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thanateOnce upon a time, at least a decade ago now, I had to stop working on a novel that I was writing because I'd just read Patricia McKillips Alphabet of Thorn, and it was trying to take over that part of my brain that dreams up plotlines. (The novel in question, incidentally, is still hanging out at around 12k in my story file, and some day I'll be struck with a good sense of the last main character I was about to introduce and pick it up again.)
A little over a month ago, I read The Bards of Bone Plain (slightly belated, as I didn't buy it immediately and then my mother offered me her copy for Christmas), and it got me un-stuck on a short story that I just finished. Most of my short stories seem to be very McKillipy; it's something about the dreamy fairytale voice as a wavelength on which my brain resonates well in short bursts. At any rate, The Bards of Bone Plain was conveniently partitioned by little bits of academic paper at the beginning of every other chapter, and those broke up the flow sufficiently that I didn't just plough through it in one sitting, and wrote bits and pieces of my own story in between.
I've been thinking about applying to Viable Paradise (despite their somewhat awful website, I have outside confirmation that they're a reputable enterprise; also, this year's staff includes Sherwood Smith, which is kind of cool.) My thoughts on writing workshops are somewhat ambiguous, since my previous experience has included people saying "well, nobody can teach you how to write..." and the requisite fantasy writer's stumbling block of people who find fantasy about as worthwhile as (to be honest) I find their modern attempts at "great literature." Not that there's anything wrong with literature (whatever that is, anyway) but on the balance I'd far rather read a fairy tale than about some guy agonizing over real world troubles. (Arthur: "No. I'd like to go back to Earth again, I'm afraid, or its nearest equivalent." Ford: "You're turning down a hundred million new worlds to explore...")
And there's the motivating problem (ie, why I never go to cons, &ct) in that it's expensive, and far away, and requires effort (ha!) and the first time I mentioned it tograuwulf he was surprisingly supportive even after I mentioned all that, and the second time he'd forgotten that bit and asked why I'd want to do such a thing. So, yeah.
However... writing being a learn&grow experience, I'm getting better at it, and happier with my results. But I don't have a very good feedback network-- see above re:various literary tastes for another reason I haven't sought out a writing group on spec, and ideally I'd want a group who not only shared similar genre interests, but who were in the same ball-park in terms of writing development without getting into hurt feelings saying "but your story is terrible, you can't join my club!"-- and I don't want to end up in a "practicing wrong" sort of situation where lack of feedback leads me to end up writing things that only make sense to me. What I really want (I think) is an enthusiastic writing group, and I think a workshop with a couple dozen other people pre-vetted by industry professionals to be worth teaching would be a good place to look for one. Getting guidance from said industry professionals doesn't sound like such a bad option either; if nothing else, I can add that to my mental file of how this stuff is actually supposed to work, and they make something of a point that part of what they coach you for is getting through to publication. All the people writing testimonials make a big point about the sense of community, which could of course be that only people who feel a sense of community write testimonials, but is still encouraging.
So, yeah. This is the sort of thing I would have desperately wanted to go to when I was in high school, but probably not have been quite ready for, and I'm trying to decide whether this is just me being jaded in a worn down sort of way, or whether I'm growing into good sense. Also, my "it never hurts to apply" reflex is running into the problem of having to write an enthusiastic cover letter, in which I'm still not entirely sure what to say (despite rambling here in hopes of inspiration.)
Also, I have another Patricia McKillip book to read; I just acquired a copy of In the Forests of Serre, which I hadn't read since it came out, and only really remembered as the book with that silly princess who keeps shooting arrows at things like the moon, which is not what it's really about at all. I had entirely forgotten the witch, but she is helping me with the re-thinking of some of Jennet's motivations, which I'd been having trouble with. (It being somewhat difficult to construct believable characters who've lived about 15 times as long as you have...)
la, la, la...
A little over a month ago, I read The Bards of Bone Plain (slightly belated, as I didn't buy it immediately and then my mother offered me her copy for Christmas), and it got me un-stuck on a short story that I just finished. Most of my short stories seem to be very McKillipy; it's something about the dreamy fairytale voice as a wavelength on which my brain resonates well in short bursts. At any rate, The Bards of Bone Plain was conveniently partitioned by little bits of academic paper at the beginning of every other chapter, and those broke up the flow sufficiently that I didn't just plough through it in one sitting, and wrote bits and pieces of my own story in between.
