Student Handbook

Viable Paradise is a week-long writers’ workshop held on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. The workshop attracts top talent as instructors every year, and has a strong focus on helping students refine their craft and their understanding of the publishing industry. Many of our alumni are successful writers.

Prior to the workshop, questions or concerns can be addressed to the VP Staff via email at contact@viableparadise.com.

To Contact Viable Paradise Staff individually or on-island:

• Bart (travel, logistics, etc.)
  contact@viableparadise.com
  cell phone: +1 501-492-6657
• Chris (treasurer, travel, logistics, etc.)
  treasurer@viableparadise.com
  cell phone: +1 201-506-4554
• Mac (executive director)
  mac@viableparadise.com
  cell phone: +1 503-506-8529

Viable Paradise 2023 will officially begin with the evening meal at 5 PM on Sunday evening, October 8th, 2023. Dinner will be followed by a Meet & Greet and other workshop introductory activities. You’ll be provided with a schedule, handouts, and other instructional materials at that time.

VP is held at the Island Inn in Oak Bluffs on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.

• We recommend you arrive no later than 4 PM, Sunday, October 8th. If you plan to arrive after 4 PM on Sunday, please talk to us first.
• We strongly suggest you stay in Building G with the instructors and staff, where the workshop activities will be held.

The Island Inn – http://islandinn.com

Deluxe Townhouses: If deluxe townhouses are available, they are similar to townhouses but have a shower in the upstairs bathroom.

Kitchens: Townhouses have an apartment-sized refrigerator, a four-burner stove, an oven, and a microwave.  Condos have a smaller under-the-counter fridge, a two-burner cook top, and a microwave.

Internet Access: The Island Inn has wifi.

Viable Paradise provides access to a printer in the Staff Den. If you need to print something workshop-related, you can email the file to the staff or, failing that, bring it to the Staff Den on a USB drive. There are also copy shops on the island.

Cell Phone Use: Coverage at the Inn is spotty at best; some phones will work if you are outside but often you won’t have any signal within the buildings.

Laundry: There is a coin-operated washer and dryer for guest use in the main building. Viable Paradise staff can make change for you in the Staff Den.

Suitemates: If you want one or more suitemates, you are welcome to contact your fellow attendees on your class’s Viable Paradise Slack channel. You and your suitemates are responsible for all Inn charges and fees.

Viable Paradise hopes to provide a workshop that is comfortable for all of our students, faculty, and staff. For those with accessibility concerns, the Island Inn (the workshop’s venue) may pose some particular challenges.

Martha’s Vineyard is an island. This means there are really only two ways of getting there: by air or by sea.

Cape Air regularly serves the Martha’s Vineyard Airport year-round from locations in the northeast, primarily Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).  For more information and flight schedules visit: http://www.capeair.com or call 1-800-CAPE-AIR (227-3247).

The Martha’s Vineyard Airport Website:

http://mvyairport.com

Steamship Authority ferries leave from Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

• You can get to Woods Hole by bus from either Boston or Providence, Rhode Island, via Peter Pan Bus Lines. There is a bus that departs directly from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). Buses will deposit you at the ferry terminal directly outside of the ticket office, and will arrive at the terminal with time for you to purchase your walk-on tickets before the next ferry departs.
• You can drive to Woods Hole by car and either park in a long-term lot at the ferry or bring your car on the ferry to the Island with you.
• Bringing a car requires advance reservations; walk-on passengers can buy a ticket when they arrive at the ferry terminal.
• You can bring a bicycle with you for a small surcharge.

For more information, Steamship Authority reservations, or Steamship Authority ferry schedules:

http://www.islandferry.com/ssa/mv.cfm

Ferries that arrive at Martha’s Vineyard will dock at either Oak Bluffs or Vineyard Haven.

• Viable Paradise Staff are happy to arrange to pick you up at the airport or at either the Oak Bluffs or the Vineyard Haven ferry terminals.
• We recommend that you arrive after 11 AM Saturday (October 7th). We STRONGLY recommend you arrive no later than 4 PM, Sunday, October 8th.

The Staff will solicit information from students regarding their arrival plans by sending out a personal questionnaire.

