Yes, indeed -- there is still time to apply for a place at this year's Viable Paradise Writer's Workshop.

VP is a one-week residential workshop for sf and fantasy writers, held annually on Martha's Vineyard (hence that lighthouse in the logo.) This year's instructors are Steve Gould, Laura Mixon, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Elizabeth Bear, Debra Doyle, James D. Macdonald, and John Scalzi.

Applications close on 30 June, so hurry hurry hurry, roll right on up, get 'em while they're hot, and all that jazz.

A Mageworlds short story by Doyle : A Death in the Working, previously published in the anthology Murder by Magic, edited by Rosemary Edghill.

(Apologies to those who dislike PDF format, but there's really no way to do this one electronically without it.)

Enjoy.

Remember the William Sharps story -- "Philologos; or, a Murder in Bistrita" -- that we first-drafted here a while back?

It's now available for purchase, along with the rest of the February issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

The postman brought our trib copies of F&SF, the February issue containing our short story "Philologos: or, a Murder in Bistrita," which presumably means that it should be hitting the newsstands and mailboxes shortly.

Buy one; better still, buy a dozen. They make excellent insulation gifts for the winter season.

The Elder Son (the one who's currently a grad student at Carnegie-Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center) has just accepted a spring semester internship offer with Disney World Show Engineering in Orlando, Florida. With pay, subsidized housing, and perks.

This is the kid who back in high school announced that his goal in life was to be the guy who invented a working Star Trek style holodeck. So far, he seems to be on-track.

In his own way, he's going into the family business.

Or, more material that didn't make it into The Apocalypse Door ( under the cut: )

Another out-take from The Apocalypse Door. Folks who've read the novel will probably recognize some bits that remained in that story, mixed in with a lot of other bits that didn't.
( ...read more... )

Yet more on the usefulness of saving one's discards; another true story from the writing life.

"Save the pitched-out awful pages someplace where you can find them again," I said one day to a former writing student. "Sometimes the discarded bits turn out to come in handy later. I think I told the folks at Viable Paradise the story of The Five Different Chapter Nines and the Adventure of the Too-Short Novel, didn't I?"

"No, I don't think so," she said, "though my memory is appalling. It sounds like a charming story. Do I have to go again this year to hear it?"

Nope, she didn't, and neither do you. The way it goes:

There we were, writing the second novel in a three-book YA horror series, back when Young Adult horror was booming. And we kept getting stuck at Chapter Nine (out of about eighteen or so; mid- book, in other words, our favorite place to get stuck.) It took us about five tries to get unstuck -- not five attempts at the same chapter, either, but five completely different Chapter Nines. And when we were, finally, able to push on through to the end of the novel, the book still came in short. We knew it was too short, but by that time we were so exhausted that we couldn't think of anything to do about it.†

Time passed, and we got the book back from the editor. "It's great," she said, or words to that effect. "But it needs to be about 10,000 words longer."

"Urk," we said. "Yes, ma'am." And -- but not to her -- "Where the hell are we going to get another 10,000 words?"

And the answer turned out to lie in those four discarded Chapter Nines. We cut them apart into their component scenes, sliced them and diced them and intercut them with the existing material, and -- somewhat to our own astonishment -- the plot actually worked better that way than it had before. Things were explained that had been obscure, stuff was played out on stage that had been merely referenced or implied, the pacing was right for the first time . . . in the end, we used every single scene in those discarded chapters except for one, and that one was a scene requiring the use of a brand-new, previously-unreferenced character in whom our heroine had to place a good deal of insufficiently motivated trust.

†I think that was the book I finished on an all-nighter fuelled by instant hot chocolate made using coffee instead of water -- a truly deadly brew -- and eventually collapsed in bed, weeping, about 4 a.m.

Among the maxims to live by, in the writing business, is "Always save your out-takes." This one is a case in point. It was originally part of an early draft of The Apocalypse Door, but got cut when we realized that it wasn't actually part of that novel. Now, some time later, the material is being recut and recast, on the way to finding its proper home in a Peter Crossman short story; the original is presented here for the amusement and edification of all hands.

( ...read more... )

---

More out-takes from the same novel to follow.

My Readercon Schedule:

Saturday 10:00 AM. Kaffeeklatsch
(Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald)

Saturday 12:00 Noon. Reading (30 min.)
(Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald)

Saturday 8:00 PM. Event (90 min.)
The 21st Kirk Poland Memorial Bad Prose Competition
Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald, Craig Shaw Gardner (L), Glenn Grant, Yves Meynard, Eric M. Van (M)

