Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp 2006

[Eric James Stone]

The dates have been announced for this year's edition of Orson Scott Card's writing workshop.

Uncle Orson's Writing Class and Literary Boot Camp
Uncle Orson's Writing Class   /   June 12-13, 2006   /   $175.00
         This seminar is open to novice and experienced writers alike. Students in Uncle Orson's Writing class take part in two days of discussions, lectures, and idea sessions, right along with participants in the Literary Boot Camp.
         Uncle Orson's Writing Class and Literary Boot Camp is for writers of any kind of fiction, and even valuable for screenwriters and playwrights.

Literary Boot Camp   /   June 12-17, 2006   /   $725.00
         Literary Boot Camp is open only to writers -- college-aged and older -- who are serious about professional level work. Following the two-day Writing Class, the Boot Camp writers go on with four intense days of creating and critiquing new stories developed at the beginning of the week - all under the leadership of noted author Orson Scott Card.
         NOTE: Enrollment for Literary Boot Camp is limited to only 18 participants. Those who wish to attend must register with $175 deposit and submit the FIRST PAGE ONLY of a short story. Prompt application is advised. Tuition does not include housing or meals. The deadline for submitting writing samples is April 3; you will be notified whether or not you have been accepted by April 10. The remaining balance of $550 will be due by May 12 and deposits will be returned to those who choose not to attend the Writing Class.

See http://www.hatrack.com/

Although it doesn't mention the location, my understanding is that it will be back east, probably at SVU.

I went to Boot Camp in 2003.  It was a great experience, and it definitely paid off in my writing career.

[Eric James Stone]

The registration form is now available.

http://www.hatrack.com/bootcamp.shtml

For those who want a little more information about applying you can read "How I Got in to Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp 2003."  For some idea of what's discussed, you can read my notes from Boot Camp.

For a fuller discussion of what goes on at Boot Camp, see this Hatrack River thread.

[Parker]

Interesting notes, Eric.  Thanks for posting them.  One thing I noticed that I really disagreed with was Card saying :

"There's no such thing as a second draft." -- OSC. Write the final draft the first time; don't think "Well, this is just a first draft, I'll go back and fix that later." If you don't force yourself to write excellently all the time, you let yourself write sloppily.

This seems like awful advice to give budding writers.  If you're so pressured to "write excellently," I think you'll quickly stop writing.  Sometimes it's good to be able to tell yourself that it's okay to suck in this or that section, then go back later and fix it up.

[Eric James Stone]

As with just about all advice on writing, that bit of advice may work or not, depending on the kind of writer you are.

I usually write the way OSC described in that quote.  (That doesn't mean I don't have to go back and fix things later, of course.)  But I try to write as if when I finish, I will be printing it out and submitting it.

Of course, for people who are just starting out, it may not be the way to go.  As I was working on getting through my first screenplay, I knew I would have to go back and fix dialogue later, but I wanted to get to the end so I would have a better feel for the flow of the whole thing.

[Nessa]

Sometimes you have to finish a story and know how later events occur before you can fill in the earlier details.

[Robert_Boyd]

I'm surprised he gave that advice considering that I don't think he really follows it himself.  I remember reading an article on his website where he showed how he actually went through like half a dozen different major revisions for the first chapter of Ender's Shadow.

And yeah, I disagree with his advice as well.  You need to try to write well all the time, but the first draft is mostly getting the story to work correctly; save the polishing up for later.  No point in spending an hour getting a page sounding just right when you could easily end up scrapping the whole page later because it doesn't fit in with the story as a whole.

[Eric James Stone]

> I remember reading an article on his website where
> he showed how he actually went through like half a
> dozen different major revisions for the first chapter of
> Ender's Shadow.

Yes.  And that actually illustrates his point.  He didn't just finish the first draft of Chapter 1 and say, well, this has major problems, but it's just a first draft so I'll fix it later.  He fixed the problems, and in doing so found elements that became important to the rest of the story.

The way I interpret the advice is "Don't be sloppy just because it's a first draft and you can go back and edit it later.  Craft your story carefully as you go."

Of course, for some people that advice is paralyzing, because they keep reworking the beginning and never get to the end.  If you're that type of writer, don't follow this advice.  Write to the end and fix it later.

[MsFish]

I personally think the advice works well when interpreted as "Write the best work you are capable of writing at the time you are writing it."

This is very different than "Write it perfectly the first time."

Honestly, some days the best writing I am capable of writing is complete crap.  And I know it.  And if I let my internal editor start working on me, then I'll stop writing, because I know that it's going to have to be rewritten anyway.

But it's the best I've got, and the most important thing is that I'm writing it.  That's not an excuse to be sloppy, however.  It just means accepting what your best work is at the time and making the effort to get it down.

I'm not sure if that's what OSC meant, though.  

[EUOL]

I've heard that same advice given my Scott Meredith, one of the big sf/f agents.  (Now dead, actually.  I read the advice in one of his books.)

I interpreted this as Fish did.  Write as best you can.  Pretend that you're not going to ever rewrite.  Then, you can rewrite.

[JenaRey]

I think there's also a difference between rewriting because of plot or major character hitches and rewriting yourself to death over grammatical issues and phrasology.  I've a friend who writes beautifully, but has reworked the first three chapters of a book of hers to DEATH over grammatical stuff.  If the problem you identify is a big plot hole, by all means get it fixed before going on for 30 chapters that are now all goofy because of the plot problem in the first three, but if it's just because you want to add what color the flowers are, or you're not sure if you had a run on sentence, KEEP writing.  

My .02, cause I can.

~J

[Robert_Boyd]

I agree with Jena.  I think you need to craft the plot & characters wonderfully the first time (and if there's a problem with either of those, it needs to be fixed ASAP).  The actual writing, however, can be fixed and polished up later.

[Parker]

Well, yeah--if we totally start to reinterpret what it seemed to me OSC was saying, then I agree with him. (grumble grumble)

[Eric James Stone]

The fault is mine, because my notes are so sparse.  In context, it was clear that he wasn't saying that you shouldn't go back and rewrite anything.  He was talking about getting in the habit of writing well.

An analogy:  When rehearsing for a play, you shouldn't think, "This is just a rehearsal, so I don't need to put all that much effort into acting.  I'll do that when it's an actual performance."  You should act in rehearsal as if it were a performance, so that playing the part well becomes natural to you.

[JenaRey]

*chuckles*  My expanded definition on what was said comes because I've been in other interviews and lectures with OSC before and he's said pretty much the same thing.  There are heart of the piece elements that must be addressed early if they're a problem, but the detailed specifics...those will come once the story is down.  He outlines quite a bit too.  Told at one interview that he'd written most of the outline for a book during church one day.  I'd love to see that one explained to the Bishop...  

[Rosencrantz]

I do my best thinking during sacrament meeting, actually.  Unless I'm playing solitaire on my ipod....  But I think my utter lack of grammatorial (is that a word?) expertise helps me do what OSC suggests.  It's kind of like the whole "live like there's no tomorrow and you'll enjoy each day more" thing, except angled toward writing.  If you worry about each meal and every small decision, you're not gonna amount to much.  Maybe.