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Advice for Attending a Writing Workshop

Image of handwritten notesA student wrote in to let me know they’d made it into Odyssey, huzzah, and asked if I had any advice about attending a workshop. As a matter of fact I do. Like many things in life, you get more out of a workshop if you’re willing to invest a little effort beforehand, during, and afterward.

I went through a number of workshops in college at both the undergraduate and graduate level, but the place where I learned the most was Clarion West, a six week workshop in Seattle. My instructors were Octavia Butler, Andy Duncan, L. Timmel Duchamp, Connie Willis, Gordon van Gelder, and Michael Swanwick; my classmates included Ann Leckie, E.C.Myers, Rashida Smith, and Rachel Swirsky, among others. If you read a lot of F&SF, you may recognize many of those names and realize how incredibly privileged I was to be part of that year.

How I Prepared

  • Read work by your instructors. At least a few stories or a novel. Get a sense for what they will be able to give; there will be things you won’t expect, but you will learn what you like and dislike about their writing and what you want them to teach you.
  • Come with story ideas. Not stories, but prompts and scenes. A list of potential titles. A page where you took fifteen minutes to generate ideas.
  • Put other shit on hold. Clear the decks so unrelated work and deadlines is not distracting you. You want to give it your all. The spouse of one of my fellows had their children writing letters saying how much they missed the parent and wanted them to come home, and it was one of the clearest examples of someone sabotaging their partner that I have ever witnessed. Don’t let anyone do this to you. Make the most of the workshop while you can.

Text reads: "Ask people questions more than you tell them about yourself." Image to accompany blog post by Cat Rambo about advice for writing workshops.
Useful Things I Did

  • Go first. One of the things that has stood me well in life is a habit of volunteering to go first, mainly due to a let’s-just-get-this-over-with-already impatience. I’ve done it every time I’ve been in a workshop and it helps you not feel that you have to live up to earlier examples. Do a nice job and you can actually be that intimidating classmate whose work people worry about living up to.
  • Talk to people. Your fellow students are a peer group you’ll be interacting with for years to come. Be a good citizen and avoid being a jackass, even if it’s your natural tendency. Ask people questions more than you tell them about yourself. Listen.
  • Take good notes. I like to write stuff down, at the time in Moleskinnes. If there was ever a time for learning to write good notes, this is it. If you have difficulty, you might ask your classmates about recording.
  • Take care of your body. Six weeks is a long time and one in which health issues can develop if you’re not careful. Stretch. Walk daily; work out a few times each week if you can. You will emerge more energetic and creative as a result of investing that time and effort.

What I Would Have Done Differently

  • You can’t go home again. I did go home two weekends in order to hang with my spouse and cats. In retrospect, while that did recharge me, I should have spent that time hanging out with my classmates since that time was pretty finite.
  • Take some board games. I don’t know why I didn’t think to do this, perhaps because we weren’t gaming as much then as we used to. I would take games that were easy to teach, had a timespan of never more than an hour or hour, and which stressed creativity. Examples: Codenames, Dixit, Fiasco, Microscope.

Life Post-Workshop

  • Grieve that idyllic life a bit. It’s okay to mourn. You will miss some of your classmates fiercely. Some will become lifelong friends; others will fade back into the world and never be heard from again.
  • Go back over your notes. I still go back over my notes periodically, sometimes making notes in a different color; I’m about due to review these again.
  • Write and write and write some more. Apply what you’ve learned. Experiment. Reply to other people’s stories with your own. And send stuff out. And welcome to you. Once you have made the first sale of six cents or more a word, join SFWA, but even before then use its resources like the SFWA Blog, Writer Beware, and the SFWA reading series across the country.

Can’t make it to a live workshop? There’s also plenty of online ones. My own Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers features two this weekend: How to Write Better Food with Cassandra Khaw and Ideas Are Everywhere with Rachel Swirsky.

Here’s a full list of live classes and details about how to take one for free. Or consult the excellent list of speculative fiction workshops Kelly Robson has compiled.

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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."

~K. Richardson

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Why Podcast? Reasons For Writers

Picture of Cat Rambo with a dragon on her shoulder
The human associated with this fine dragon is Goldeen Ogawa (http://www.goldeenogawa.com/).
This Sunday, Folly Blaine and I are teaching another podcasting class. Here’s the description:

Podcasting Basics
Podcasts, both audio and video, are an increasingly popular way to reach an audience. In this two hour session, learn what you need to know to record and edit your own podcast, how to promote your podcast, and what equipment and software to use. As Folly Blaine, Christy records and acts as Podcast Manager for Every Day Fiction, and has also recorded podcasts for Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Wily Writers, and This Mutant Life; Cat is the former fiction editor of Fantasy Magazine and has recorded podcasts for Clarkesworld, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Fantasy Magazine. Limited enrollment ““ reserve a slot now!
Sunday, 9:30-11:30 AM PST, February 9
$99

Why might you be interested in podcasting and learning to do your own? Here’s a few reasons:

  • It’s a good way to reach a new set of readers. Many of the people who listen to podcasts prefer that to finding your stuff in text form inline. They’ll listen to your story in the car, while exercising, while working, and other places where text isn’t convenient. And they’re always looking for new, good stuff.
  • It’s a great way to polish your reading aloud skills. As a writer you’ll need to do readings. We’ll give you some tips in the class, but the best way to get better at it? Practice.
  • It makes you comprehend your work in a new way. I always read aloud stories as a last step in polishing them. Combine that with recording a podcast and you’re examining your work in order to figure out how it sounds.
  • Last week, my agent told me that authors who record their own books see a significant bump in sales, but that publishing houses don’t like to have them do it, because they’re unsure of the quality. If you can point to previous podcasting experience, you can back up the suggestion that you read your own work and even have samples of what you can do.

