Anyway, the whole 'litfic or CanLit vs.specfic' debate was why I had kind of a terrible time at the Banff Institute this January. It was me (1 bugge) and fifteen (15) creative writing MFA or PhD attendees.
They were all perfectly nice but they let me know VERY CLEARLY I had nothing to contribute.
I was the only person there who had published multiple books, but I was systematically excluded from everything they were doing -- group writing, crit sessions, even just people going into other people's studios to ask questions, brainstorm, bounce ideas. It was a pretty lonely three weeks. :\
The main thing was, they all saw it as this AMAZING, LIFE-CHANGING thing and I just saw it as three weeks of being constantly reminded that litfic people really, truly, unquestioningly (even after meeting them!) think that genre authors are just... not good writers.
Wow I'm looking at my notes from that time and feeling sorry for Me From Six Months Ago... I was feeling rejected and lonely BUT ALSO bewildered that I had been trying to be pretty nice and approachable and "Ask me anything!" and they were like "Why would we bother? No offense. :)"
