Taos Toolbox -- Day 1

Each Taos class is different.  Last year there were 12 Macs and my pile of paper around the table.  In this group, at least half are taking notes on paper, like me.  Here we are in the critique room, ably led by Walter Jon Williams, looming large in the foreground:

Today we had a lecture by me on writing in scenes, critiques of three stories, and a lecture by Walter on plotting.  Then everyone, surfeited with information and coffee, staggered to their rooms to do the homework assignment.  Or do whatever.


Memorable lines from today's critiques:


"This story gave me a minor epistemological crisis."


"The character can't just be this cute furry magician that Sam wants to sleep with."


"If you could crank out the next 20 chapters by tonight, I'd like to read it in bed."


"Keep the perversity.  I like the perversity."