ccfinlay.com - blue heaven

Blue Heaven 2011, from L to R: Jenn Reese, Cassie Alexander, C.C. Finlay
Paolo Bacigalupi, Greg van Eekhout, Rae Carson, Sarah Prineas, Paul Melko
Christopher Barzak, Sandra McDonald, Tobias Buckell, Deb Coates
(this is what happens when it's too wet all week to get an outside picture)

Blue Heaven is a week-long peer workshop/retreat for critiquing novels that meets every twelve to eighteen months. The workshop is named for Himmelblau House, the Victorian bed and breakfast on Kelleys Island where we originally held the retreat.

The sections below describe the history of the workshop, the way it's structured, and some suggestions for anyone organizing a similar workshop. At the very bottom is a list of the books that have been published after being workshopped at Blue Heaven.

History

The speculative fiction community has a long history of face-to-face workshops (Milford, Sycamore Hill, Rio Hondo). Because the speculative fiction tradition grows out of the short story, these workshops have traditionally focused on short stories, frequently honing and crafting them into award winners.

When I was writing my first novels, I saw a need for something similar focused on the novel. Short stories and novels are very different forms of fiction and require a different set of skills. Novels also represent a much more significant investment of time and have more effect on an author's ability to make writing a pay-the-bills career.

So in 2003, with the help of Karin Lowachee and James Stevens-Arce, the only two published novelists I knew well at the time, we held the first Blue Heaven. Ten of the twelve writers attending had never published a book before, though most of us had published short stories and had agents or editors interested in our work. Many of the same writers came back in 2004, some with the same books.

Ten of the twenty novels workshopped during those first two years sold in some form. For most of us, it became our first novel sale. Since then, over thirty novels workshopped in Blue Heaven have sold and several alumni have moved onto full-time careers as novelists and writers.

The Blue Heaven Model

Each writer submits their first-fifty, which is just what it sounds like (the first three chapters or up to 50 pages) and a separate document of their complete manuscript. The workshop is then broken up into two parts. During the first half of the week, everyone critiques the first-fifties in a Clarion style format. During the second half of the week, each manuscript gets a detailed critique from two dedicated readers.

The Blue Heaven schedule looks like this:

Sunday: Arrive at the retreat and have a welcome party.

Monday: Critique first-fifties 1, 2, 3, and 4. (Two after breakfast, two after lunch.)

Tuesday: Critique first-fifties 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Wednesday: Critique first-fifites 9, 10, 11, and 12.

On Tuesday or Wednesday evening: Group discussion (example topic: agents)

Thursday morning: Complete MS sessions A and B.

Thursday afternoon: Complete MS sessions C and D.

Friday morning: Complete MS sessions E and F.

Friday afternoon: Complete MS sessions G and H.

On Thursday or Friday evening: Group discussion (example topic: work-for-hire)

Saturday morning: Complete MS sessions I and J.

Saturday afternoon: Complete MS sessions K and L.

Saturday night: Farewell banquet and closing group session.

Sunday morning: Breakfast and farewells.

The first-fifty sessions are done Milford or Clarion-style, in a circle with time limits on the critiques if they start running too long. Afterwards, everyone hands in a written critique with their comments. The complete MS sessions are more free form, and we tend to trust the writers more to direct them to get what they want. Each of the two critiquers will start off with some general observations on the MS, and then go into more depth, or else answer questions in a give-and-take with the author until the writer's satisfied that they have what they need to dive into revisions. They can involve anything from a detailed examination of the text to a more open-ended discussion about the plot and choices of the book. Full MS sessions have run anywhere from an hour and a half up to about three hours

Even though everyone commits to reading at least two complete MSs, we've always had a number of people pick a third or fourth MS and sit in those sessions as well, schedule permitting.

The organizer has to do a fair amount of work in advance to make things run smoothly, and not just in scheduling and sending out invitations. Two months before the retreat, writers submit their first-fifties to everyone (through a mailing list, google docs, etc.). Every writer is expected to look over the first-fifties and send the organizer the titles of four to six complete MSs that they’re willing to read. A month before the retreat, the organizer assigns each person two full MSs to critique and creates a critique schedule for Thursday-Saturday that doesn’t have any conflicts. Then the dedicated readers communicate with the authors to determine delivery of the full MS. Many people keep working right up until the week before the retreat as long as that’s agreeable to their readers.

Some Thoughts For Organizers:

Right from the very beginning, we’ve shared the structure of the workshop publicly in case other writers wanted to copy the model and so that we could learn from their experience if they did. For example, Blue Heaven alum Sarah Kelly has founded Starry Heaven and is putting her own spin on the model.

Here are some things we’ve learned from organizing the first half dozen Blue Heavens:

The size of the group is important. We’ve ranged from 11-13 writers and for us twelve seems to be the sweet spot. This workshop requires a significant commitment of time. Eleven first-fifties and two complete MSs are about as much as you can expect anyone to read. But twelve is still large enough to provide significant diversity of skill and opinion.
Fit is important. Our experience is that it works best when we invite writers who are at about the same spot in our craft and careers. We were able to help each other so much the first two years because we were all struggling with similar issues. As more of us have sold books, the issues that concern us have changed. Personality is part of fit. If you’re going to spend a week locked in the same room with people, you want them to be people whose company you enjoy.
Diversity is important. We've had our best experiences when we balanced types of genres to encourage cross-fertilization, high energy personalities with quiet thoughtful types, and different skill sets (like plot-focused writers vs. sentence-focused writers).
Professionalism is important. For the career discussions, we always agree on a "cone of silence" so that people can speak freely about their personal experience without worrying about gossip later. So far that’s always been respected. (Another advantage of having a smaller group.)
We have developed a strong bias against pre-tiquing, the practice of sharing critiques in advance of the actual session, even if it’s just with a small group and the writer’s not present. This is simply more fair to the writer. In addition, it keeps the workshop more focused, avoids groupthink in the crits, and allows for time outside critiques to be more open for fun.

