Ann's comments (member since Sep 24, 2008)

Ann's comments from the Study Buddies group.

Hah. What a great idea.

There's a bunch of people... but they're all over the board, genre-wise.

Off the top of my head, Mary SanGiovanni, who was nominated for a Bram Stoker award for her first novel The Hollower, Shelly Bates/Shelly Adina who writes inspirational woman's and young adult fiction, Diana Dru Botsford, who isn't so much of an author as a name in TV and film (she wrote an award winning Star Trek: TNG episode), Nalo Hopkinson, a science-fiction and fantasy author... and a bunch of others I'm not remembering.

There are also several authors who haven't *yet* been published, but will be in 2009.

Yeah, you do have to come to campus twice a year, which does mean related costs like airfare and the like.

You can stay on campus for very little cost during the June residency, but in January, they don't have the on-campus option (Unless you have a medical need. They do work things out for that.) so you have to hotel it. There are discounts at the local hotels, and a variety of hotel types, to help with the budget. The school provides a list. Some even have shuttles to campus.

A lot of students room together to cut the cost, share rental cars, that sort of thing. A bunch of us end up at the same hotel and it pretty much becomes writer's central for that week. Even the mentors end up getting rooms there, which is nice, because you really get to know each other after "school". It's worth the expense, in many ways, for the connections you build with folks.

You can buy an inexpensive meal plan at the school and eat on campus (though, the vegetarian options are... sparse).

So yes, there are extra expenses. I am a bit lucky in that I'm only am hour away, so I actually spend less on gas at residency than I do driving back and forth to work for the same time.

A lot of students go shopping when they get to residency, to cut expenses by more or less brown-bagging it. Greensburg has all the stores you'd expect to find in suburbia.

There's more about the program at http://fiction.setonhill.edu, including a copy of the handbook and a bit about some of the mentors, the program of study, etc.

I tend write different kinds of fantasy. My thesis novel is a cross between contemporary fantasy and high fantasy, with some romance thrown in. One of my critique partners is writing urban fantasy. :)

here are two more from the same source:

Heidi Ruby Miller's PATHS TO PUBLICATION: http://ambasadora.livejournal.com/166866...

Heidi Ruby Miller's PICK SIX: http://ambasadora.livejournal.com/101498...

Well, I work full time (as a technical writer). It's designed with the working person in mind.

That said, I no longer watch much TV, my house is a bit more messy, and my garden gets minimum care. :) The program *does* eat up a lot of my spare time. But if I wanted to be a novelist and also keep my day-job (and, honestly, I do want to keep it), I'd be in a similar boat. But yes, you can manage it and still work 40 hours. You'll just have to juggle the *other* things in your life to fit in the writing time.

The graduating students teach the classes. I'm only in my second term. I have sat through two classes. One was on writing action, the other on writing emotion.

I know that one graduating student last term gave a talk on writing when you're a procrastinator and another on research methods for writers.

It consists of a bit of lecture mixed with some class participation, either with exercises or Q&A.

I do know you get to pick your topic, and I think it should either be something you did well with in your novel, or that you struggled with... basically, everything ties back to your thesis novel.

First off, I love the Seton Hill program. So glad I enrolled.

It's a low residency program that takes four semesters (or terms) plus one additional residency (at which you graduate). It is specifically oriented to genre fiction. Your Master's thesis is a fully written, ready for submission genre novel (Unless you are doing children's books. In that case it's more than one book.)

I will say at the beginning that this is an honest to goodness Master's program, and as such, there's *a lot* of work. It's like having a second job.

You also get out of the program as much as you put in. The more active you are, the harder you work, the more you'll get out of it. But that's basically the writing life, in general. :)

The residency periods are 5 days in early January and late June at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA, about an hour east of Pittsburgh, PA. Basically, you're on campus when most of undergraduate population is on break.

At residency, you take six three hour writing classes (four of which you pick from a class list, one of which is specific to your term number (first term, second term, etc.)) and the other is either a set of student classes by the graduating students, or if you're in your first term, a kind of orientation to the at-home part of the program.

Maria Snyder has taught a class during each residency I've been at. I took her Magic, Murder, and Mayhem class last term. I think the one before that was on magic systems.

You also attend three workshops at which you critique fellow student works, either 10 pages of a longer piece of fiction or a short story (you get to pick what you send in).

Every residency, there's also a guest speaker who gives a workshop or lecture in the morning, and a lecture that's (usually) also open to the public in the evening. My first term, they had Donald Maass (of the Donald Maass Literary Agency). Last term, they had author Walter Sorrells (who also writes as Lynn Ambercombe and Ruth Birmingham). I'm not sure who will be there this January.

In addition to that, you meet one-on-one with your mentor, who is a published author in whatever genre you write in.

You're also required to attend at least two thesis readings by graduating students (and I usually go to as many as possible).

There's also a genre book of some sort assigned before the residency that everyone in the program should read. We discuss the book in small groups on the first day. What genre it is changes from term to term. My first residency, it was romance, the next one, it was fantasy, and this coming residency is mystery. It gives everyone some idea about all of the genres.

The at-home portion consists of:

-Working on your thesis novel. You start right away. A term is four months long, and at minimum, you should be turning in 20-25 pages a month to you mentor. Or more. I recommend more, as you really only have three terms to write and revise your novel.

-Critiquing your writing partner's submissions. You're partnered with 2 or three other students, and you receive their pages to critique. Part of this experience is learning how to give and receive crits, as well as the usefulness of having a writing group.

-Reading 5 books, usually three in your genre, one how-to, and one critical analysis within your genre (my critical read for this term is Rhetorics of Fantasy, to give you an idea) and writing reviews of these books.

The idea is not only to learn about writing from class work and books, but also to learn to look at published works and see what makes them tick (or not).

In your fourth term, aside from completing your thesis, you must also write a critical essay about your genre and how your thesis fits into the genre.

Also, you must develop a 45 minute class to give to the other students during the next residency.

As I said... its a *lot* of work.

But the people are fantastic. The classes are fantastic, and some of the information you'll never hear anywhere else. The networking opportunities are great, and you learn more than just how to write, but also how to market what you've written.

That's kind of a brief overview of the program. I can answer any specific questions you have, but that at least is a start as to what the program is and what's entailed.

Suzann,

Sure! I'm pretty much willing to talk about anything about the program.

I don't know if anyone else wants to hear about it, so we can take it private if it's not of interest to anyone else.

Maria is not just a great writer, but an awesome lady and a great teacher as well. She's a graduate of the same Master's program I'm currently in at Seton Hill U, and she comes back to teach during our residency periods (it's a low residency program). Had us rolling with laughter during her last class...

Loved Poison Study! First book in a while that I finished in a day. I haven't read the rest of the Study books yet, due to school reading and writing taking up all my free time, but they're next on the stack.