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I'm getting very excited for bootcamp. Or is that nervous? I can't actually tell the different; tis a fine line.
One of the problems of shifting campuses from year to year is that we can't ask pragmatic questions about that college in particular. My mom has a laptop that I could bring, but it might cause a bit of an inconvenience. Should I anyway? Do you think there might be comp. labs available? Probably not. I should probably bring it.
Bring a laptop. (Or, if you end up driving, you could take your desktop computer with you.)
You won't need a computer during the class sessions, but you definitely will need one to write your story while you are there. Relying on a computer lab to have a computer available for as long as you want is not a good idea.
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So, far as many alumni that actually still read this thread -- how hard was it to crank out that short story during bootcamp? How quickly do you usually write stories (for comparison)?
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I hadn't written short stories in a very long time, but I had cranked one out before bootcamp that took me 4 days. Of course, it was 14-17,000 words long and complete divine intervention, so the thought of writing ONE complete story in ONE day pretty much scared the tar out of me.
I woke up Wednesday morning and did not eat, shower or dress. I just pulled the laptop onto the bed and wrote. I was done in six hours. It was like 8000 words or something. Which I still sort of can't believe.
It's amazing what abject terror can do for one's motivation.
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And then I got really mad, since I realized that apparently my biggest obstacle to writing is the whole Butt-In-Chair factor...
Posts: 280 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
The story I wrote at boot camp was 4900 words. I probably spent 8-10 hours on Wednesday working on it, then kept waking up during the night to tweak it, and got up early the next morning to put a few final touches on it. (By way of comparison, I would normally write a short story of that length in chunks of a few hours over the course of a couple of weeks.)
Even after all that, the story had some major problems that became apparent during the critiquing session. In one of the more memorable moments, Thieftess even said she wanted to slap some sense into my characters.
Since you're working in such a short time frame, you shouldn't expect to produce a beautiful, moving, nearly flawless story that will astound your fellow-students and OSC. (Someone in our group went ahead and did that anyway, leaving us nothing to do while critiquing but to nitpick about minor details.)
While you're there, you'll probably be comparing your story to the stories that others have written. If you don't feel like yours is the best, don't despair. If I were to rank my boot camp story against the others, I'd put it about the middle of the pack.
Write the best story you can, but expect plenty of criticism.
Welcome the advice you get, both from OSC and from your fellow bootcampers. Thanks to the critiques I received on my story, I added about 1500 words, re-wrote parts of it, polished it up, submitted it, and sold it.
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I have to agree with Eric. I spent more like 6-8 hours on mine, but that was all I could stand to look at it. I didn't produce poetry, and it had a lot of problems. The thing is, I can sometimes produce a story in a day, from idea to finished product, but not that day. I played fair by the rules and used a concept I didn't even have the seed for until I went there.
The thing is, despite the pborlems (or maybe because of them) I learned a ton. Despite the flood of comments (I think at the end of the round there wasn't a single line in the story that hand't been picked at.), I felt I had gotten more useful and less destructive (more constructive) advice than I had ever gotten before.
Don't make it a contest...the contest is with yourself to produce the best work you can and then wow everyone by getting even better after you leafve. (I'm still working on that last part....I'm *sure* someone will pick up one of my short stories sooonnnn.)
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I can't even imagine trying to do the story-in-a-day thing with out bring my laptop. That's going to be enough of a challenge without computer problems.
Glad to hear again that people survived the time restraint well. Only once have I done concept to finished product in four hours. And while that proves it can happen, I fear I might have accidentally used up my quotient of quick story production this year a month too soon.
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You might be tempted to try turning in your story late in order to have more time to finish it. I think that's probably counterproductive. You don't want an unfinished story hanging over you like the sword of Damocles while you read and critique other people's stories. Do the best you can in the time allotted and turn it in, so you can concentrate on the rest of the workshop.
Posts: 1517 | Registered: Jul 2003
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I thought that writing the short story in one day was going to destroy me.
It didn't. Like Thieftess, I learned that the main thing keeping me from finishing a story was BIC. I started as soon as I got back to my room on Tuesday night, and wrote until about 1am. Then I woke up and wrote straight through the morning until about 5pm on Wednesday.
