Okay, so Benjamin Rosenbaum and I have a question to ask about future SF/F writing workshops.
We’re thinking about, after this spring’s SLF workshop-retreat, having a long-weekend SLF mini-workshop(?)-retreat(?)-in-person-class(?) in Chicago in August, around August 14-16, maybe with a bit of the 13th as arrival and 17th as departure days.
So the question is, if hypothetically you were going to this long-weekend event, which of the following formats would you be more excited about?
1) Mini-workshop, limited to 9 participants, 3 stories critiqued a day — plus the usual activities/yummy food in the afternoons
OR
2) Content-craft-marketing-topics seminar, so basically 3-6 Advanced Topics in Fiction Writing/Writing Business/The Writing Life/Adjacent Fields/etc. One or two a day, with a combination of lectures, discussions, writing exercises, demonstrations, “clinics” (in which, instead of bringing a full story, you bring some specific problem or issue you’re stuck on), etc.
Which of those sounds better? And, if #2, do you have ideas of topics/exercises/discussions you’d want to see?
(Totally unrelated picture of Ben coaxing Anand out of a bad mood at my anniversary party, but he COULD be teaching him how to write a story in this pic…)
