Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me

Viet Thanh Nguyen Reveals How Writers' Workshops Can Be Hostile


What Nguyen says about writing workshops I want to apply to printing and bookmaking workshops:


As an institution, the workshop reproduces its ideology, which pretends that “Show, don’t tell” is universal when it is, in fact, the expression of a particular population, the white majority, typically at least middle-class and often, but not exclusively, male. The identity behind the workshop’s origins is invisible. Like all privileges, this identity is unmarked until it is thrown into relief against that which is marked, visible and outspoken, which is to say me and others like me.

We, the barbarians at the gate, the descendants of Caliban, the ones who have no choice but to speak in the language we have — we come bearing the experiences and ideas the workshop suppresses. We come from the Communist countries America bombed during the Cold War, or where it sponsored counter-Communist efforts. We come from the lands America occupied, invaded or colonized. We come as refugees and immigrants, documented and undocumented. We come from the ghettos, barrios, reservations and borders of America where there are no workshops. We come from the bedrooms and the kitchens of the American home, where we were supposed to stay, and stay silent. We come speaking languages other than English. We come from the margins, where English is broken. We come with financial aid and loans and families that do not understand what “creative writing” is. We come from communities we do not wish to renounce in the name of our individualism. We come wanting to do more than just sell our stories to white audiences. And we come with the desire not just to show, but to tell.

But what is that art that is also political, historical, theoretical, ideological and philosophical? How is it to be taught? It must be taught not only as an isolated craft or a set of techniques. It must be taught in relation to, or within, courses on history, politics, theory and philosophy, as well as ethnic studies, gender studies, queer studies and cultural studies.

I am very tired and should probably just go to bed and try again tomorrow, but that's what sane people do. So:

1) I've decided this will be The Year that I try to get into the Book and Paper Intensive, which is an epic eight-day book arts workshop where they do different classes every year. So for half of it you do a basic course in the morning and then another in the afternoon, and in the second half you do a hardcore all-day workshop. Everyone I know who has ever been has flailed and sung its praises. And they have a scholarship, and the scholarship application period is December 1-31, and they only sent out info about it yesterday.

So to apply I have to put together a portfolio of ten things to basically show-off my skill level and interests. And write a statement. So today I scanned a bunch of stuff and started to think, "Hey, this doesn't look bad. There's a nice variety of papers here, handmade and marbled. That one broadside that has a poem I wrote looks decent. Those two artist books, um, don't look awful. Etc. So I waffle. And then the statement. It only has to be 200 words, but still. "I want to learn to make more things. Also better. Better and prettier than I make things now. You show me how? Please?" Yeah, needs work.

2) Also working on a side research project with a friend of mine, and something I've been trying to figure out for ages is when the shift of meaning occurred with "fanfiction." Originally back in the 1930s-1950s, it just meant fiction written by fans, not derivative or transformative works, which came later. Well lo and behold the OED has an entry, and mentions the 1944 Fancyclopedia as documenting the first meaning, and Jacqueline Lichtenberg writing in the 1975 anthology Star Trek Lives! about the latter. Now I suspect this latter citation is because it appeared in a mass-market book, so obviously it was in usage before then, but when? And so there's a Fan History group on Facebook and I thought I'd be bright and pose it to them.

WELL. A bunch of cranky old dudes. "What are you talking about?" "Fanfiction has always just meant amateur writing." "Where are you getting this from?" ... Uh, the OED? Also, have you read anything in the mainstream media in the past fifteen years, or hell, the last three? JUST CURIOUS.

Anyway. That's been my day. Well, no, I got other things done, and other things need to get done but still. I'm tired. So. 

Okay, my Star Trek slash piece is done. Now it's time for my next project: female characters in LOTR fandom. *G* I'm particularly interested in Arwen and Lothiriel since they are "offscreen" throughout most of the books and most of what we know about them comes from footnotes and the material in the Appendices, but you know I love me some Eowyn. So, can has recs? *puppy eyes*

Sidewaysedly and out of curiosity, does anyone know of any LOTR modern day AUs? I know of one (by scribe) but I'm wondering if there are any more out there?

