This year, Chris Carpenter and Peter Kessler will reap the benefits of that mission. Workshops are good for fine-tuning ideas and for figuring out if your story works, but as far as skill goes, that comes from reading. I've learned to create humane characters and have them function in realistic ways. During the selection process for the Capote Fellowship, both writers submitted two stories to be read and judged by the UA writing faculty. This second story follows the antics of a woman pretending to suffer from Tourette's Syndrome.
Carpenter has an outrageous imagination.
He's right on the border of magical realism or science fantasy sometimes. It was writer all the way. I saw kids reading books, being entertained by stories, and I wanted to provide that kind of entertainment. That was my grasp of what writing meant. Decades later, Kessler and Carpenter are more committed than ever to their work.