• If coming by air, please tell us what flight you are on and what your arrival time is.
• If coming by ferry, please be sure to tell us which ferry terminal you are arriving at and what your arrival time (not your departure time) is.
• If you are delayed for some reason (or manage to catch an earlier ferry than you had originally expected) please call, email, or text-message the staff and let us know as soon as possible.
• Most students are able to finalize their travel plans by the end of August, but if that’s just not possible for you, please finalize your plans and submit them to us by the end of September, to allow time for us to anticipate any scheduling challenges.
• It’s not unusual for airlines or bus companies to make small changes to their schedules. If those changes are likely to affect your arrival time on the island, please give us the updated information.
• VP Staff may be picking up multiple people at the same time.
• We try to have signs saying “Viable Paradise” with us to help you identify us, but if you see someone staring at the crowd as if looking for someone, don’t hesitate to ask.
• In order to make sure students have the opportunity to buy groceries, VP Staff may stop at the grocery store while bringing you back from the airport or ferry dock to the Island Inn when you arrive. If that’s not possible, we will make plans to take you to the grocery store later, or you can pre-arrange for one of your suitemates or other classmates to buy groceries for you or for the suite.
• Unless you’re planning an extended stay on the island, we recommend you depart between 2 PM Friday (October 13) and 2 PM Saturday (October 14).  We know that this might not work with everyone’s travel schedules, especially international travelers.  If it doesn’t, please talk to us about it, and we’ll see what we can do.  It’s easier to accommodate a few early or late travelers if everyone else is within the bounds of what we’ve planned for.

Staff will solicit information from attendees regarding their departure plans at the close of the workshop.

The best strategy for dealing with the highly variable New England weather is to dress in layers, so you can add/remove clothing as it grows warmer or colder. Waterproof clothing is your friend. Plan to dress casually during the workshop.

In addition to your regular clothing, consider bringing:

• A sweater, rain coat, and some type of hat that can provide protection from rain, sun, and chilly, rolling fog
• Long pants as well as shorts
• A heavy coat in case the temperature drops to freezing
• Comfortable shoes for walking
• One dressier outfit in case you want to go out for a fancy dinner

• USB flash drive
• A smartphone or MP3 player with headphones – Your suitemates may all snore louder than you.
• Laptop – Not strictly necessary, but extremely handy.

• Sunscreen
• Flashlight
• Extra batteries for any devices you’re bringing
• A week’s worth of any medication you are currently taking
• A mug or go-cup; the Island Inn mugs are small.

If you are bringing a bicycle or planning to rent a bicycle on-island, please bring a helmet or else plan to rent one.

VP provides two meals (lunch and dinner) every day throughout the workshop. The cost of these meals is covered by your tuition to the workshop.

• On occasion attendees bring partners and/or friends with them to the workshop, and we welcome them to join public activities.
• If they are eating a meal with us, please let us know beforehand.
• We ask that they contribute $5.00 per meal or $50.00 for the week per person to cover food costs. They can pay when they arrive at the Island Inn. On the questionnaire we send you, please tell us how many guests you’re bringing.

• Please let us know on the questionnaire if you have dietary restrictions and/or food allergies.
• We will try to provide a tasty meatless alternative at each meal.
• Please understand that particularly complicated or comprehensive food problems may not be within our abilities to accommodate.

Staff make regularly-scheduled trips to the local grocery store in Edgartown and are usually happy to take along passengers and/or short wish lists with cash. Please note: there are soft drink vending machines, but no snack vending machines or restaurants, on-site at the Island Inn.

At the end of the workshop we inevitably have a half-dozen mostly-full jars of peanut butter and four or five boxes of pasta “donated” to the Staff who are already overwhelmed with packing up the workshop. A large quantity of student-bought food goes to waste at the end of the workshop as a result.

We suggest you coordinate food shopping with your suitemates and your fellow students in neighboring suites.

Staff members are volunteers and former VP students. You’ll be introduced to your Viable Paradise Staff either when they pick you up from the airport or ferry, or Sunday during the Meet & Greet.

VP staff members keep the living room of the Staff Den open to you, generally open from 7 am until midnight.

• The Staff Den is Room #51 in Building G. A staff member can show you where it is when they drive you to the Island Inn to check in.
• The Staff Den is a gathering place to hang out and socialize, request a grocery run, print a document, or find someone to talk to.
• Viable Paradise Staff are here to help you.
• We can provide advice and assistance, and we offer a shoulder when your sanity starts to fray.

