Clarion Week One

Dear Steve, Don't Give Up the Day Job...
It's Sunday night, 9pm. Samuel Delany has been and gone, and myself and the twenty-one other Clarionites are gearing up for the second week with Michael Swanwick at the helm (who has already given us a kick-ass pre-week talk about how hard he's going to work for us---the guy's read our submission stories and the batch of stories that were critiqued from the first week).

Samuel Delany, as well as being an iconic figure of the spec-fic world and a stand-up guy who is great fun to hang-out with because he's lived so much life, really hammered the mechanics of writing during the first week. As well as hopefully becoming a better writer, I'm becoming a better reader, too. I say that because my critical facilities that I take to a piece of writing are not up to the standard required to begin to write a high-quality piece of work. Clarion's teaching me these critical facilities. I've noticed that a piece of fiction can often mesmerize with stunning prose, or novel ideas, or interesting voice. What I'm learning here is that the best stories are all those things and more. Does the story have good dramatic structure? Is there received langauge? Has the author grounded the piece adequately? It is only when all the elements come together at the same time that there is a really satisfying reading experience.

Casey: Okay, Sarah's Acting Weird
Outside the morning critique circles, the days have been filled with reading and analysing the following days' stories, writing, watching World Cup games, bouncing ideas off one another, seeing Superman Returns (really awful--and I can tell you why in lots of story-based ways now...but I'll spare you that), attending a Delany reading, and lots of goofing around. Oh, and the occasional few hours sleep.

About my fellow Clarionites. They are talented, passionate, articulate, funny, kind, warm people. And those are the qualities of every single one of them--not a cumulative thing. From Steve's intelligent wit to Will Luwigsen's dry humour, from Livia's fascinating critiques to Felice's boundless energy, from BK's take on an American Psycho to Sean's zen-like focus, from Nye's knowledge of how to poison a man to Shveta's infinite kindness, from Rahul's laconic, guided-missile thoughts to Brad's quiet hilarity, from Vince's wild imagination to Ceallaigh's pure passion, from Alex's one-liners to Chris' editorial expertise, from Casey's flaming swords to Sarah's clay people, from Michael's alien stories to Robert's late-night bellowing, from Will Alexander's theatrical flourishes to Jemma's precocious talent, and not forgetting Aimee's fictional crows, these are people I like being around. And I'd place money that this group is going to spawn many great works of fiction in the future!

A Rose Between Two Thorns
[DISCLAIMER: CLICHED DESCRIPTIONS IN NO WAY SUGGEST THE PEOPLE ARE TOO]

Quote of the Week:

Chip Delany - "If you're going to fuck the dog, put it in all the way."