Stonecoast Concludes

Hiya. I've been a little quiet the last week or so. That's because I've been in the whirl of the Stonecoast MFA's winter residency. It was terrific fun. As ever, it was ten full-on days of readings and workshops and lectures, good meals and tons and tons of talking about all things writing and publishing.

I had the pleasure of leading a workshop on writing epic fantasy during the first half. Yes, folks, I was with seven aspiring writers, all of them serious about projects in imagined worlds. We looked at their material with the same critical eye any graduate level workshop employs, and to that we added an in-depth discussion of the traits and tropes and challenges of the genre. No apologies about it.

During the second half I co-taught a cross-genre workshop. In that one I got to work with some literary-fiction students I had never worked with before. Good stuff there, too. To my mind, it's a real strength of the program that we're not afraid to mix things up.

I came back tired but enthusiastic about the program, carrying a list of the five students I'll be working with over the next six months. Like last time, they offer a great mix of genres and styles. Should be a good semester!