Tin House YA Fiction Workshop

Recently I had the privilege of attending Tin House’s inaugural YA Fiction Workshop, held at the Sylvia Beach Hotel in charming Newport, Oregon. I took in the fresh ocean breezes, I pet the resident cat, I made new friends—and I worked on my writing, of course.

First of all, the Sylvia Beach Hotel was out of this world—and I mean that semi-literally? Each of its rooms is themed after a different author. I slept in the J.K. Rowling room, where the four-poster bed is dressed in Gryffindor colors, the writing desk is lined with potions bottles, and Moaning Myrtle haunts the toilet. My friend Hugh stayed in the Ken Kesey room, where each of the beds comes with instructions from Nurse Ratched and a small paper pill cup full of jelly beans. The Jules Verne room has pressure gauges, tentacles, and a secret door. The Agatha Christie room has a mystery to solve.

Like I said: out of this world.

The hotel also has a reading room with ocean views, a library, an excellent restaurant, and unlimited tea and coffee. Unlimited. Tea. And. Coffee. An ideal environment for a group of writers.

Then there were the incredible faculty; I had the opportunity to workshop with Lilliam Rivera, who was whip-smart and funny, not to mention enormously generous with her time and attention to our manuscripts. I appreciated that she spent some of our workshop giving us various prompts and exercises, as well as career advice—because writing is so often an ethereal process, it’s nice to learn something concrete about it from time to time.

I also had the pleasure of hearing craft talks from the other faculty members, Morgan Parker—who had me in stitches—and Nina LaCour, who one friend accurately described as a “human sugar cookie.” The faculty reading on our last night was amazing—we had a whole local bookstore to ourselves.

Most importantly, I was able to connect with so many fellow writers. I’m eternally grateful to my workshop group—Hugh, Leyla, Kyrstin, Ofelia, and Gloria—who were tremendously supportive and gave such careful attention to my manuscript. And I loved bonding with everyone else, too. One night we went around a circle and gave elevator pitches for each of our novels; all I can say is that there are some brilliant YA books coming your way. I miss everyone already. We’re like kids at camp—we’ve already started a Slack and a group chat just to keep in touch. Writing is often a lonely journey, and I’m thrilled to have gained so many travel companions.

Other highlights: tarot readings, sea lions, the beach.