Thursday, May 3, 2012

Memories of Clarion West

Eleven years ago I had the privilege of attending the Clarion West Writers Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy in Seattle, Washington. For anyone who hasn't heard of it, the Clarion Workshops are intense, to put it mildly. For six weeks, seventeen students are taught by professional writers - ours were Octavia Butler, Bradley Denton, Nalo Hopkinson, Connie Willis, Ellen Datlow, and Jack Womack. Every morning we'd get up, scrounge some breakfast, and then head to a critique session. Three students would have their heads on the block. We'd have read their stories and go around the circle, analyzing, criticizing, and trying to suggest cures for whatever ailed the piece. The last person to go would be the instructor. After being roasted by seventeen other people, the author was permitted to do two things: 1) ask for clarification and 2) thank everyone.

This has been such a valuable lesson for me because when you write professionally, you can't argue with your readers. You can't complain that they "didn't get it". It was your job to make them get it. Your only remedy is to learn from mistakes, sit back down at the keyboard, and do better next time.

In the science fiction and fantasy genre, a lot of professional writers groups use the Clarion style of critiques, and it was my time at Clarion West that qualified me to join Critical Mass, a writer's group in New Mexico that helped keep me working hard for the next ten years. Meanwhile many of my former workshop mates were finding their own way in critique groups, earning degrees and research grants, and winning awards and accolades such as Hugo and Nebula nominations and novel publishing deals.

It's been a privilege to be associated with my former classmates, and it's been a blessing that social media like email and Facebook have allowed us to keep a connection and be a part of each others lives and careers. This year, we decided to celebrate with a reunion anthology. Since the workshop was in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, we titled it, Under the Needle's Eye. Eleven of us have contributed stories and novel excerpts, and it was my privilege to oversee the copy editing and to convert the book to Kindle format. I have to say, my classmates' work leaves me both humbled and bursting with pride.

And I made us this book trailer:



I hope it conveys some of the sincere admiration I have for my classmates and the incredible fun it was putting this project together. The anthology is FREE today and tomorrow on Amazon, so come find us Under the Needle's Eye!



20 comments:

  1. Ooh, how exciting! I can't wait to read this. I read Angelfall by Susan Ee, and I am still holding my breath waiting for the second book. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wasn't it FANTASTIC? We put an excerpt from Book 1 in the anthology, for people who haven't discovered her yet. She's not allowed to write anything but Book 2 these days (as in, we'd go to her house and beat her up if we found out she was working on anything else - or at least try to bribe her with chocolate).

      Delete
  2. That's awesome. Congrats, and thanks for sharing. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Leisha. Everyone please do help themselves to a free download, because every one of those builds up valuable link associations on the Amazon site for us. That is how the free promotions work as well as they do, by boosting your "people who read this also bought..." links, so no one feel guilty at all snagging a free book!

      Delete
    2. I just downloaded it and started reading. Thanks again. :)

      Delete
  3. Great trailer! And that sounds like a fantastic workshop. Wow - so neat to see what's happened in the last eleven years! Thanks for sharing, and for the download!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jonene! It was a fantastic workshop, and it's still running. Meanwhile, Needle's Eye is 24th in Genre Anthologies on Amazon - yaaay!

      Delete
  4. Opportunities like that are priceless. I love what you said about not complaining the reader's didn't get it. It's our job as writers for them to get it. And that's why we need CPs and beta readers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's true. It's not something I thought about starting out, how cultivating friendships and colleague relationships was also essential to growing as a writer.

      Meanwhile, Needle's eye is now 5th in Genre Anthologies on Amazon! I am stunned at how fast it is climbing.

      Delete
  5. I'll never forgive you for being cool enough to hang with Octavia Butler. One of the greatest ever, left us too soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh please... Everyone, meet George RR Martin's personal assistant (yes, really). LOL

      The anthology is now #1 in Genre Anthologies, #13 in Short Stories, and #952 in all free content for Kindle!!!

      Delete
    2. Er, actually, make that #9 in short stories and #810 overall. Still climbing!

      Delete
  6. Nice book trailer! And I like that you included the Museum of Sci-Fi on your cover.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, and by the time I ran downstairs to tell my husband to get the anthology, he had already downloaded it for our kindle.

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Rebecca! Hope you and your husband enjoy it. We're up to #777 overall on Amazon, now.

      Delete
  7. Very nice! Best of luck (but it doesn't sound like you need it!!). :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Susan! Another anthology entered the free promotion fray this morning and is 500 overall ranks above us. We're still climbing though (but we're at 666 overall - that a sign, you think?) We're now 2nd in anthologies and 6th in short stories. And we're still free, so keep the downloads coming!

      Delete
  8. So if I haven't broken in by the time the youngest child goes off to college, I am definitely going to this thing! It sounds amazing, Emily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't recommend it highly enough. It was life changing. For a shorter, cheaper one, I can also recommend Viable Paradise which focuses more on novels, while Clarion tends to focus on short stories. And there's also Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp, which is done in the Clarion style and is also shorter.

      The anthology is now available for $2.99 on Amazon!

      Delete

What be on yer mind?