When publicizing “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” I made sure it was available in audio form. Did that help earn it a Nebula nomination? I don’t know, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

Enjoy this advice for writers and want more content like it? Check out the classes Cat gives via the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, which offers both on-demand and live online writing classes for fantasy and science fiction writers from Cat and other authors, including Ann Leckie, Seanan McGuire, Fran Wilde and other talents! All classes include three free slots.

Prefer to opt for weekly interaction, advice, opportunities to ask questions, and access to the Chez Rambo Discord community and critique group? Check out Cat’s Patreon. Or sample her writing here.

...

Rambo Academy Certificates

The Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers now has a certification program! I wanted students to have a way to represent the work they’ve put into the live classes when applying for jobs, workshops, and other opportunities, and so I’ve put together four categories.

How it works: If you have taken five classes in a category, you have earned a certificate. Mail me with the category or categories and the names of the classes, and I will send you the certificate as a .pdf. You have permission to display it on your website.

I’m working on something similar for the on-demand classes — look for that coming soon.

The categories are:

  • WorldBuilder – Classes on worldbuilding and characters fall into this slot. Examples include: Fantastic Worldbuilding, Masks and Mayhem with Carrie Vaughn, and Writing about Horses with Judith Tarr.
  • WordWeaver – Classes that focus on language, techniques, and tools. Examples include Literary Techniques for Genre Writers, Power Word Real Name: Upping Your Game with Names and Titles, and The Power of Words.
  • StorySmith – Classes that focus on story structure, including specific genres. Examples include Flash Fiction workshop, Mapping the Labyrinth: Plotting Your Novel So Stuff Happens, and Moving from Idea to Draft.
  • Bookmonger – Classes that focus on publishing and the book industry. Examples include Book Promotion on a Budget, Managing Social Media For Writers, and So You Want to Put Together an Anthology?.
  • GameMaker – Classes that focus on writing for and building games. Examples include Adapting Your Novel into a Game, Worldbuilding for Games, and Writing Interactive Fiction.

This list is, I believe, complete, and sorts past classes into their groups. If you took a class and cannot find it on the list, mail me. If you took my six week workshop, that counts as one credit in each category. Currently almost all classes that are coming up have links; eventually this should all be filled in.

WORLDBUILDER
Beyond Bipeds: When Aliens Look Nothing Like Us
Blood, Guts, Gore & More
Character Building Workshop
Christmas in Narnia: Creating Traditions for Fictional Cultures
Consent Is Sexy: Writing Consensual Scenes
Cross-Examining Your Character
Crypto- and Xenobiology and You: How To Build a Better, More Believable Beast, Using SCIENCE!
Cussing in Secondary Worlds
Designing Magic Systems
Dialogue and Dialect
Different Kinds of Love: Writing Relationships that Aren’t Romantic
Dunking Your Reader in the Details
Eating Your Words: How to Write About Food
Fantastic Worldbuilding
Fashion of Worldbuilding: Clothing, Technology, and Taboos
Follow the Money: Using Economics in Plotting, World-building, and Character Development
Groups, Parties, and Crews: Writing Ensembles
High-Speed Worldbuilding for Games and Fiction
Historical Research for Writers
Hooray for Evil: Fearsome Monsters and Effective Villains
How to Write Better Food
How to Write Steampunk and Weird Western
In Flagrante Delicto: Writing Effective Sex Scenes
It’s Almost Here: Writing Near-term Science Fiction
Mapping Fantasy
Masks and Mayhem: How to Write Superheroes
No More Lone Wolves: Writing Characters in Community
Reasonable Consequences: Building a Better Alternate Universe
Power and Politics in Worldbuilding: Schemes, Factions, and Culture
Prophecies, Predictions, and Prognostications: Creating Fortune-Telling Systems for Your World
To Space Opera and Beyond
Queer Is a Verb: Disrupting the Norm
The Spice Must Flow: Writing Speculative Drugs
Story Generator Workshop
Systems of Magic: How to Use Your Magic to Enrich Your Worldbuilding
Taking Your Titles to the Next Level
Tarot for Writers
Where Babies Come From: Speculative Reproduction
Witches Are People Too: Writing Well-Rounded Pagans and Spellcrafters
Worldbuilding as a Banquet
Worldbuilding as a Meal
Writing about Horses
Writing Distinctive Characters
Writing Masculinity
Writing Neurodiversity
Writing Nonbinary
Writing Queer Characters from History
Writing the New Mythos

