Meet Marcy Arlin, BSFW Host, Organizer, Teacher, Producer, and Director

 
Tell us about the event or Meetup you host or are planning to host.
My regular hosting group is the Short Story Critique group that meets the first Sunday of every month. It's small but cozy, relaxed but intense. There are cats and afternoon sun. Unfortunately now, since I moved to Bay Ridge, it can be a bit of a shlep. I've been hosting it for a few years now. There are regulars and newbies, and a consistent high level of writing.

I would also like to host an On-the-Spot Submission group, for folks to submit their material with help from others, advice on venues, queries, first paragraphs, and troubleshooting on rejections. Soon!

I have also taught an Expert Meetup on how to read your own work, at Cons and also when you get that big book deal and tour with your book! I focus on choice of material, vocal skills, and pacing and dramatic presentation. 

How did you get involved with BSFW and which events do you attend? 
Like most, I googled speculative writing workshops and found BSFW on the Meetup site. Signed up when there was only one group, at Brad's place. I attend my own group (obviously), Expert meet-ups, writing rooms, On-the-Spot critiques when I'm on the spot with a project. Early on I attended the novel group but had to cut back because I didn't have the time to read everything.

What have you found most helpful about this writing group?
The critique and the support. The ability to bring a story back after a re-write. A place to jump start the creative juices (ew, that sounds icky). The tolerance for my weird sense of humor. 

What stories have most influenced your writing style?
Oh, well. Ellison. Pratchett. LeGuin. Bradbury. Sofer. Hiaasen. F. Brown. Link. Butler. So so many. Borges. Cortazar. Shelley. Jackson. McIntyre. Z. Henderson.  Lessing. 

How do you find the time to write?
I have the time because I work part-time. But it's a matter of willpower rather than time.

What are you working on now?
My novel Alien Death is getting a beta reading this month. Sending out some new stories. Thinking about and trying to re-write the first novel I wrote. It's a monster. Also a group story based on a YA story I wrote a while back. Maybe a mini-series based on It Happened in Red Hook.

Publications:
SFF: Daily Science Fiction, Diabolical Plots #35B and Issue #3, perihelionsf.com, Kaleidocast Seasons 1 & 2, Man.In.Fest Journal of Experimental Plays (Romania). Abandoned Towers online mag.
 
Other: Czech Plays: 7 New Works. tcgcircle.org interview with immigrant artists and international theatre artists. Various articles on Eastern European playwrights in Slavic and Eastern European Performance journal. 

If you could submit a story to your dream anthology what would it be about and who else would be in it?

Oh, folks from BSFW, Cat Valente, Liz Hand, Kelly Link. Modal, Teodora Goss, Barbara Krasnoff, Malka Older, N.K. Jemisin, Bo Bolander, Maria Dahvana Headley. Do you see a pattern??? Reprints from LeGuin, Moore, Butler, Cadigan, Finch, Johnson.