Clarion West sf writing workshop: last chance to save $100 on tuition
Eileen sez, "The deadline is coming up fast for this year's Clarion West Writers Workshop. Apply by February 1 and save $100 on tuition (if you're accepted). Study with Cory Doctorow, Chuck Palahniuk, Connie Willis, Mary Rosenblum, Paul Park, and Sheree R. Thomas. The final deadline is March 1: applications must be RECEIVED by that day. You can apply by mail or online. Scholarships are available."
Link
(Thanks, Eileen!)
the latest
latest episodes
Is this something you guys are going to do every year, as this year wont be able to happen, but next year should be okay...
With the market place as tight as it is, does a Clarion certificate improve one's chances of making a sale? I guess it can't hurt. I wonder what percentage of published sf-f authors have attended Clarion??? Is there a strong correlation?
#1 for me, it would be more about the benefits of tuition and the chance to meet and talk to some really great writers, rather than the piece of paper at the end..
I agree, it can be very rewarding to talk with other writers, learing what they have to share. It's really why I'm here.
Jeff, Clarion and the other major SF writing workshops have a relatively high rate of students who go on to make professional sales, especially compared to mainstream workshops. This isn't because the workshops have so much prestige that editors feel obliged to buy work from their graduates. (Note: membership in SFWA doesn't do it either.) Our workshops are just very effective at teaching students to write the stuff.
What's the term in journalism for revealing your own connections with the subject of a story? The phrase has slipped my mind just now. At any rate: Cory (obviously) teaches at Clarion, my husband Patrick teaches at Clarion, and Cory and Patrick and I all teach at Viable Paradise. I'd say the same about the genre's major workshops even if I'd never set foot in one. It's a matter of fact. You could demonstrate it with statistics alone.
That said, there are all kinds of writers who start selling professionally without ever going near a workshop. As ever, the deciding factor is whether you can write material that people want to buy and read. If you can do that, you can get published.
The only circumstance that trumps that last rule is being literally and non-trivially impossible to work with.
The term is "full disclosure". Cry hs hd cpl f psts rcntly tht lckd ths pr frm. rlz t's xtr rdndnt typng, bt s rdr wld pprct th gstr.
Having earned an MFA at a respected program, I can say that a name carries some weight, maybe opens a couple of doors for you, but it ultimately does come down to the writing. Working with other writers can point out what's working and not working with your material in ways that maybe you can't see, and it can add the outside pressure of a deadline to help you gain the discipline of treating writing as work and something you have to do and do and do.
However, many people who graduated from all kinds of writing programs speak about "writing to the group," meaning you can fall into the pit of writing for your readers. I think a program like Clarion, being short and focused, sounds like a great opportunity.
Writing programs are turning out a lot of people with useless degrees.
Clarion's a six-week intensive workshop. Viable Paradise is one intensive week. The best advice about writing tends to be fairly simple. It's putting it into practice that's tough, and that's something you do on your own.
The obvious solution is to pass laws forbidding the publication of works by people without degrees.
The day that law is passed, I go into business as a degree-granting institution.
#6:
Thank you, J. Random.Writing degrees are not useless. Having a master's degree in creative writing can be lucrative in a number of fields, not the least of which is publishing (my field). I earn about $10k more a year than I did prior to getting my "useless" degree as a senior editor. If I ever decide to return to teaching, I can apply for any job, not just adjunct, since mine is the terminal degree in the field. I was also able to spend three years writing, teaching, and dodging a cube--and that experience was priceless.
The sad fact is, no matter what you do, the likelihood of making it as a successful writer living off your work is ridiculously slim. And yes, some writing advice is simple, but some people need/want the time and encouragement that a two- or three-year program offers to work it out.
The people who spent more time partying and less time writing and walked away without a solid start to a project or a clear idea as to what they wanted to do next might consider their degree to be "useless," but to me, such a description would be more apt about the person holding said degree.
This applies to anything, whether it's the writing program at Iowa or Clarion or some community college correspondence course. It's not accurate to call academic writing programs "useless." You get back what you put in.
Just a reminder: Clarion West and Clarion are two different workshops with similar names and a common heritage.
