Jack William Bell's Journal: Whiny Crybabies

My wife Anita told me a couple of days ago about the whole 'Gene Wolfe leaving the Odyssey Fantasy Writers Workshop in a huff thing'. She heard about it at a party for the Seattle SF writers workshop Clarion West, with which we are remotely associated. Since then it has been the hot subject in SF circles.

This is the kind of thing that Anita just can't look away from -- like some kind of social car wreck. Me, I am different. The way I figure it people are often jerks and I could care less to hear the details, so I ignore things that other people consider juicy gossip.

Then today I saw a link to some great commentary on the whole thing by writer John Scalzi and I have to say that I agree with him on every point! (Read it now. I'll still be here when you come back; Scalzi's post explains the situation better than I could and provides a ton of pointers to student journals and the like besides.)

Anyway, I do know something about this stuff as I have been involved in several different critique groups during my long struggle to become a published writer. And I have considered going to Clarion West myself. (Which is no touchy-feely workshop -- it is said of Clarion West that you either leave a professional writer or you never want to write again.)

My point is this: 'Fairness' in a critique is the last thing you want unless 'fairness' means calling crap crap and praising what works; not avoiding hurting someone else's feelings. In fact, if you can't take someone shitting all over your work you do not belong in a critique group! The trick is to listen to your heart when the critiques come; if it doesn't bother you too much you can safely ignore the comment. But if it hurts to hear it, chances are you really need to pay attention.

Personally I would have handled it differently were I in Gene Wolfe's place. I would have stormed into the class and explained that anyone with a skin so thin that they couldn't take what I was dishing out really shouldn't be writing for publication in the first place. After all, a critique is just someone's (possibly educated) opinion. Professionals are doing it for money where the stakes are higher and an editor's rejection is an opinion with teeth. Then I would invite them to leave if they didn't want to hear me spend the rest of the session tearing them new assholes.

Then I would proceed to do so with anyone dumb enough to stay...

Odessy stuff

[anitar]

gah! lost my post through foolish use of back button.

All hail Scalzi, longtime online journaler or columnist who posted his novel on his website then sold it to Tor (don't try this at home).

a locus letter from Jeanne Cavelos [locusmag.com], Director of the workshop.
Student presented letter as if from a group, but it was all his own work. He and Wolfe started yelling, other students waited in hall to avoid trouble (I'd do the same).

Lots of discussion in the tangent-online newsgroup [sff.net], available via the web

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