Take interwebs tour of Viable Paradise Instructors #vp14

There’s less than two weeks to get your application in for the next Viable Paradise (VP), a one-week workshop in writing and selling commercial science fiction and fantasy, taught by professional authors and acquiring editors. If you don’t have a story you love, you can get another short story written. As I saw one of my VP 13 classmates say, in her best online Rob Schneider voice: “You can do it ….” And, oh, by the way, you should send it in, too.

The deadline is June 30.

And instead of chewing off your fingernails during the several-day agony to hear whether you’ve been accepted, I’ll offer you a distraction, summarizing a few things you can listen or read to not only fill your time, but also provide you a glimpse of what you might expect when you get there. For a wannabe speculative fiction writer, VP is many things. And while I can’t share, well, really anything about what takes place there, I can help by highlighting the pros that would teach you (in each his or her own way) how to be a professional author:

Elizabeth Bear (@matociquala on Twitter). Whether it’s her rejection-slip count, her WTF jacket (a career aspiration of mine to have my own and don wherever I please) or the way she goes about research, she’s an inspiration. Check out Bear’s interview on Adventure in Scifi Publishing.

Debra Doyle & Jim (Uncle Jim) MacDonald. These two contributed to my reading list getting A LOT longer. Two true working pros (no, not that kind), the master plotter and grammarian tell a tale of … “Once upon a time in a misty sea, there was a workshop.”  Jim Macdonald and Debra Doyle share VP’s mythic underpinnings.

Steven Gould (@StevenGould on Twitter). Definitely good for a chat about anything, his Twitter feed can attest to that, but especially about what bad things can happen to your book when translated to film. Shhh … I took a crappy book out of the Isabelle Beach House’s library and left a copy of Steven’s “Blind Waves” instead. Listen to an audio sample of Steven’s work and select interviews.

Laura J. Mixon (@LauraJMG on Twitter). Cherished, practical link to some serious Sci Fi pioneers and founding member of and sounding board for what Ian Tregillis calls “writing superheroes,” aka working parents who write. Check out last July’s “I Should Be Writing” (ISBW) interview with her about her Storytron project.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden (@tnielsenhayden on Twitter). Whether a person makes it to VP or not, one voice everyone should hear (amazing historian of craft and genre), but seems elusive in the podcasting world (Hmmm … maybe I should remedy that) ….  Her musings via her blog will have to suffice (not that there anything close to a lesser form; you’ll just have to read).

Patrick Nielsen Hayden (@pnh on Twitter). If you want to know the business, talk to Patrick. A wealth of knowledge and good counsel against publishing and writer myths (he offered me several tidbits that will keep me sane for years to come).  Patrick and former VP instructor Cory Doctorow discuss creative commons and electronic publishing.

John Scalzi (@scalzi on Twitter). John gave me the stink-eye glare every time I reached in the cooler for a Coke Zero. Before VP, I had met John twice. If you don’t make it to VP, visit John at a Con — he’s worth the price of admission. In this “I Should Be Writing” interview (originally at ISBW – March 2008)  John discusses how he got his start, how he doesn’t recommend it for others, and how to be a full time writer.

Tagged as: Adventures in SciFi Publishing, AISFP, Debra Doyle, Elizabeth Bear, Jim MacDonald, John Scalzi, Laura J. Mixon, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Steven Gould, Stories, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Viable Paradise, Viable Paradise XIII, VP, Writers Workshop, Writing