I edited and tweaked after that for only about three hours, on and off, and then again on Thursday morning.
That was one of the most powerful things I've ever learned in my life-- that I could do this writing thing. Maybe what I created wasn't all that great, but I could do it just the same.
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Like Rahl22, I'm also jumping around with anxiety--but it feels great!
I'm curious--do you have an idea what you're going to write about before you glue your butt to the chair? I mean, did OSC pass around a hat with ideas? I guess what I'm getting at is should I have some sort of story brewing ahead of time, or will that defeat the purpose?
quote:I guess what I'm getting at is should I have some sort of story brewing ahead of time, or will that defeat the purpose?
Don't bother thinking of a story beforehand. Based on an assignment the first day, you will come up with a story idea.
Posts: 1517 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
My story, from initial idea to completion, took me about 4 hours, which was for me a big-time record. It was only about 1300 words; I expanded it later to maybe 2100. I didn't use any of the ideas we were supposed to come up with during the first day, because I didn't like them, so I was really worried Tuesday evening. But by Wednesday at 3 am I was in bed, so I had Wednesday free, and in fact mine was the first story critiqued.
Whatever you do, do not use an old story. Aside from the fact that you're not doing yourself any good, if you turn in something that ignores the things he says in the big group on Monday and Tuesday, you'll get reamed. OSC is an extraordinarily pleasant person, and an excellent teacher, but if you get him sufficiently annoyed I promise you that you'll know it. (And no, it didn't happen to me.) (Well, at least not in regard to my story.)
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I guess my biggest fear is getting halfway through a story and deciding I don't like it, and starting over. Etc. I've done it before. I fear I'll do it again.
Hey, for all those bootcampers going this year -- have you figured out how far from the campus the airport is?
I'm flying to Baltimore and taking the Greyhound into Virginia. It's a good distance, but it was the best price from California.
Try Mapquest--type in the 3-letter airport code and then SVU's address. It should give you the distance. If you go to the airport's website it will probably have a link to whatever busline they use.
*sigh* No, no I don't. I'm just jealous that you guys get to go bootcamp and I don't.
It sucks being poor.
But hey! New Year's Resolution! (Ignoring that it's May...) Manage to make it there next year.
Yep. Lookin' forward to it.
CVG
PS--Please excuse my childish outburst. It's my break from writing (though technically, I'm not supposed to be ona break...bad! Bad Cristian!) and the juices are flowing freely.
PPS--That's creative juices. Just in case any of you have gutter minds.
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I'm driving, so I have no idea about airport options. I'm sure mapquest and its friends can fill you in, as Gary said.
Posts: 652 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Rahl22: If I were you I'd call Valerie at SVU and ask her which airport most people use. There's probably a few in the area. I chose to fly to a large airport (Baltimore)and just bus it to Buena Vista; I'm saving beaucoup bucks that way ($109 from Los Angeles to Baltimore!) I think the busier the airport, the cheaper the ticket. And Greyhound has service right to Buena Vista.
Anyway, I hope that helps.
By the way, if you're a student, you should check out http://www.statravel.com/ They have some pretty decent deals on flights.
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Excellent tip. Thanks. I had planned on driving anyway -- but if I can find a decent last-minute ticket, I'll do it.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Did ya'll see the new info from SVU? I ask since this email ended up in my junk mailbox for some reason. Looks like they want to extened the Saturday 12th session to 9 pm. I'm all for more BootCamp fun, but that sure is going to make Sunday a Loooong day of driving (I had planned to split it up).
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Yeah, I'm all for extending Bootcamp. Heck let's add another week while we're at it!
Luckily, I'm staying over till Sunday so the extension doesn't affect any travel plans. I've no idea where you're headed after class, GZ, but if it's that far you might as well stay another night. That way you won't have to dread the drive during what could be a twelve hour day (9am-9pm)
posted
Woohoo! Another day of bootcamp. I just wonder if I'm gonna be able to drive after that. Would certainly make me a zombie.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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