Lecture — What’s next?

• Places to go after RAWR to continue writing career, because there’s a lot
• What worked/didn’t RAWR, so we can figure out what’s next
• Staying in touch as a group after going through this together:
  • helps to have this community of people who know about each other
  • We have familiarity with what we’re all trying to do (rather than starting fresh with a new critique group, where people may have suggestions for a story you’re not actually trying to write, e.g: literary snobs who might make you justify your genre)
  • cohort with similar starting point and familiarity with discourses within the genre, rather than trying to catch them up to the tropes
• Continuing to read:
  • Provide recommendations to each other because now we have a good idea of what each other like
  • Also, good to get reading material by volunteering as a slush reader for awards/magazines (also good way to broaden horizons w/ stuff you might not read), read Year’s Best , etc. Pick up by osmosis
  • What would your response to those be?
  • Be a bone-stealer - steal a skeleton to enter into a story of your own (Disney, noir, fairy tales, etc)
  • Focus on metagenres, e.g: queer fiction
  • Email lists, e.g: book smugglers’ X Marks the Spot, Fireside, Fiyah
• Other workshops:
  • apply multiple times, since you’ll probably be paired up with similar sensibilities
  • Mention that you know previous members (Kyell and Dayna)
  • List this workshop as a reference
  • Clarion:
    • six weeks, RAWR kind of condensed version of first week + the rest
    • Genre focus (sff)
    • 20 attendees
    • See which authors are going to teach:
      • The Anchor Team (last two instructors)
      • a consideration, yes, but what you take away from it is your cohort
      • More just tells you what to apply with
    • probably rolling classes over another year
    • Clarion West in Seattle
    • Clarion in San Diego
    • Get access to archive of first drafts
    • “Fun Trauma”/”MFA in a Bottle”:
      • shorthand for understanding that you’re serious, they approach you in a different frame of mind
      • some of the takeaways are the same, but Clarion can be less painful
      • The big takeaway is connections
      • Dayna prefers experience, right choice for some
    • Still, not necessary
  • CSSF Kij’s workshop at U Kansas:
    • Focused on novel writing:
      • also novel structuring
      • Work on kitbashing - what makes it tick?
    • SFF
    • Also Repeat Offenders:
      • like ReRAWR
      • Invited back, kind of retreat
    • Smaller: 6-8 attendees
    • Kij has both traditional and furry cred
    • Barb does everything through self publishing
    • Tries to pair folks up (paired Kyell and Watts) so no one is stranded/left with folks not knowing what they’re going for
  • Taos:
    • One particular guy runs it
    • Good reputation
  • Viable Paradise:
    • A few instructors (may have changed?)
    • Opens apps Jan 1
  • Odyssey
  • WriteFest:
    • multiple workshop programs (poetry, memoirs, lit fic, etc)
    • Not residential, but can roll into a conference right after with lots of good info
    • Scary Stories for Young Foxes
  • Highlights Foundation does a middle grade workshop
  • Readercon
  • Orycon
  • Emerald City Comic Con (though very artist focused)
  • Make your own workshop…??? :thinking emoji:
• Alumni network:
  • folks from other classes
  • Can settle into a group like that
  • Maybe get together for a long weekend
• Online vs Residential:
  • Missing:
    • cohabitation
    • coffee runs
    • accidental opportunities to talk about writing
    • feels like a mini-convention
    • wake up and only obligation is writing and writing-adjacent stuff
  • Benefit:
    • Ended up being more accessible, esp when travel is difficult
    • nice to still be able to get people together
    • sometimes folks can’t make it for logistical reasons or disabilities and this allows sidestepping that
• Workshops for short/anthology horror:
  • Clarion considers horror to be genre
  • Another Kansas workshop w/ Chris McKitterick, CSSF Short Story workshop, might be good for horror
  • Con panels specific to horror (Foolscap, NorWesCon, Wiscon, WriteFest)
  • Folks to ask: Voice, Howl
• Voodonauts
• Queer-focused workshops:
  • Clarion has some queer instructors, etc
  • e.g: can look for queer instructors when applying
  • Masterclass
  • Cat Rambo, N K Jemisin
• Hopepunk, solarpunk, good stuff
• Rosarium