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I am scared by how big this is.
Jan. 24th, 2008 05:28 pmQuestions from the Clarion application. The only things other than the stories that they plan to read. (Just so we're clear, these are rough, freewriting answers.)
Describe highest education (school, dates, degree)
-graduated Mission Viejo High School in June 2007
-currently enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley (August 2007-present)
Describe your writing habits. (What exactly do they mean by this? I'm honestly not sure.)
When things like school and work don't interfere, I write every day. Not always on the same project, but I make sure I've written something. When I fall in love with a project, I pursue it intensely. I've done National Novel Writing Month three times and it's taught me how to write every day, unfailingly, and then go back to edit later. I write best when I've got a deadline in sight and a group of supportive friends and fellow writers to cheer me on. This doesn't mean that I need deadlines to write, or to think about writing, but there's something about the figure of a deadline--especially one shared by other friends and writers--that entices my ideas to coalesce in ways I never would have dreamed possible. I think a lot before beginning a story. I do research about any aspect that I don't have personal knowledge about. I really like to get to know my characters, and they're usually where a story starts for me. With short fiction I'm pretty good at planning things, but I also don't like to stick to tightly to plots when something better shows up. I usually write with a laptop but I carry a journal and a pen with me in every purse I own and you'll never find me without the ability to write. When I'm blocked on my laptop, I banish myself to someplace with nothing but pen and paper and just write.
What do you hope to accomplish through Clarion?
I hope to strengthen my prose style while working specifically within the genres--fantasy and science fiction--that I enjoy the most. College creative writing courses, from my limited experience, tend to focus on "literary fiction," disdaining other forms, and as such I have not had many opportunities to hone my craft specific to these genres. I also hope to find a supportive community of writers interested in similar topics who will be able to give better criticism of my works than those who are not acquainted with sci-fi and fantasy. (Also, let's be honest, I hope to learn how to get something published--how to write something so damn good that a publisher can't say no--except I'm almost positive that such a thing can't be taught.) As far as craft goes, I'd specifcally like to work on telling more compact stories; even my short stories tend to be long and rambling, and that's something I'd like to work on.
List professional writers or Clarion graduates you know.
(I actually like this list very much. I'm rather proud of it. I just want to know what they plan to do with it!)
Julie E. Czerneda
Vikram Chandra
Melanie Abrams
Matt Miller
*sigh* I'm not even sure how I want to answer these, or how much space I get to answer them in! Time will tell, I suppose...I know things will work out, and I shouldn't stress over this crap nearly as much as I ought to stress about my stories. Because if I wow them with a story, it won't matter if my writing habits involve setting fire to the bedsheets, they'll want me. And I oh so very much want them to want me.
Describe highest education (school, dates, degree)
-graduated Mission Viejo High School in June 2007
-currently enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley (August 2007-present)
Describe your writing habits. (What exactly do they mean by this? I'm honestly not sure.)
When things like school and work don't interfere, I write every day. Not always on the same project, but I make sure I've written something. When I fall in love with a project, I pursue it intensely. I've done National Novel Writing Month three times and it's taught me how to write every day, unfailingly, and then go back to edit later. I write best when I've got a deadline in sight and a group of supportive friends and fellow writers to cheer me on. This doesn't mean that I need deadlines to write, or to think about writing, but there's something about the figure of a deadline--especially one shared by other friends and writers--that entices my ideas to coalesce in ways I never would have dreamed possible. I think a lot before beginning a story. I do research about any aspect that I don't have personal knowledge about. I really like to get to know my characters, and they're usually where a story starts for me. With short fiction I'm pretty good at planning things, but I also don't like to stick to tightly to plots when something better shows up. I usually write with a laptop but I carry a journal and a pen with me in every purse I own and you'll never find me without the ability to write. When I'm blocked on my laptop, I banish myself to someplace with nothing but pen and paper and just write.
What do you hope to accomplish through Clarion?
I hope to strengthen my prose style while working specifically within the genres--fantasy and science fiction--that I enjoy the most. College creative writing courses, from my limited experience, tend to focus on "literary fiction," disdaining other forms, and as such I have not had many opportunities to hone my craft specific to these genres. I also hope to find a supportive community of writers interested in similar topics who will be able to give better criticism of my works than those who are not acquainted with sci-fi and fantasy. (Also, let's be honest, I hope to learn how to get something published--how to write something so damn good that a publisher can't say no--except I'm almost positive that such a thing can't be taught.) As far as craft goes, I'd specifcally like to work on telling more compact stories; even my short stories tend to be long and rambling, and that's something I'd like to work on.
List professional writers or Clarion graduates you know.
(I actually like this list very much. I'm rather proud of it. I just want to know what they plan to do with it!)
Julie E. Czerneda
Vikram Chandra
Melanie Abrams
Matt Miller
*sigh* I'm not even sure how I want to answer these, or how much space I get to answer them in! Time will tell, I suppose...I know things will work out, and I shouldn't stress over this crap nearly as much as I ought to stress about my stories. Because if I wow them with a story, it won't matter if my writing habits involve setting fire to the bedsheets, they'll want me. And I oh so very much want them to want me.