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buff yer Pally, and mount yer kodos …

The Guild Season Four begins on July 13!

What a gorgeous day in Forest Grove, sunny but not too hot. Faculty met to determine pairings so students had the afternoon off. Some went to Portland and some to a nearby state park. I spent my afternoon in my room working on Residency Reviews– commentaries on the craft talks we have attended throughout the week. Had Billy Bragg playing on the iPod– the sense of being back at Evergreen State (H dorm) was spooky and slightly sad.

After tonight’s faculty readings, the pairings were posted and I was pleased (and alliterative) to find I’ll be working with the same faculty who led my workshop– a terrific writer and teacher.

Speaking of workshop, I realize that  haven’t described how they function. Basically the group you are assigned to meets for a couple of hours before lunch. One student’s writing submission will be the focus of the first hour, another the second, although sometimes only one student’s work is examined and the rest of the time is devoted to discussions of craft. Each faculty has a different way of leading the workshop but for the most part the person whose work is being critiqued will stay quiet and take notes while the rest of the workshop discuss his/her submission. Issues such as character, structure, and theme are the main focus with line editing and other more technical areas  confined to the comments we have written on our copies of the work (we give these marked up copies back to the author at the end of the workshop). At the end of the allotted time, the student being critiqued will be asked if he/she has any questions– a few sometimes do have an issue they’d like to have addressed but mostly a simple, “Thank you” ends the session. Defending one’s work or trying to explain anything not directly on the page is bad manners and just not done. My work was up for discussion today and the feedback was very helpful.

One thing I wanted to mention about the Residency is the way interacting with the faculty can really prune away any feelings of inadequacy one might have. To be around writers who have books coming out, or movie deals, or who have just come back from book tours– it makes the whole idea of being a working writer somehow seem more real, more tangible, more possible.  For me, writers have always seemed like these remote deities. To hang out with them and realize they are folk like you– it is a very cool and very encouraging thing.

Each student in the MFA program is allowed to submit a list of faculty that they would like to work with over the correspondence semester (for more information on how the correspondence semester works, visit the MFA website). These preferences are taken into account when the faculty meet to determine student-faculty pairings– in my experience, a student will almost always get their first or second choice so careful consideration is critical in compiling one’s list (alliteration is optional). Reading the published work of the faculty is probably the best way to form an initial impression. Email correspondence with current students is also facilitated by the MFA program.

The actual pairings are made towards the end of the Residency so new students have an opportunity to get to know the faculty. Workshops and craft talks are the main way to get a feel for their individual approaches but new students are encouraged to speak directly with each writer to get a better sense of how they would work together. Talking with other students will also clue new students into the strengths and weaknesses of each faculty– who’s good at structure, at dialogue, at thematic elements, etc.– as well as individual quirks, “toughness” vs. “gentleness”, and general demeanor. While all the faculty are excellent teachers, each has their own way of teaching and these differences will strongly influence how well the correspondence semester goes.

The day the pairings are announced and you learn which writer you will be working with for the next six months is really exciting. This semester’s pairings will be made tomorrow– I’m really looking forward to getting to work.

A late night led to a tiring day. I think I’m coming down with a bit of a cold so this entry will be brief.

One of the most important components of the Residency is the writing workshop. Each student submits work prior to the Residency and receives the work of those assigned to their group– in my group there are 8 writers, each of us sending in a “worksheet” of 15 pages. We are expected to have read and thoughtfully critiqued each piece before the Residency begins. I was very excited for this year’s workshop because of the uniform quality of the work I received.

The workshops are led by two or more faculty, sometimes working in teams but more often in rotation. Because we meet for only ten days twice a year, I find that the workshops tend to explore broader aspects of craft and technique as opposed to line by line analysis. This approach is more effective because, in the six months when we must write on our own, universal insights into craft are of greater use than analysis tailored to a single piece of writing.

I’ve heard that other writing workshops, especially in traditional University programs, are often competitive and bruising. The experience at Pacific has been quite different– since there is none of the usual jockeying for the attention of the faculty (the low-residency model eliminating such favoritism), my fellow students are much more focused on improving their  work and the work of their peers.

More importantly, the faculty have consistently proven to be interested in their students’ development as writers and it seems that an atmosphere of genuine engagement has been cultivated by the Pacific faculty. This attitude is reflected in the workshops. And while some faculty have proven to be more effective than others in leading the workshops, in general, the experience of analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of widely divergent writing styles has been very useful in developing my own work.

