiction writer. This past summer I was rereading an early chapter from a novel that I’m trying to write and I realized how terrible my writing really was. It hit me pretty hard. I realized I had to overhaul my entire writing style if I wanted to fix it. And I despaired. Already a big fan of yours, I started reading Dreamsongs. I studied what you did and my writing got better. Then you mentioned you’d be teaching at Clarion. I had a couple of Sci-fi stories in storage somewhere but they weren’t my best (and even my best wasn’t all that great) so I wrote some new ones. I was (and am) determined to give myself the best possible chance to get into program so I made a tremendous effort to up my game. And I did!
So, as I said, I’m writing this in case I don’t get to tell you in person: Reading your work made mine better, and for a chance to study under you, I improved my writing. Thank you sir, for that, and for the hours of enchantment I’ve found in your works.
It would be the good tears.
I don't mean to interrupt your football watching but I am curious, what other avenues exist for people who don't make the cut in the estimation of the Clarion administrators? What alternative exists for people who are unable to afford the tuition?
Good day to you.
For those who are not accepted... well, there are other programs built around similar lines, like Clarion West and Odyssey... and you can't always apply again next year. Not everyone gets in first time.