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ALL IN FOR SPECULATIVE FICTION

Support Excellent Storytelling in the Clarion West Crowdfunding Campaign Would you like to join an RPG session with award-winning science fiction writer, Annalee Newitz? Join a virtual consultation with award-winning writer Kij Johnson? Or have a manuscript critique with Justin C. Key? Keep an eye out for these and other packages from Clarion West’s upcoming…

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The 2025 Summer Workshop Instructors & Format

The Clarion West Six-Week workshop will be virtual in 2025, with a new format designed to give students more time to write, additional lecture time with instructors, and more experimentation with workshopping models. If you’re interested in learning more about our housing situation and our decision to alternate virtual and in-person workshop years, click here….

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Week Five in Review

Our Week 5 instructor, Ruoxi Chen, brought her deep knowledge of markets and vast experience as an in-house acquiring editor to the classroom this week. Among lightning feedback rounds and deep dives into comps and influences, Ruoxi encouraged the class to imagine the markets to which they might eventually send their work. Actively considering the…

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Week Three in Review

Our second alumnus-turned-teacher this year, Week Three instructor Cadwell Turnbull, inspired the class with a project idea: the craft dictionary. The art of the writer’s craft is discovering how an effect is accomplished — whether it’s physically moving characters from setting A to setting B or using unexpected perspectives to surprising effect — and the…

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Week Two in Review

The Six-Week Workshop students started workshopping stories in Week Two. Their instructor, Brenda Peynado, ran the workshop like a writer’s room, asking them to identify the bivalve heart of the story before diving into the discussion. The collaborative structure of the writer’s room method made for a free-flowing conversation peppered with possibility. Three of the…