The workshop that we're talking about here ($100 tuition discount if you apply by February 1) is Clarion West, which is held in Seattle. Instructors are Cory Doctorow, Chuck Palahniuk, Connie Willis, Mary Rosenblum, Paul Park, and Sheree R. Thomas.
The Clarion Workshop has different instructors and is held in San Diego. The two workshops are on friendly terms. (I attended Clarion, and am on the board of Clarion West.)
The final deadline for each workshop is March 1.
Anonymous #1: The Clarion West Workshop is held every year, but the instructors are different every year. (Many instructors, such as Patrick Nielsen Hayden, have taught more than once, and many have taught at each workshop.)
Jeff, #2:
Will the workshop improve a student's chances of making a sale?
That's a good question. It can shorten your learning curve and help you figure out what you need to do to improve your writing. It can help you come up better strategies for increasing your productivity. It can provide you with a strong and supportive group of peers who have some idea of what you're trying to do. It gives you in-depth critiques, by your peers and the visiting professional, on the stories you finish at the workshop. It gives you a chance to understand the strengths and weaknesses in your own work by critiqing the same in your peers' stories.
I think it will help you improve your chances of making a sale. The workshop is basically the enabler. You do the work, and you deserve the credit.
Hope that helps.
Ooops. Full disclosure: I'm Eileen Gunn. Clarion grad, Vice-Chair of Clarion West Board, fiction writer, editor of the Infinite Matrix.
Eileen Gunn, thanks for the info. I took several writing classes in high school and college: journalism, critique writing, creative, and technical (for research papers). And I've been part of a writers' group. I'm not sure how much more I could get out of a group process, but I wish I had the time just to go and work with the others. It sounds "fun."
Hi, Eileen. Thanks for the info.
Thivai, where are you editing, that they care about a Master's in Creative Writing?
Editors are editors. You can tell whether they know what they're doing. If they know, it hardly matters where they learned it. I know senior editors with advanced degrees who work side-by-side with senior editors who are highschool dropouts. You couldn't tell which was which by looking at their work.
I work for an educational publisher. The pay schedule for the position is influenced by the level of education. People with advanced degrees earn more. And since my degree is in creative writing, I'm the senior editor for the reading/language arts material and I usually get first shot at revising manuscript (for any content area) if the freelance writer is unavailable or determined not to be up to snuff for the project. So the degree is also applicable.
I'm not arguing that a master's degree makes anyone better than anyone else, just refuting the claim that it's useless. I think MFA programs can be highly valuable for the exact reasons Eileen listed above and that a degree can do more than a certificate from Clarion/West can in many situations. Having said that, I have issues with how many MFA programs are run, including the bais against "genre" fiction. I am extremely supportive of programs like Clarion/West.
Wanting to be a writer is a frustrating and often unrewarding desire. However people want to go down that road--whether it's through a university, an intensive writing seminar, or just reading everything you can get your hands on--is equally valid.
This is a cool opportunity thanks Boingx2, Cory, Clarion for making it available so broadly. A great way to invest in your own talent. I miss the Emerald City and to go fulooting off for some literary intensive has guilty allure for me.
But alas, I am aged, and have responsibilities. (Remind you of Tevya from 'Fiddler? TRADITION!) Of course I don't know that I am a talented writer either. Theres that.
Jeff #17:
Having the time and money to go to a six-week workshop is a problem for most people. Scholarships are available, but time taken off from work often creates a hardship. The Viable Paradise workshop, a week-long event, is well worth considering as an alternative -- or as an appetizer. It may help you decide whether a longer workshop would be useful. (Hi, Teresa!)
Committing six weeks of your time to a write-or-die marathon, however, is a life-changing experience. I emptied out my bank account to go to Clarion many years ago, and I have never regretted it. I was already a professional writer and, like yourself, had taken creative writing courses and workshops. Clarion was an order of magnitude different.
I have been part of Clarion West for 19 years to help make sure that, like Clarion, it provides an environment where people work hard and find out how good they can be.
X, #20:
I am not so sure that the concept of "talented writer" is a useful one. Just do it. Follow your interests. You'll get better at the things that you are interested in and do.
You may have an advantage over some more youthful people who aren't sure what they want to do with their lives. If you don't do it, you'll never know.