• Elizabeth Bear
• Max Gladstone
• Steven Gould
• Daryl Gregory
• Scott Lynch
• Teresa Nielsen Hayden
• Nisi Shawl
• Sherwood Smith
• Editor-in-Residence: Patrick Nielsen Hayden
• Writer-in-Residence: C.L. Polk

Because of the nature of the workshop and the number of attendees, it is not always possible for individual students to have equal time with each of the instructors, nor can we give specialty placement for students who have a particular favorite.

Students are encouraged to talk to the faculty (the instructors and professionals‑in‑residence) to request One-on-One Meetings outside of the regularly-scheduled workshop activities.

• Please bear in mind that the faculty are all professionals in their fields and may have obligations related to their own work and families. Instructors with whom you do not have an officially-scheduled one-on-one meeting may not be able to fit additional meetings into their schedule – much as they might like to.
• If faculty members have closed their doors or are on their cell phones, please respect their privacy. Otherwise, the faculty are amenable to being approached.
• You’ll be taking meals with the faculty and socializing with them all week, as well.

The workshop consists of several components:

• Break-Out Critique Sessions are for critique of the material that students submitted to VP as part of the application process.
• Each break-out group consists of two instructors, two students whose work will be critiqued at that session, and four other students (the instructor and student pairings vary by day).
• Each student will have their work critiqued once, and will also participate as a critique-er in each break-out group they are assigned to.
• Information about the critique process will be provided at the start of the workshop.

• For these sessions, the entire group gathers in the main conference room. A faculty member lectures or leads a group exercise.
• There will be opportunities for questions and group discussion.

• During the course of the workshop, students will be scheduled for One-on-One Meetings with two different instructors.
• If you aren’t scheduled for a One-on-One Meeting with a particular faculty member that you wish to meet with, you are welcome to approach that faculty member at an appropriate time and ask to schedule a meeting.
• One-on-One Meetings are intended to be a professional development opportunity, a chance for the student to discuss the craft, business, and practicalities of the writing field. For each One-on-One Meeting, we recommend that the student prepare a few questions that they would like to discuss with the instructor.
• The two scheduled One-on-One Meetings may include discussion of your submission manuscript(s), or other subjects related to writing craft and career. Extra One-on-One Meetings may also include critique of your work if the faculty member agrees to do this. (If they don’t make clear whether they will provide critique, please clarify it with them when arranging the meeting.)

Viable Paradise is committed to providing an environment for our students, instructors, and staff that is comfortable, safe, and free from harassment of any kind. Any type of harassment by or targeting of any student, staff member, instructor, or guest is a violation of this policy, and may result in sanctions up to and including the perpetrator’s expulsion from Viable Paradise and possible prosecution.

Harassment can take many forms. It may be, but is not limited to, the following: words, signs, jokes, pranks, intimidation, physical contact, or violence. Harassment does not have to be sexual in nature. Sexual harassment may include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature when such contact creates an intimidating environment or prevents an individual from effectively performing the duties of his or her position, or when such conduct is made a condition of employment or compensation either implicitly or explicitly. It is not the intent of the behavior by the offender that determines if harassment has occurred but whether the behavior is welcome by the receiver.

We the faculty and staff of Viable Paradise are committed to maintaining an inclusive workshop environment where bigotry and intolerance are unacceptable. Discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment and sexual misconduct, and related retaliation, are counter to our mission, and we strictly prohibit such conduct. We don’t discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, place of birth, ancestry, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or marital status. We will take reasonable and appropriate action to prevent unlawful discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, and related retaliation, and prevent its recurrence.

We strongly encourage you to report any problems or questions you may have to the on-island staff manager, MacAllister Stone, or to any staff member or instructor with whom you feel safe and comfortable.

• Your Taxi – +1 508-693-0003
• Martha’s Vineyard Taxi – +1 508-693-8660

A-A Island Auto Rental
http://www.mvautorental.com/
tel. 1-800-627-6333

Martha’s Vineyard Bike Rentals
http://www.marthasvineyardbike.com/
tel. 1-800-627-2763

Martha’s Bike Rentals
http://www.marthasbikerentals.com/
tel. 1-844-671-9314