Envy me: I'm reading Lois Bujold for the first time. Her descriptions are wonderful. Without toilsomeness, she's put me in a world that's like the 19th century American West, with magic and exotic twists. Her Patrollers are like gypsy cowboys; her Farmers out of the Little House books. I wonder if the pictures in her head resemble those she's put in mine? It doesn't matter, of course; it's not as if I'll be cinematographer for a motion picture of her books.

If an author doesn't describe the characters, well, it's not a deal breaker, but I prefer it if she/he does. Same with the settings. Give me plenty of (fresh and well-placed) sense details. The joy of reading isn't just to find out what happens; it's to be immersed in a world--of someone else's imagining. I don't want to fill it in. And to those who see description as being like a speed bump in the story, I ask: What's the hurry? It's a book! Enjoy!

Week before last I was at Viable Paradise, a SFF writer's workshop. Jeff and Julia have good write-ups on what was said in the lectures.

I submitted the first two chapters of a novel. Here are some of the main points of the feedback I got, which will hopefully be helpful to other writers.

• A first chapter is a very special thing. You just can't cram too much into it, even though you're dying to explain everything.
• Need to have a "ticking time bomb" right from the start. The chapter takes too long to get into the story.
• Tension is not the same as conflict. The way I read this is: conflict is an overall problem: tension is what your character is experiencing.
• The world-building is thorough, but overwhelming. Too many synthetic words, too many races of people, too many references to geographical places. Basically, there's too much too fast that reader's expected to learn.
• Description needs to be simplified. Fussy and overwrought. People will skim that kind of writing. True; I've done it myself.
• Need "beats," breathing space.
• Sentences need to be more concrete. Don't be afraid of simple sentences.
• The book is a cross-over fantasy and science fiction. I like that. Maybe that means I'm entitled to call it "speculative fiction"? Much more majestic sounding.

The combination of lectures, group critique, one-on-ones with the instructors, Q&A "collegiums" is like rocket-fuel for a writer's brain. Add in a group of extremely (to me) sociable people, and it's both wonderful and overwhelming.

Teresa warned that a midweek meltdown is normal for VPers. I had mine on arrival, when nobody was around. Thought I got off lucky until I got back home and had another. Reading my fellow VPers' blogs and emails helped cheer me up again. Pretty much recovered now.