Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Winner

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I keep hearing wannabe writers who belong to workshops talking about the long-term nature of the workshopping process. Indeed, I overheard one aspirant recently saying "we never graduate . . . once a workshopper, always a workshopper."

I'd like to politely offer a word of advice: The stated goal of most workshops consisting of unpublished writers is for the members to become published, professional writers. Don't lose sight of that. I've seen too many workshops over the years become self-perpetuating, with the goal switching (often subtly and without anyone noticing it) from writing publishable work to sustaining the workshopping process.

One workshop I'm familiar with has been operating for about five years now. Everyone who was in it seemed to learn a lot, but the only person from that group to end up qualifying for active membership in SFWA was the one who knew when it was time to quit the workshop. He left almost three years ago, and has sold over sixty stories and a novel in the interim; the others, although all talented, seem locked in workshop limbo. Oh, now and then, one of them will make the occasional small-press sale, but that's about it.

Another example: In one of the last issues of QUANTUM Science Fiction and Fantasy Review, D. Alexander Smith went on about the Cambridge Science Fiction Workshop, founded in 1982, citing as proof of its success that, in the ensuing eleven years, "at least thirteen published novels and over a hundred short stories have come from CSFW's current and past members."

Sounds great . . . until you think about it. Nowhere does Smith tell us how many members his workshop has, but let's say it's ten (certainly that's the right order of magnitude). That means that its members are, on average, each selling approximately one short story per year, plus one member per year is managing to sell a novel (while the other nine or so are not). In other words, they're no more productive (and, indeed, arguably a fair bit less productive) than any random grouping of ten writers you're likely to assemble.

If workshopping helps people get started, wonderful. But please, don't lose sight of the real goal. Workshopping is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. At some point, it will be time to move on.

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