There are shortcomings to the workshop– some students are less engaged than others and there are often different aspects of craft that each student wants addressed. The brevity of our workshops (in terms of days we meet per year) offers little chance to correct these deficiencies before the Residency ends. Some students form groups that meet during the semester or exchange work over the Internet, but the sense of isolation between Residencies makes the Pacific low-res model inappropriate for those who need to be surrounded by a physically-present community to support their work.

More tomorrow, now it’s off to bed for an early night.

So by now the schedule for the day is pretty much set– 9:00 craft talk, workshop at 10:15, lunch at noon. Another craft talk at 1:30 and then a guest reading/craft talk at 3:15. Break for dinner, then a faculty reading at 7:00.

Today the schedule was a bit different in that we went to a Elk Cove winery for the evening reading. It’s a beautiful spot– below is a picture taken from the parking lot:

Elk Cove Winery

I’m going to leave off posting the daily schedule (since prior posts have covered it) and start posting impressions of the program itself, trying to impart a sense of what prospective students might expect from the Pacific MFA. For now, a cocktail party has broken out in the living room and I’m going to have a beer.

Day starts at 9:00 with a poetry craft talk. At 10:15 we go to our workshops for the first time, groups of eight or so people critiquing each others work along with 1 or two faculty moderators. I go to the building I’m assigned to and discover the classroom is on the second floor but there is no elevator. A few minutes of confusion and then one of the staff finds our workshop another room that I can get into– a quick response that was greatly appreciated.

Workshop goes til noon then we have lunch on campus. A fiction craft talk afterward followed by a reading and book signing by two of the faculty.  At 5:00 we break for dinner on our own. Lots of restaurants in walking distance but I opt to bake a pizza at the dorm.

Another reading and book signing by three of the faculty at 7:30. At 9:00 a bunch of people gather in the dorm lounge and we do student readings. I read third, having signed up thinking the crowd would be a lot smaller than it was. Nervous, voice squeaking like a pimply teen.

Now 10:00 PM and I still have work to do for tomorrow’s sessions. Pace has definitely picked up (thank goodness for shot breaks!).

PS – There was a class reunion (I think) on campus and so there were a lot of older folks hanging out. The DJ at their party played YMCA and some of the reunionees were dancing in the drizzle. A cool sight.

After the BBQ last night, one of the faculty joined a group of us in the dorm for cocktails– general merriment ensued. A late night led to a delayed start in the morning and I was late  to the program’s Welcoming Session. General announcements, policies, etc. Short break then straight into a poetry craft-talk followed by lunch on-campus (they offer locally grown salads and vegetarian options). After lunch, a fiction craft-talk then a presentation by an editor of a literary magazine.

We broke early today so that the new students could attend an orientation session. My roommates BBQed outside and the weather, surprisingly, cooperated. From 7:30-9:30, we attended a reading by three of the faculty, one poet and two fiction writers. There was a catered reception afterward w/ wine and such (Pacific University really treats their students and faculty well) but I didn’t stay– wanted to get some work done back at the dorm.

Like last year, the first day of Residency was fairly relaxed. The full-on schedule of craft-talks and workshops starts tomorrow.

Nobel laureate José Saramago dies, aged 87

The finest Portuguese writer of his generation, José Saramago, has died today

via Nobel laureate José Saramago dies, aged 87 | Books | guardian.co.uk.

First day here at the Residency involved checking in and unpacking. Attended a BBQ held outside one of the dorms– burgers and beer and wine. Great to see old acquaintances and new students. Work starts tomorrow.

Below are some pictures of the accommodations at Pacific University– I’m in the newer dorms which are accessible and very clean. Some general thoughts:

– The bed is a bit high. I’m a T12-L1 incomplete para so getting in is not too much of a problem but others might have some trouble.

– I brought my own shower bench and hand shower since the setup is a simple tub/shower arrangement.

– Turning radius is a bit tight in both room and bathroom– I use a manual chair but an electric wheelchair or scooter might have some trouble.

Room:

Bathroom:

Some cool tips on generating story ideas from a very cool writer.

via io9

Even when you do have a terrific idea for a short story, sometimes it’s difficult to know how best to approach it. So far the method that’s worked best for me has been to start with dialogue and nothing else — not even speech tags. If I can get two characters talking to each other, in such a way that their voices and situation are distinct enough to identify w/o descriptions or speech tags or any other kind of distraction, a story begins to take shape.