WORDWEAVER
Breaking the Rules
Description and Delivering Information
Detail and Image
Finding the Story in a Prompt
The 4th Language of of Genre Fiction
Get Weird! How to Make Your Fiction Original, Compelling, and Deeply Weird
Head Hopping and Head Hunting: Deep POV Writing
How to Write Funny
Levelling Up: Ten Things to Try When You Keep Hearing No
Literary Techniques for Genre Writers
Make Your Fiction Sing: Songwriting Techniques that Carry into Prose
Old Gods and New: Building a Pantheon
Poetic Tools for Prose Writers
The Power of Words: Linguistics for Genre Writers
Power Word Real Name: Upping Your Game with Names and Titles
Radio Gaga
Reading Like a Writer
Revising Your Novel
Rewriting, Revising, & Finetuning Fiction
Self-Editing: From First Splat to Professional Finish
Setting the Stakes: How to Pull the Reader (and Yourself) Through the Story
Sorry, But Your Infodump Is Showing
Sorry, But Your Scenecraft Is Sinking
Speculative Poetry
Staying in Your Lane
A Taste of Writing the Other
Two Truths and a Lie: Unreliable Narrators
Writing About Magic
Writing About Gender
Writing Second Person

STORYSMITH
21 Days to Writing Your Novel
The Algorithms of Storytelling
Anthropomorphic Adjectives: Writing Furry Fiction
Basics of Writing Memoir
Beginnings and Endings
Building Blocks of Mystery
Crimson Peaks and Menacing Mansions: Writing Gothic Horror
Crossing Over:Moving from Fanfic to Your Own Worlds
Demystifying Outlines
Diversity Plus: East Asian Storytelling Forms and Themes
Dynamic Openings
Emotional Impact: How to Punch ‘Em in the Feelz
Emotional Storytelling in Action Scenes
Epistolary Fiction: Stories in Letters
Expository Narrative
Fearless Writing: Learning Not to Hold Back
The First Draft Novel Blues
First Pages Workshop
Fixing the Broken Story
Flash Fiction Workshop
How to Subvert Cliches (and Supercharge Your Creativity)
How to Write Circles Around Others: Non-Linear Story Structures from Non-Western Traditions
Ideas Are Everywhere
The Ins and Outs of Urban Fantasy: Talking with L.L. McKinney
It’s Coming from Inside the House: Writing Domestic Dangers and Haunted Homes
Letting the I Ching Write Your Story for You
Mapping the Labyrinth: Plotting Your Novel So Stuff Happens
A Mixed Bag: Combining and Manipulating Genre Conventions
Move Along, Folks: How to Pace Your Novel
Moving from Idea to Draft
Old Stories Into New
Outlining for Pantsers
Pacing Yourself: The Strange and Sprawling Art of Writing a Long Series
Planning and Outlining Your Novel
Principles for Pantsers
Punk U: The Whys and Whats of Writing -punk Fiction
Replying to Other Stories
Scripts 101: Everything You Wanted to Know About Screenwriting but Were Afraid to Ask
Short Story Openings
Six Slippery Sins: Good Advice That Goes Astray
Stories That Change Our World: Writing Fiction with Empathy, Insight and Hope
Story Fundamentals
Story Structure for Novella Writers
Twenty Types of Terror: Exploring Horror Subgenres
Unique Concepts
Working in Other Worlds: Writing for Franchises
Working with Short Stories
Writing Bespoke Stories for Tailored Markets
Writing Fight Scenes
Writing in the Cracks
Writing Your Way Into Your Novel
WTFBBQ: Writing Experimental Fiction
Yucky Gets Yummy: How Speculative Fiction Creates Society

BOOKMONGER
All the Myriad Ways: Career Management for Indie, Traditional, and Hybrid Writers
The Art of the Book Review
Behind the Curtain: Nuts and Bolts of Small Press Publishing
Book Promotion on a Budget
The Business of Writing
Canva Basics for Writers
Crowdfunding and Kickstartering
Emotional Self Care for Creatives
The Freelancer’s Toolkit
Freelancing, Hustles, and Sidegigs: Ways to Work without Derailing Your Writing
Journaling for Creativity During Tough Times
Managing Social Media For Writers
Make Yourself More Discoverable Online: SEO Basics for Creative People
Pitches and Synopses
Planning a Book Publicity Campaign
Playing the Short Game
Plot Hacks: What the Pros Know
Plotting Your Trajectory: How to Plan an Unplannable Writing Career
Project Management for Writers
Reading Aloud Workshop
Return to Journaling for Creativity
So You Want to Put Together an Anthology?
Stay the Course: A Workshop for Inspiration and Renewed Enthusiasm
The Writers Guide to Selling Books at Conventions

GAMEMAKER
Adapting Your Novel into a Game
High-Speed Worldbuilding for Games and Fiction
Horror in Games
Intro to Game Writing
Planning Your Tabletop RPG Campaign
Worldbuilding for Games
Writing Interactive Fiction

...

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