Report from Clarion 2

Community continues at Clarion, though we have hit some bumps and considerably toned down the energy. Before we got here and in various conversations since we arrived, Clarion West administrators have warned us about getting evil with each other. They said, from their experience, fatigue, homesickness, and lack of food causes participants to get testy and communicate in negative ways. We poo-poohed it saying we were the special Clarion. We're getting along quite well and our group isn't going to break down.

So far, we've maintained, but we can now see how and why Clarion is difficult. We actually have the TIME to do the work, but it is CONSTANT work and requires lots of mental focus and emotional sensitivity. We have to sit in a room and critique for 3 to 4 hours, spend 3 to 4 hours a day reading 16 stories a week during our free time and find constructive criticism to make the work stronger, AND we have to develop our own work (one story a week). All the while cooking big meals for our new instructor every Sunday, finding gifts, attending instructor readings and living with 16 new people in a dorm setting. So needless to say, it's a lot. We're all working with procrastination and distraction right now, but we're still fulfilling our requirements, reading all the stories and turning in our new story every week.

My discovery for the week is that the large issue that plagued my first story, is actually an issue that repeats in my writing. My second story, Volcano Woman, suffered from the same issue: protagonist not making clear choices and having her environment or circumstances act on her. Additionally, I found the same issue in some of my previous stories. I have come to Clarion and found a fault line in my work! So my goal while I'm here is to write a story with a complete character arc, that takes the protagonist from one state at the beginning of the story, through a crisis, into a transformed state of being in which she makes choices that reveal her new state of awareness. I hope to get a passing grade on the character arc of my next story, if not, I have three more weeks to break to the next level.

Bradley Denton, a speculative fiction writer from Kansas who now resides in Texas, was our instructor for our second week. He has taught grammar to college freshman and is deeply committed to standard English and polished writing. He's passionate about writing and passionate about encouraging us to be fine craftspeople. He detailed the three prototypes of almost every story ever written, so that we could start tagging the overall themes of our stories. His contribution to our Clarion experience was encouraging us to take a close look at the opening scenes of our stories. I always thought a story started at the beginning of the action, but Bradley believes that the beginning of a story should illustrate character and suggest/hint at conflict. It's not enough for the action to be the beginning of the crisis, but all the elements in the opening of the story need to foreshadow or directly impact the final crisis. Each thread has to be present at the beginning of the story. Your beginning hooks the reader, planting clues to the crisis, character and resolution. Bradley's motto is "make the reader yours." He doesn't want his reader to have space to make up their own interpretation of his characters' wants, needs, or thoughts. He wants the writer to be unerringly led, and the end result should be unquestionably in the writer's hands.

Under Bradley's guidance, we gave serious consideration to essential story elements: character, conflict, complications, crisis and resolution. Bradley tends to outline and plot out his novels and stories. I'm taking that technique and trying to approach the short story differently. Whether or not I end up permanently changing my process, I intend to experiment with different techniques. Perhaps there's something for me in outlining plots.

This week, I'm creating a totally new story. I've been plotting and developing character over the course of the weekend. I'm not sure about the scope of the story, but I am developing it, and hoping to complete it in time for my Wed. morn deadline. I hope to successfully write a powerful tale. In the meantime, pray for my story arc and be well!

kis.