Replies to SFWA's YA/MG group

[amysisson]

I told SFWA's YA/MG special interest group that I would not derail their discussion further by continuing to talk there about why they're restricting the group. They've made their decision and they don't want to re-hash it, and I understand that

Comments

[birdhousefrog]

Wow. No wonder I've stayed out of the online forums. And yes, how ironic that they've drawn attention to themselves in the same ways they wanted to avoid. I think they should have started a group elsewhere, outside of SFWA, like SFF Novelists. I suspect most of them are already members of THAT group as well. If we all pay the same membership, how is it that they get to carve off a separate and exclusive area, using everyone's resources, without paying "section" dues?

This matter is making me rethink my membership. Or rather, adding to the list of reasons I've been rethinking it.

[amysisson]

I agree. They should have set the group up outside of SFWA.

[jongibbs]

Sounds like a very strange set-up. I'd have thought if you're a paying member of an organization, you ought to be allowed to ask pretty much anything you want on the forum.

Besides, if someone really doesn't want to answer a question, surely he/she could just ignore it.

[amysisson]

Well, you'd first have to be allowed on the forum in order to ask a question.... The only reason I'm on it is via my book reviewing activities, and I'm sure they regret that they had to let me in the group by their own standards. I suspect they included those standards only because it would have been even more of a disaster not to mirror SFWA's original levels of membership (active, associate, affiliate).

[jongibbs]

Sounds like an odd sort of group. Still, I suppose it takes all sorts :)

[psamphire]

This is a shame. I let my SFWA membership lapse several years ago when I pretty much stopped writing adult SFF and moved to middle grade, and I do occasionally consider rejoining. But this does remind me of the stuff I didn't like about SFWA (and, to be fair, it's a part of our genre as a whole, not SFWA particularly).

[amysisson]

Yes, I agree this isn't unique to SFWA. But I was naive enough to think SFWA might be above it. Oh well.

[psamphire]

It also seems peculiar to have an exclusionary group at all. Talk about being clique-y. Not only do you have to be a YA writer, but you also have to be a member of SFWA. Bearing in mind that the vast majority of people who publish science fiction or fantasy at middle grade and YA level aren't members and have no real connection to the adult community, this can hardly seem to be representative or anything other than incestuous. Oh well.