Our traditional evening entertainment, named in memory of the pseudonym and alter ego of Jonathan Herovit of Barry Malzberg's Herovit's World. Ringleader Craig Shaw Gardner reads a passage of unidentified but genuine, published, bad sf, fantasy, or horror prose, which has been truncated in mid-sentence. Each of our panelists--Craig and his co-moderator Eric M. Van, champion Yves Meynard, ex-champion Glenn Grant, and new challengers Doyle and McDonald (as always, writing as a team)--then reads an ending for the passage. One ending is the real one; the others are imposters concocted by our contestants (including Craig) ahead of time. None of the players knows who wrote any passage other than their own, except for Eric, who gets to play God as a reward for the truly onerous duty of unearthing these gems. Craig then asks for the audience vote on the authenticity of each passage (recapping each in turn by quoting a pithy phrase or three from them), and the Ace Readercon Joint Census Team counts up each show of hands faster than you can say "Bambi pranced." Eric then reveals the truth. Each contestant receives a point for each audience member they fooled, while the audience collectively scores a point for everyone who spots the real answer. As a rule, the audience finishes third or fourth. Warning: the Sturgeon General has determined that this trash is hazardous to your health; i.e., if it hurts to laugh, you're in big trouble.

Sunday 11:00 AM. Autographing
(Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald)

Sunday 1:00 PM. Panel
Personal Archetypes.
Debra Doyle, Karen Joy Fowler, James Alan Gardner, Greer Gilman, Barry B. Longyear, Paul Park (L)

The Jungian notion of archetype is a useful tool for explaining why certain fantasy tropes speak powerfully to us. But clearly, not everyone responds to every archetype to the same degree, and this may well be one of the reasons why different people respond differently to different books. (One of us, e.g., is moved nearly to tears by any well-done scene of communication with animals, and suspects that not everyone else is.) As readers, where do our personal archetypes come from? Early life experience, or our first favorite books? (Or is the latter hypothesis begging the question?)

There's still time to get your application together and apply -- the new deadline for this year's Viable Paradise Workshop is 30 June 2007.

Initial acceptances are starting to go out, but as always we hold slots open until the deadline. This year's instructors are Elizabeth Bear (matociquala), Cory Doctorow, Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald, Steve Gould and Laura Mixon, and Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden.

The William Sharps short story, "Philologos; or, A Murder in Bistrita" has sold to the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. They have three years to publish it, but they pay on acceptance. Hurrah! We thank them! The electric company thanks them! The grocery store thanks them!

And y'all can get your subscriptions to F&SF now and beat the rush....

Just as an extra, we've also put up on our web page one of the two published Mageworlds short stories, "On Suivi Point". Enjoy.

Our contribution to the festivities is a short story, "The Queen's Mirror."

A podcast interview: the two of us, as interviewed by Steve Gould, talking about the Viable Paradise sf/fantasy writer's workshop:

http://podibleparadise.com/?p=24

In an excess of ego, I've added Mist and Snow at Charteous.

Now it's up to y'all to make it rise.

(Had I But Known about Charteous last November I'd have added it then, but O Well.)

-- to the Viable Paradise Writers' Workshop!

Viable Paradise is a one-week intensive residential workshop, specializing in science fiction and fantasy. Instructors for 2007 are Debra Doyle&James Macdonald, Steve Gould, Laura Mixon, Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Cory Doctorow, and Elizabeth Bear (matociquala); the dates are September 30th through October 5th, 2007; and the location, as before, is the Island Inn on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Both short fiction and novel-length works are welcome.

Even if you can't make it, maybe you know somebody who would be an applicant if only they knew....

...and this is why.

( the view from our front porch )

Well.

I-con was a great deal of fun. Adding in was a visit with TNH and PNH and their new hamster. We watched The Prestige on DVD, which was great fun.

On the way back to the Frozen North we stopped by and visited Editrx.

The day was saddened by the shocking news that David Honigsberg had died -- unexpectedly -- way too young -- of a heart attack.

When you wake up in the morning you never know where you're going to bed that night.


Take care of yourselves, and never forget to tell your friends that you love them.

This coming weekend we're Off to I-Con, where I'm certain Good Times Will be Had.

Doyle once went, this is my first time.

Our Panels:

Friday 8:30:00 PM 9:30:00 PM SAC 311
New Waves: Where is genre fiction going?
From New Wave to Slipstream, every generation re-invents themselves.
Why and where has it been, where is it going!
Ford, Strock, Park, Doyle(M), Macdonald

Saturday 11:00:00 AM 12:00:00 PM SAC 312
How My Genre Chose Me!
Was it "love at first read" or a gradual progression? Writers from
varied genres describe their personal journeys to the right fit.
Grech, Doyle, Osborne(M), Park

Saturday 2:00:00 PM 3:00:00 PM SAC 312
Nurturing New Talent in the Classroom and Workshop
While the innate talent must be there, how can both classroom and
workshop help aspiring writers hone that talent and communicate their
vision
Doyle, Macdonald(M), Ford, Park

Saturday, 4:30-5 Reading, SAC 309

Sunday 2:00:00 PM 3:00:00 PM SAC311
Essential Fantasy Library
Panelists share their lists of books they believe should be part of
the well-read fan´s fantasy background
Grant (M), Doyle, Macdonald, Thomas