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What is the purpose of this guide?
This guide provides links to the best Clarion-related sites on the web.
It also provides information about other SF workshops, like
Odyssey and Virtual Paradise. I first intended this site just to be a
resource where prospective students could learn about the workshops and
decide whether they wanted to apply.
But I realize that it serves other users, too. Clarion alumni like to
read the online journals and humor pages to help them remember their
experiences at the workshops.
And this guide also serves those who know
they will never attend a six week writing workshop but still want to
fantasize about the experience. If you are one of those, take heart.
You do not need Clarion to become a professional writer. Over half
of the people I know who have broken into the SF field in the last
three years managed it without Clarion credentials. Clarion helps,
but as Kurt Roth said, it is no magic key. For you
I have listed alternatives to Clarion, and also
a list of other resources for SF writers.
Why the new look?
I was tired of yellow.
Why the new name?
I wanted to unify my loosely linked Clarion pages under a single
name. Lacking my own inspiration, I stole both the "Clarion ex
Machina" slogan and artwork outright from my Clarion
class t-shirt. I only plagiarize
from the best.
Besides, the name sums up what this site is all about. Clarion from your
machine -- the closest thing to being there.
Hilary, why do you do this?
That's a really good question.
This guide began in 1999, when I decided to apply for the Clarion workshop.
A friend had pointed me to Diana Rowland's marvelous online journal,
and then to Kurt Roth's article, "Dispelling the Clarion Myth." They were
wonderful, and I began to look for more information about Clarion on the web.
I could not believe how much information was scattered on the web.
The few sites that had tried to list multiple
Clarion websites had not been updated in years, and were full of dead
links. The web needed a good, one-stop index to the world of Clarion.
Understand that I am a reference librarian. Organizing knowledge
is both a personal and a professional compulsion. I had already bookmarked
most of these sites for my personal use. How difficult would it be to
put them on a web page and annotate them?
This web guide is entering its fourth year, and continues to grow.
As it has grown, it has become more and more frustrating to police the
links. In this last revision, fully half of the sites linked here had
moved to new locations and had to be tracked down before I could list
them again. So, if you find a dead link, or know that a site has moved,
let me know. Similarly, if you create or find a wonderful page about
SF workshops, let me know.
I'm always happy to link to new sites or online journals, but I do ask
that you provide a link back to Clarion Ex Machina in return. Help
other prospective Clarionites find this site.
In Closing
I never dreamed that this site would prove popular or that so many people
would write me to tell me that they had found it useful. Your feedback
has been wonderful, and is the real reason I keep working on this site.
Thank you for writing, and keep me up to date.
Send me e-mail at my sff.net
address: hmm[at]sff.net.
Hmm
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