September 9th, 1999

I've been reluctant to do a life after Clarion Entry, but it is probably about time to reflect on the workshop and what I learned.

My friend Frank Tuttle asked me to sum up the Clarion workshop in nine words or less. My response was, "You're kidding, right?" But I did answer him, using a heck of a lot more than the nine words he asked for. Here are some of those words and what they mean to me:

Theme: This was one of my largest epiphanies at Clarion and it happened during the first week. Sometimes I had beautifully plotted stories with great characters, but when I got done, people would ask me what the point of the story was. That was because I wandered off the story's theme, something which I had never paid much attention to before. I wound up looking over my pitifully small body of work and realized that the stories that I liked best were all thematically rich. The ones that just didn't work could all be summed up as: "Theme? What theme?"

Short stories: I learned that I could write them, even though they come more slowly than novel chapters. I'd only written one honest-to-God short story before I went to Clarion, and one novelette that everyone told me was really a novel in outline form. I was afraid that my one pre-Clarion short story, "The Grand Cheat," was a fluke! It wasn't, and that was very gratifying to me.

A Natural Storyteller: I have always had trouble being proud of, and believing in, my own qualities as a writer. When several of the pros at Clarion told me that I am a natural storyteller, I was surprised. But they then explained that I have an instinct for a story's pacing, suspense and plot, which was important for me to know about myself and my writing. Too often, critics focus on a writer's weaknesses, and not on a writer's strengths. Clarion gave me validation and a severe boost to my self-esteem. There are times when I am tempted to quit writing, but I now know that I have a unique voice and something to say. I think that the encouragement that I got at Clarion will help me to keep pushing, even when (like now) the writing is going very badly.

To thine own self be true: The group can be wrong. There were several beautiful, original stories that the group hated. One was (in my opinion) the single best story produced in the workshop. The majority of the group unjustly ripped the story to shreds and suggested to the author that he replace the lyrical language that he used with a more prosaic storytelling style. With most writers this would be good advice, but in this case it would have been a disaster. The author is a gifted stylist, and his narrative voice is a joy to read. It is what makes him unique as a writer. To change it would have ruined the story, which though brilliant, will probably be a tough sell.

The most ambitious stories are often the least popular. I discovered this at Clarion with my own story of moral ambiguity, "Nine fingered Maria," which the group also hated. Only four people liked it, but two of these four were Karen Joy Fowler and Tim Powers, who thought it was the strongest thing I had ever written. I agree, and believe in the story enough to stick by it. This taught me some valuable lessons. Pleasing the masses can sometimes have too high a cost. And there will always be an audience for a fine story, but sometimes you will have to search for it.

Those were some of my biggest lessons. I did a couple years of learning in those six weeks, but I was already fairly well versed in my craft before I started the workshop. Has my work changed since Clarion? Quite a bit. I think that I aim for more depth, now. But on the surface, not much has changed. I was strong with plots and characters before I hit Clarion, and I still am. Would I recommend the workshop to other writers? Yes. Clarion was sometimes painful, and it was very expensive this year in terms of both time and money. But I grew and I made many friends that I would not have otherwise met. I would recommend it to any writers who want to stretch themselves.

Hmm