Walter Jon Williams’s Taos Toolbox Writers Workshop will once again be accepting applications, starting 1 December. The two-week “Master Class” in science fiction and fantasy writing will be taught by Williams and Nancy Kress, with special lecturer Jack Skillingstead, and will be held 10-23 July 2011.
Williams reminds applicants that Taos Toolbox is a “‘graduate’ workshop designed to bring your science fiction and fantasy writing to the next level. If you’ve sold a few stories and then stalled out, or if you’ve been to Clarion or Odyssey and want to re-connect with the workshop community, this is the workshop for you.” He also warns them that “this is not a workshop for beginners. We won’t teach you correct manuscript format or what an adverb is and why you shouldn’t use one, because we’ll assume that you already know. We want to concentrate on giving talented, burgeoning writers the information necessary to become professionals within the science fiction and fantasy field.”
The workshop will emphasize “the craft of the novel,” though short fiction will be “enthusiastically received.”
The workshop is held in a lodge in Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico, “where students can work on their craft amid the beautiful mountain scenery that inspired such diverse creative figures as DH Lawrence, Carl Jung, and Georgia O’Keefe. Almost all meals will be included in the cost of tuition.”
Tuition for the workshop is $2800 (later applications bring higher tuition costs). Full details are available on the workshop’s web site.