THE ICE PICK

Storyteller : Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, by Kate Wilhelm. Northampton, Mass., Small Beer Press, 2005. 190 p. $16.00. Includes: Notes and Lessons on Writing, and Writing Exercises. ISBN: 0-7394-5613-x.

You’ve probably heard of Clarion. Maybe you’ve even wanted to go. Although the elite Clarion Writer’s Workshop has evolved beyond its beginnings, it was begun by and for science fiction and fantasy writers like us and that remains its major emphasis.

Half memoir, half writer’s "how-to" book, this lighthearted little gem tells of the origins and growth of the workshop and of the crazy, funny, and wonderful happenings and events in Clarion’s history.

Along the way, Wilhelm offers advice, hints, and tips, and even weaves Clarion exercises into the narrative in a way that made me immediately want to try them out in my own writing. Most of the writing exercises are gathered in the back of the book, as well, in a separate section, but doing them as I read along made me feel more like a real participant of the workshop, even if I was missing out on the cafeteria food and water balloon fights.

Here is a sample of one of the exercises. "Using a finished story, take a clean paper and cover everything but one sentence. Read that sentence. Does it say exactly what you intended and nothing else? That’s the test. For example: ‘"Don’t do that!" he exploded.’ Looks okay? Wrong. You can’t explode words. You can utter them, say them, mutter, murmur, yell, shout, whisper, and so on. You can’t laugh words or giggle words, or ejaculate words, or jump up and down words. Use say. If something stronger is needed, go to yell or shout. . . . Forget the story line, the plot, everything about the story except the sentences, and examine them one at a time, and then one word at a time."

I didn’t say it was going to be easy! Clarion was never easy or for the faint of heart. But if you want to improve your writing, there are few better teachers than Kate Wilhelm and her late husband, Damon Knight.

The second half of the book emphasizes writing craft and techniques, but uses the background of the workshop and examples from it in such a way that the narrative seamlessly blends together and continues the feeling of imagined participation.

There are chapters on characterization, setting, plotting (or not), beginnings, viewpoint, creating and maintaining suspense, creativity, etc., but it’s difficult even to categorize them that much, since everything overlaps everything else, just as it does in a story. And in the end it doesn’t matter, though I do wish the book had an index, because I read so many wonderful things that I wanted to go back to. But there is a nice section called "Notes and Lessons on Writing," which summarizes the main elements and points made in the text.

This is such a great book, and I enjoyed reading it so very much. I can only imagine what six weeks at Clarion would be like!

If you’ve been to Clarion, this book may serve as a reminder of what you learned and the (I hope) good times you had there. If you’ve never been there, it may inspire you and teach you to be a better writer. I recommend it very highly.

{Published in SF and Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Oct. 2006.}