Awesome interview with Joanna Russ over at the Journal of Popular Romance Studies, an open-access academic journal. She discusses slash writing in general (for those who don't know she wrote a well-known piece on K/S in her scholarly volume Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans & Perverts: Feminist Essays that was a rewrite of a fannish version in Nome #8). Good stuff!

Skimming some stuff related to writing my paper for PCA. Came across the following from a 1992 essay by Constance Penley, discussing TOS slash:

I already knew then... that this was an almost all-female fandom, and had also been able to get an idea of the extent of the production and the number of fans involved: there are probably not more than 500 active, core fans, although they publish a tremendous amount, which is disseminated beyond the core group through mail order and convention sales of th zines...

Compare this figure with something like, say jim_and_bones which publicly has over a thousand members, of which (according to the published mod polls) some hundred or so actively participate.

Just think that's interesting, is all.

Shit weather today led to half an hour spent in the basement at work as a tornado came very close to campus. The emergency warnings led to some people saying, "Do we really need to go to the basement?" Um, the public areas have very large windows because this building was constructed before AC and so there is a LOT OF GLASS THAT CAN SPAGHETTIIZE YOU. YES WE'RE GOING TO THE FUCKING BASEMENT.

(Oh yeah, that's why I work in public services. Why do you ask?)

After that the day got better, although one of my students couldn't "find" her reading for class today--even though it's online, the url is in the syllabus, we showed where the link to it is on the class website last week.... I don't know. Kids. Oy.

Spent some time looking for Lord of the Rings fanzines and ILLing some stuff. I have a vague idea for a paper about Constructing Lothiriel since anyone who has to write her is basically creating an OFC and this fascinates me.

Anyhow, got the Heinlein bio and looking forward to that. Also finished Mockingjay which I'll review at length more later--I'm still chewing it over and now am toying with the idea of a Reboot/Hunger Games AU. IDEK.

All the King's Men. Wow. This may be my new canon.

A Beautifully Illogical Mind: Star Trek does Good Will Hunting.

Kissing the Dead: K/S, Spock Prime remembers Kirk Prime as he kisses NuKirk.

'Cause We Really Don't Have Anyone Else: Spock observes Kirk/McCoy.

Tiberius: About Kirk's Grandpa Tiberius.

Under Orders: Pike discovers that Kirk was at Tarsus IV.

Like the Stars, Like Your Destiny: Spock/Uhura. Nyota contemplates AUs.

Four Ways Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy Never Meet, and the One Way They Do: Kirk/Bones.

Haunting: Amanda Grayson and George Kirk look after their respective sons on the Enterprise.

So downloaded a huge new patch for WoW. I'm so prepped for Wrath of the Lich King, and only four bubbles left to go before I hit 70.

Cos, y'know, I have priorities.

Scott's gotten addicted to Warhammer. It's fun but I think WoW is prettier and just more fun. It may take longer and Warhammer may be more fun to RP in (not sure, we're not on an RP server in WoW anyhow), but it's so much easier on my eyes.

~

In other news, work is keeping me seriously busy these days. I come home every day all zonked out, and feel guilty I can't catch up on my writing (I've been working on a single article for weeks now) but I'm just so damn braindead. I know we're making good progress on major things, but still. Oh, and I have to work on impact proposals soon. Argh.

~

Read a very good book recently. It's called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society and it's an epistolary novel about England, WW2, the Guernsey Occupation, books, and the things that help people survive when times are hard.

You know, like now...

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Btw, I think I totally want to have Obama's babies after last night. I can't remember the last time I heard an honest-to-gods guy be pro-choice and clearly fucking sincere.

~

So that's how things are right now. I'm going to take a day off next week. I'm intending to get some research done when I do, but still. Knock on wood.