I've been thinking about applying to Viable Paradise (despite their somewhat awful website, I have outside confirmation that they're a reputable enterprise; also, this year's staff includes Sherwood Smith, which is kind of cool.) My thoughts on writing workshops are somewhat ambiguous, since my previous experience has included people saying "well, nobody can teach you how to write..." and the requisite fantasy writer's stumbling block of people who find fantasy about as worthwhile as (to be honest) I find their modern attempts at "great literature." Not that there's anything wrong with literature (whatever that is, anyway) but on the balance I'd far rather read a fairy tale than about some guy agonizing over real world troubles. (Arthur: "No. I'd like to go back to Earth again, I'm afraid, or its nearest equivalent." Ford: "You're turning down a hundred million new worlds to explore...")
And there's the motivating problem (ie, why I never go to cons, &ct) in that it's expensive, and far away, and requires effort (ha!) and the first time I mentioned it to
grauwulf he was surprisingly supportive even after I mentioned all that, and the second time he'd forgotten that bit and asked why I'd want to do such a thing. So, yeah. However... writing being a learn&grow experience, I'm getting better at it, and happier with my results. But I don't have a very good feedback network-- see above re:various literary tastes for another reason I haven't sought out a writing group on spec, and ideally I'd want a group who not only shared similar genre interests, but who were in the same ball-park in terms of writing development without getting into hurt feelings saying "but your story is terrible, you can't join my club!"-- and I don't want to end up in a "practicing wrong" sort of situation where lack of feedback leads me to end up writing things that only make sense to me. What I really want (I think) is an enthusiastic writing group, and I think a workshop with a couple dozen other people pre-vetted by industry professionals to be worth teaching would be a good place to look for one. Getting guidance from said industry professionals doesn't sound like such a bad option either; if nothing else, I can add that to my mental file of how this stuff is actually supposed to work, and they make something of a point that part of what they coach you for is getting through to publication. All the people writing testimonials make a big point about the sense of community, which could of course be that only people who feel a sense of community write testimonials, but is still encouraging.
So, yeah. This is the sort of thing I would have desperately wanted to go to when I was in high school, but probably not have been quite ready for, and I'm trying to decide whether this is just me being jaded in a worn down sort of way, or whether I'm growing into good sense. Also, my "it never hurts to apply" reflex is running into the problem of having to write an enthusiastic cover letter, in which I'm still not entirely sure what to say (despite rambling here in hopes of inspiration.)
Also, I have another Patricia McKillip book to read; I just acquired a copy of In the Forests of Serre, which I hadn't read since it came out, and only really remembered as the book with that silly princess who keeps shooting arrows at things like the moon, which is not what it's really about at all. I had entirely forgotten the witch, but she is helping me with the re-thinking of some of Jennet's motivations, which I'd been having trouble with. (It being somewhat difficult to construct believable characters who've lived about 15 times as long as you have...)
la, la, la...
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-04 08:07 pm (UTC)Having other enthusiastic people around helps. (My group has decided that this year they're actually going to write, instead of sitting around talking about how they're going to write, and it's made a great deal of difference for me.)
If you think long-distance is doable I'd be happy to be involved in such a thing.
a workshop with a couple dozen other people pre-vetted by industry professionals to be worth teaching would be a good place to look for one.
I hadn't considered that aspect, but I think you're right. In addition, it may provide a sufficient creative/motivational jolt to get you moving, without the 'oh god i just did a month and a half of nothing but writing i need to take a break' of things like Clarion. (This was Gene Wolfe's argument against things like Clarion: too many people go to Clarion, take a short break, and then two years later haven't started again.)
Best of luck, in any event.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 06:11 pm (UTC)I have been thinking about doing a month or so where I just post my daily wordcount every day, even if it's 0, and was wondering if this would be something you'd be interested in joining in on. Kind of a personal accountability thing but possibly more motivating if there are people to compare against.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 02:59 pm (UTC)I would be up for wordcount posting! March or April would be best for me, as otherwise it's not happening until July.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 01:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 12:18 am (UTC)On an unrelated note... your christmas letter said things about exciting brewery news. Is there a website where we might observe the glamour of your t-shirts and find out more about what is being brewed?
no subject
Date: 2011-02-15 02:41 pm (UTC)There's a panel on the left that lists the beers we're working on. Right now we're still testing everything at home and waiting for the loan to go through so we can buy real professional equipment. There are also t-shirts, but they aren't very glamorous on the site because we have yet to get proper photos taken of people wearing them.