[personal profile] mabfan
I am very pleased to announce that I will be teaching a Science Fiction & Fantasy Workshop with Grub Street, Boston's independent creative writing center. The class will take place for six Monday nights, starting on January 23rd and ending on March 6th (skipping over February 20th due to President's Day).

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Grub Street, it's been around since 1997 to create a supportive writers community. Over 2000 students have taken workshops and classes with them, and their alums have gone on to attend top MFA programs, publish books and sell screenplays.

As for myself...well, I've taught a science fiction and fantasy writing workshop a few times. I taught it three times at the Cambridge School of Weston, and then I taught smaller versions for other students. I also did two one-night workshops for the Harvard College class The Anthropology of Science Fiction.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in taking the class, a description of the course can be found here. It'll be a workshop class, but each night I'll also lead a discussion on various aspects of the genre, such as space travel, time travel, world building, mythology, etc. You can also see Grub Street's full Workshop Schedules and information on tuition and registration, in case there's another class that interests you.

Date: 2005-12-12 06:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] popfiend.livejournal.com
GO YOU!!!

That rocks.

How do you feel? Excited? Nervous?

Date: 2005-12-12 08:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
I'm delighted, actually. I enjoy teaching science fiction writing, and am glad for the opportunity to do it again.

Date: 2005-12-12 07:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madwriter.livejournal.com
Boy, that's a bloody long commute from SW VA . . .

Date: 2005-12-12 08:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
Yeah, well...sorry. (On the flip side, though, it seems more and more likely that we'll be able to make it to Ravencon.)

Date: 2005-12-15 10:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madwriter.livejournal.com
Sweet. I'm still planning on getting out there, short of a natural disaster keeping me homebound.

Date: 2005-12-13 12:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jenwrites.livejournal.com
I've often thought about taking another Grub Street class. I enjoyed the one I took several years back. But I'm also pondering going for the Extension School instead. Mind you, no classes will be taken until our financial situation improves.

Date: 2005-12-13 02:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
Which class did you take with Grub Street? And which Extension School are you looking at? Dennis Lehane taught at Harvard Extension a few years ago; that would have been an interesting class to take.

Date: 2005-12-13 02:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jenwrites.livejournal.com
I took Fiction 1 with Bruce Machart. This was right after I'd gotten my first handful of rejection letters, and I decided it was time to take a formal writing class, which was something I hadn't done since college. And I figured I might as well start with the basics, rather than jumping to a higher level course. It was a great little class.

And yes, Harvard Extension School. Sorry, I worked at Harvard for seven years, so I just think of it as "the" extension school.

Your class does sound awfully neat. I just worry that it might be awkward for the two of us if someone you knew reasonably well were one of your students.

Date: 2005-12-13 02:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
I know at least one friend who is planning to take the class, and he expressed the same concern about awkwardness. It wouldn't bother me. (Although I still recall how in graduate school, one of my Physics lab students was a guy who had been my TA for a Jewish history class when I was in college...that was weird.)

Date: 2005-12-13 04:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chanaleh.livejournal.com
Cool beans!

(skipping over February 20th due to President's Day).

Oh come on, you must mean "due to Boskone". ;-)

Date: 2005-12-14 02:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
Well, yeah, that too. :-)

Date: 2005-12-20 10:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] donutgirl.livejournal.com
Hi there, I just randomly stumbled on your journal while googling grub street.

I'm applying for the Master Novel course there, but I'm nervous it will be canceled. It was apparently canceled last semester, although I'm not sure if that was due to lack of interest or some other reason. Do you know anyone who has actually taken this class? How many people does it usually get? Does it get canceled a lot?

I'm just trying to figure out if I should look for another class to sign up for before enrollments fill up. Thanks in advance if you can give me any advice.

Sorry I can't take your class, but sci-fi isn't my genre. Congrats on getting the gig, though!

Date: 2005-12-21 03:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
Actually, I'm afraid I don't know anything about the Master Novel course at all. But if you email info@grubstreet.org, I imagine someone at the main office will have more information for you.

And thanks for the congratulations! I'm looking forward to teaching the class.

Date: 2005-12-21 04:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] donutgirl.livejournal.com
urgh... the truth is, the info@grubstreet.org address didn't work when I sent in my submission, and I had to call and get a different address to send it to. That's part of why I'm trying to figure out if this is a legitimate organization or not... I don't want to blow $500 on a fly by night affair.

Date: 2005-12-21 03:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
Well, Grub Street certainly isn't a fly-by-night affair.  It's been around for about eight years now and over that time they've taught over 2000 students.  That's one of the main reasons I chose to work with them. 

There's a good article about Grub Street at http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi-page/documents/05016163.asp

In the meantime, I asked your question from before, and got the following reply:

"Decisions for all Master class students at Grub Street are made by a judging committee, which includes the instructor. We have had to cancel the course recently because the judging committee felt that not enough submissions were up to the Master level. Please know that all these sorts of decisions are inherently subjective and that the applicant should keep trying the Master level OR consider a Level II course. If s/he likes, this person can both submit to the Master class AND sign up for another class. If s/he gets into the Master class, then Grub Street can refund her deposit on the other class."

They're also not sure why info@grubstreet.org wouldn't be working.

If you send me your email address via my LiveJournal one, I'll email you the address of the head instructor, and I imagine he can answer whatever other questions you have.

Date: 2005-12-21 04:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] donutgirl.livejournal.com
Okay, that's good to know.

Oh, and for the record, the class was canceled last semester before I ever got a chance to send my submission in. I wouldn't want you to think my submission had already been judged "not up to Master level." ;)

Thanks so much for your help.

Level?

Date: 2006-01-24 10:17 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
The Grub Street site is a bit conflicted about the level of your course. I'm guessing "mixed." Also, it says 6-week courses are $255 but yours is $425. I hope you get to pocket the extra cash...

--mcd

Re: Level?

Date: 2006-01-25 04:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
It's a mixed level course, and the cost for the course should be listed as $255. Thanks for letting me know of the error; I'll get it corrected ASAP.

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