If there's anything else you want to know, just ask, and I'll do my best to answer.

Books Workshopped At Blue Heaven (by author)

These are not all the authors who have attended Blue Heaven, nor does it include all the books published by those authors. Only the fiction that has been workshopped at the retreat is included.

Cassie Alexander

Moonshifted
St. Martin's Press, 2013

Trilogy foreign rights sold to Germany.

Paolo Bacigalupi

The Windup Girl
Night Shade Books, 2009

Winner - John W. Campbell Winner - Memorial Award 2010
Winner - Compton Crook Award 2010
Winner - Hugo Award 2010
Winner - Locus Award for Best First Novel 2010
Winner - Nebula Award 2009
Time Magazine – Ten Best Novels of 2009

Ship Breaker
Little Brown, 2010

Booklist - starred review
Finalist - National Book Award 2010
Winner - Printz Award 2011
Finalist - Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy 2011

Christopher Barzak

One For Sorrow
Bantam, 2007

Winner – Crawford Award 2008
Finalist – Great Lakes Book Award 2008
Finalist – Logo Channel’s NewNowNext Award 2008
Translated into Italian and Spanish.

Tobias Buckell

Crystal Rain
Tor, 2006

Ragamuffin
Tor, 2007

Finalist – Nebula Award 2007
Finalist – Prometheus Award 2008

Sly Mongoose
Tor, 2008

Arctic Rising
Tor, 2012

Rae Carson

Crown of Embers
Greenwillow (US), 2012
Gollancz (UK/Aus/NZ), 2012

Trilogy foreign rights sold to Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Turkey.

Deb Coates

Wide Open
Tor, 2012

Brenda Cooper

Reading The Wind
Tor, 2008

C.C. Finlay

The Prodigal Troll
Pyr, 2005

Translated into German.- starred review

“Abandon the Ruins”
Fantasy & Science Fiction 2006

Excerpted from an unpublished Prodigal Troll sequel.
Translated into Russian for Esli.

The Patriot Witch
Del Rey, 2009

Publisher’s Weekly - starred review

A Spell For The Revolution
Del Rey, 2009

“The Political Prisoner”
Fantasy & Science Fiction 2008

Novella excerpted from unpublished novel. Translated and published as a standalone book in Italy by DelosBooks.

Finalist – Nebula Award Best Novella 2008
Finalist – Hugo Award Best Novella 2009
Finalist – Sturgeon Award 2009

Daryl Gregory

The Devil's Alphabet
Del Rey, 2009

Publisher’s Weekly – Best Books of 2009
Finalist - Philip K. Dick Award 2010

Karin Lowachee

Burndive
Warner Aspect, 2003

Cagebird
Warner Aspect, 2005

Winner – Prix Aurora Award 2006
Winner – Gaylactic Spectrum Award 2006

Sandra McDonald

The Stars Down Under
Tor, 2008

Holly McDowell

King Solomon's Wives
Coliloquy, 2012

Paul Melko

Singularity's Ring
Tor, 2008

Winner – Compton Crook Award 2009
Winner – Locus Best First Novel Award 2009

The Walls of the Universe
Tor, 2009

Publisher's Weekly - starred review
Optioned for film by the producer of Shrek
Novella excerpt published in Asimov’s Science Fiction
Finalist- Hugo Award Best Novella 2007
Finalist – Nebula Award Best Novella 2006
Finalist – Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award 2007
Winner – Asimov’s Readers Poll Award 2006

The Broken Universe
Tor, 2012

Tim Pratt

Briarpatch
Chizine Publications, 2011

Sarah Prineas

The Magic Thief
HarperCollins, 2008

Starred reviews -Kirkus, Booklist, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
#3 Booksense (Indie Next) pick, spring/summer 2008
Publisher's Weekly Flying Start author (spring 2008)
New York Public Library 100 Books for Reading and Sharing (2008)
National Council of Teachers of English Notable Books in the Language Arts (2009)
Booklist Top Ten First Novels for Youth 2008
American Booksellers for Children Best Books of the Year (2008) list
An E.B. White Read-Aloud Award honor book
Cybils Award Finalist (MG fantasy category)
Booklist Top-Ten First Audiobooks for Youth (2006-2010)
The Beehive Award winner (Children's Literature Association of Utah), 2010 (state award winner for children's fiction)
State award lists in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wyoming
Finalist - West Australia Young Readers Book Award

The Magic Thief: Lost
HarperCollins, 2009

Trilogy foreign rights sales in the following languages:

German

French

Italian

Spanish

Turkish

Polish

UK/Australia/New Zealand/India

Vietnamese

Indonesian

Finnish

Greek

Danish

Dutch

Portuguese (Brazil)

Spanish/Catalan

Czech/Slovak

Bulgarian

Romanian