toolbox_text

presents

a two-week Master Class in Science Fiction and Fantasy

June 2-June 15, 2024

taught by

Walter Jon Williams

Nancy Kress

special guest

Creator of The Expanse

James S.A. Corey

(Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck)

and special lecturers

Jeffe Kennedy

Diana Rowland

 

Taos Toolbox is a 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!

Writers without workshop experience are also welcome.

George R.R. Martin has agreed once again to sponsor his Terran Award, providing full tuition for an applicant from a non-English-speaking country.  For details, see below.

For an overview of the workshop, take a look at this video by E.M. Tippetts.

This is not a workshop for absolute 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.

Though short fiction will be enthusiastically received, there will be an emphasis at Taos Toolbox on the craft of the novel, with attention given to such vital topics as plotting, pacing, and selling full-length works.

Students will share deluxe suites in the Sonesta ES in Albuquerque, NM.  Each participant will have their own bedroom and bathroom, and plenty of room to work on their craft.

From the Terran  Award  press release by George R.R. Martin: 

When astronauts look down on Earth from orbit, they don’t see borders, national boundaries, or linguistic groups; they see one world, a gorgeous blue globe spinning in space, streaked with clouds.   I don’t know if humanity will ever reach the stars (though I hope we will), but if we do, it won’t be Americans who get there.   It won’t be the Chinese or the Russians or the British or the French or the Brazilians or the Kiwis or the South Africans or Indians or the folk of any other nation either.  It will be humanity; in the language of the SF of my youth, it will be Terrans or Earthlings or Earthmen.  The future belongs to all the peoples of the world.

With that in mind, I want to announce that I am sponsoring a new scholarship, to bring an aspiring SF writer from a non-English-speaking country to the Taos Toolbox, the graduate level writing workshop that Walter Jon Williams and Nancy Kress run every summer in the mountains of northern New Mexico.  The TERRAN AWARD will be given annually, and will cover all tuition and fees  to the Toolbox (but not meals or travel).   Applicants will need to speak and write in English, but must be from from a country where English is not the primary language.   WJW and the Toolbox staff will select the winner.

For details about how to apply, please read the application page.

 

Applications will be considered beginning January 1, 2024.
Mark the date on your calendar!

Contact
wjw@taostoolbox.com