Nothing is held back. In such an intense environment, it s impossible to stay neutral. At the same time, you are surrounded by writers who have the same love as you for speculative fiction. You finally feel as if you belong somewhere. Perhaps because of the critiquing style, all three workshops create strong emotional bonds of both love and hate.
Different cliques form.
All the workshops give the students a chance to live together in dorms or townhouses. They found that, instead of being totally immersed in the craft, they got distracted by everyday life. They missed the in-jokes, dinner parties, movie nights, and hanging out with Nebula and Hugo winners. Well, for starters, location. Clarion, the original, is in sweltering East Lansing, Michigan, near nowhere.