Reminder: Viable Paradise Applications Due June 30
Posted on June 8, 2009 Posted by John Scalzi 31 Comments
While we’re on the subject of writing workshops, I would be hideously remiss not to remind you that if you are hoping to apply to (and thus possibly attend) Viable Paradise, the week-long writing workshop at which I serve as an instructor, the proverbial clock is ticking: All applications need to be in by the end of this month, June 30, 2009. This gives you just a shade over three weeks to get your application together and in to us (although, you know. Sooner = better).
If you’re asking yourself “is this writing workshop really worth my time and money?” my answer would be, “No, unless you like the idea of spending a week being taught by some of the best writers and editors in science fiction and fantasy, in a setting of intense natural and scenic beauty, with fellow up-and-coming sf/f writers who, judging by VP’s alumni track record, may very well set the genre alight in the coming years. In which case: Maybe it is.” Hey, I call it like I see it, man.
In any event: Get your stuff together and get it in. June 30 will be here sooner than you think.
Funny to see this here, when I just dropped off my application at the post office this morning.
*returns to biting nails anxiously*
*Looks at Lisa’s nails. Thinks that they don’t look all that tasty. Wonders why she is eating them. Wonders if she’ll share*
DO IT!
I got my application in just under the cut last year, not expecting to get in, and lo! I suddenly had to figure out flights.
Well worth the trip. And the late nights.
This has been one of the best experiences of my fledgling writing career. I highly recommend it to any who are serious about learning to be a better writer.
Sigh. Once again, not this year.
Patrick M: I guess since I didn’t bring enough for the whole class, I’d better put them away, huh?
One of these years, I’ll believe in myself enough.
But you can’t help me with that, Johnny. No matter how much green ink I apply to your forehead with a *pof pof pof* sound.
Someday, said the broken Bard. Someday…. Someday… Someday…
My wife wanted me to do this and I’m sorely tempted.
A question though – does the submission have to be from a completed manuscript? The one I’d like to submit isn’t finished (may be by the end of the year), but it’s the one I’d like to workshop vs some of my older ones.
Matt:
“does the submission have to be from a completed manuscript?”
No, although the portions you submit should be finished (i.e., they don’t stop mid-chapter). This is actually covered on the VP Web site, linked in the entry — I encourage you to click through.
Do you have to be published to attend?
No.
Folks, really: Read the Web site. It has all your answers there.
MasterThief: Are you kidding? No. The only thing I’ve published is an article about my cat for a German cat magazine :-) That wasn’t in my submission materials, natch.
I applied last year, having never applied for a workshop and having never published any fiction and got in–and it was one of the best weeks of my life. Seriously, if you’re thinking about it, it means that you *are* ready. Even if you think you *might* be ready, apply. You never know what the instructors will see in you that you can’t–or won’t–see in yourself.
Since then made my first pro sale (a story I workshopped at VP) and found the cohones to apply to Clarion. Take it from me: VP can be life-changing. Don’t hesitate… and, really, all they can say is No or YES!
@Katrina: Did you tape bacon to it?
Sorry, but someone was going to.
Not really.
I’m not a writer, but I’ve read fiction by a number of VP graduates, and I can certainly attest to the quality of the work they produce. If you’re considering making a go at pro-writing, I think it’d be a good investment to attend.
Oh, and good luck, Lisa!
@Glen Murie: it had already been done by someone, can’t quite remember who. No, my angle was he’s a sailing cat. Not quite as meme-worthy as bacon. But I did get paid. And the cat did get fan mail. Go figure.
Will there be cake?
Patrick M. @18: I seem to recall cake at some point. I will say, though, that the fabulous staff (all–or most–previous VP students) kept us very well fed and desserted–cookies or brownies pretty much every night. Oh, and beer.
There’s beer? I might rethink this whole not-a-writer thing.
Let me second TKay’s assessment of the vittles. They even went out of their way to keep my tree nut allergy under control!
(I seem to remember a particularly good curried chicken.)
Josh Jasper @20:
Yep. Beer. Even in the a.m. toward the end of the week for those particularly difficult critique sessions :) Not that *I* drank any before cocktail hour. No, no, no. Not at all. No, really.
Mental Note – no reading things that require comprehension after staring all day at someone’s code in a programming language you don’t understand.
Thanks. Me thinks I’ll be digging up some money to submit. Certainly can’t hurt:)
Wondering if you fly right in to the Vineyard or if you take the boat across?
The reason I ask is I am from Falmouth where the boats depart to the Vineyard.
If you plan to take the boat over drop me a line….would love to meet you and share a few beers at a Woods Hole watering hole.
PS…..No need to be afraid, I only eat the brains of tourists I don’t respect:D
Damn I’d love to do that. Too bad there’s no way in hell I could afford it.
Yeah, I’d apply but between airfare and everything, probably no way to swing it…
Need to rewrite Act I and send in. Still working to see if I would have the finances to go (last year I was saving enough to go this year, but then the day job went boom).
I think maybe I’ll apply in 2011. Right now, I need to save my bar money… Er, um, writing income for a crime fic convention that I haven’t attended in two years. And my liver is getting awfully healthy again. We just can’t have that. My doctor will get bored and start prescribing mood enhancers instead of real medicine.
Going to Viable Paradise is the single best thing that’s happened to me as a writer.
I wasn’t published before I went but I learned tons and was able to meet some very cool people. Also sold my first story due to one of the writing exercises.
Really, if you’re considering going, please apply!
The idea both terrifies and delights me. I suspect that means it would be a good thing to do.
I would absolutely love to do VP.
However, I’m a teacher person, doing LD-level special ed. VP happens during one of the craziest times of my working year, and there’s no way I can get enough time off–especially given tight financial restrictions on substitutes–in the foreseeable future.
Sigh. Meanwhile, all of the good one-week workshops happen during the teacher work year. Clarion sounds too damned much like grad school for me to give up that much of my down time to do it. Sigh. I wish someone would come up with a decent one-to-two week summer workshop (outside of the Gunn workshops in Kansas) for those of us with the teaching day jobs.
Dream on, I guess.