Category: blog

I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be teaching a six-week class on writing short stories at Seattle’s Hugo House as part of their winter quarter lineup.

Hugo House is one of the premier writing centers in the country, offering classes, residencies and tons of literary events. Hugo House has a national reputation for nurturing new writers and bringing established but lesser-known writers to the attention of a wider audience. These are certainly things that I can get behind, and I’m proud to be a part of it as a teacher.

The class is “The Whole Story.” Here’s the description:

All good stories –“ those that delight or thrill you, make you laugh or cry — are built from the same fundamental blocks. We’ll explore essential elements of good short fiction: structure, point of view, plotting, character development, description and dialogue. You’ll learn practical techniques like specificity, emotional language, anchor points and narrative grammar that you can use immediately. The class will be a mix of reading, discussion, and writing, as well as an hour-long individual conference with the instructor.

The class will meet Wednesday from 4:00 – 6:00 pm, January 27 through March 3. Registration begins December 1 for Hugo House members, December 8 for non-members.

If you’re a Seattle writer with an interest in short stories, I hope you’ll join me. It’ll be fun, and I’d love the chance to help you with your work.

I swear I have not absconded with the funds, run off with the meter man, or been eaten by a bear. I haven’t even left the building. I’ve just been, you know, busy with the new thing in my life. I’ll be back soon, I promise.

But in the meantime, here’s something that’s been amusing me: screenwriter Josh Olson’s rant about why he will not read your fucking script. Read it — don’t skip the comments! — and then check out Scalzi’s take on the matter.

I have always marveled at people who think it’s okay to interrupt an actor or a rock star in the middle of their dinner and ask for — or insist — on an autograph or photo. And yet I’ve talked to plenty of folks who think they are entitled to that kind of access whenever/wherever, because that person is, you know, famous! They’re asking for it! The Olson rant addresses a similar issue, I think: there’s a belief in our culture that beginners are entitled to access to experts whenever/wherever.

I know where I stand. I’m friends with a photographer and web dev, for example (*waves at both*) and I still hesitate to ask for professional services as a favor. I do ask, because we are actual friends, but I never assume that even my friends owe me this kind of help.

And I’m also a believer in paying forward to pay back. Many people helped me: however (and it’s a big one), I had some kind of professional or personal relationship with nearly every single one of those people before I asked for help, or before they offered it. I had demonstrated good social skills at conventions or parties, spoken intelligently about their work, not been pushy, respected their privacy and was always courteous to their special people. And I’ve always been clear when I’ve asked for favors that I don’t expect a yes, and that a no will not make me grumpy; that my actual relationship with them is more important to me than the specific help I’m asking for.

If that’s ever not true — if there’s something career-life-or-death about the favor — I’ll be clear about that too. But I still won’t feel entitled to a yes.