Since I've written quite a bit about how others have helped me--
often quite selflessly-- it's quite fitting to put some thought into
ways I can give back. People reached back over the wall to help pull me
over, so when I get the chance, I'm going to reach over and grab
someone.
There are three key things, for me, that that entails:
1. Working Writers' Workshops: I've been working the ArmadilloCon Writers' Workshop
for several years, and I'll be running it in 2015. When I was starting
out, attending this particular workshop was a critical step in getting
out of the "every word is gold" phase of writing and taking a hard look
at the work I needed to do. So providing that service to new writers is
important.
2. Being Responsive: No
one is pounding down my doors just yet, but when I do get people asking
me for insight or advice, I take it seriously. That includes at
conventions-- often after a panel I'll get a sense that someone in the
audience wants an extra word or a comment, and I make a point to be
approachable. I mean, to a large degree, that's literally why I'm
there: I learned stuff because people were there for me, I need to be
willing to do the same.
3. Remembering We've All Been There: Every
person working on being a professional writer is on a different place
on their journey, and I think it's crucial to maintain a certain degree
of humility about one's own path. I mean, I doubt anyone who read the
opening chapter to a now-trunked novel that I brought to my first
ArmadilloCon Workshop thought to themselves, "This is the guy who's
going to get a book deal in a few years." We are all works in progress,
and you never know where the next great one is going to come from.
Showing posts with label writing life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing life. Show all posts
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Monday, November 3, 2014
Tightening the Screws and Off to OryCon
So, we're now at T-minus three months for the release of Thorn of Dentonhill. Which is fantastic and exciting, but it also means things are heating up. I'm finishing my final check on the galley proofs, and then I'll be turning my focus onto A Murder of Mages, which comes out later in the year. I got to see some preliminary cover art for that, and I'm quite pleased.
Which is all to say, right now is a crunch time, with a lot of things to do this week. Especially since this week I'm heading up to Portland for Orycon. I'm excited, this is my first time going to the Pacific Northwest. So if you're going to that, I'll see you there. My schedule for the con is below-- a good batch of panels, if you ask me.
And, in the meantime, I'll be off in the word mines. See you down there.
Which is all to say, right now is a crunch time, with a lot of things to do this week. Especially since this week I'm heading up to Portland for Orycon. I'm excited, this is my first time going to the Pacific Northwest. So if you're going to that, I'll see you there. My schedule for the con is below-- a good batch of panels, if you ask me.
And, in the meantime, I'll be off in the word mines. See you down there.
| Sat Nov 8 10:00:am Sat Nov 8 11:00:am Jefferson/Adams |
| What I Wish I Would Have Known: Pitfalls for New Writers All the things writers should know going in, from craft to scams, and what our panelists wish they'd known. |
| Erica L. Satifka, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Dean Wells, (*)John Hedtke, Mike Moscoe |
| Sat Nov 8 12:00:pm Sat Nov 8 1:00:pm Roosevelt |
| Defining Magical Systems Magical systems are not to be trifled with as far as a reader's concerned. Discuss how to give your characters powers--but not too much power--and how to keep internal consistency. |
| Devon Monk, Kier Salmon, Judith R. Conly, Alma Alexander, Marshall Ryan Maresca |
| Sat Nov 8 2:00:pm Sat Nov 8 3:00:pm Lincoln |
| F&SF From Book to Movie Recent adaptations and what's on the horizon. |
| (*)Rob Wynne, Scott Alan Woodard, Anthony Pryor, Marshall Ryan Maresca |
| Sat Nov 8 3:00:pm Sat Nov 8 4:00:pm Hamilton |
| Decline and Fall At what point does society stop being civilized? |
| Clayton Callahan, Judith R. Conly, (*)Manny Frishberg, Kristin Landon, Marshall Ryan Maresca |
| Sun Nov 9 11:00:am Sun Nov 9 12:00:pm Madison |
| Effective Readings You may be a good writer, but reading aloud is a separate skill. Learn to make your words on the page sound great. |
| (*)Frog Jones, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Todd McCaffrey, Marshall Ryan Maresca |
| Sun Nov 9 12:00:pm Sun Nov 9 1:00:pm Hamilton |
| Creating New Ecosystems Ecosystems have rules, even in fantasy. Come discuss ways to create worlds that are coherent, deep and logical. |
| Marshall Ryan Maresca, (*)Petrea Mitchell, Jennifer Linnaea, Karen Azinger |
Monday, August 4, 2014
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Editing
During ArmadilloCon I had the pleasure of talking with a woman who was in the enviable-but-frustrating position of having an agent, but her manuscripts were still being reviewed by publishers. (Enviable because YOU HAVE AN AGENT, and that's awesome. Frustrating, especially at cons, because while you are on the path to success, you don't have that tangible commodity to show for it. Talking up your agent-having alone just sounds strange.) She was already worried about what might happen when an editor got a hold of it. What sort of crazy changes might be demanded?
Fortunately, I had just been through two editing processes, and I could reassure her that it wasn't likely to be as radical as the horror stories she had heard.
In fact, I even wrote an article for Book Country on how my process was.
Everyone's writing process and editing process are different, of course. For example, I hear from a lot of writers that editing involves throwing a lot of words away and re-doing it. I, personally, could never work that way... but at the same time, in my writing process, I cannot do the "just get it on the page and fix it later" method. Not to say it's perfect when I first write it... not at all. But if you were to compare the first draft of the first chapter of Murder of Mages to the one I submitted as a final version a few weeks ago, the fundamentals are more or less the same. And almost all of my "major surgery" edits have been a matter of adding more to the manuscript, rather than throwing stuff away.
Anyhow, being edited wasn't a scary process at all, thanks to having a fabulous, Hugo-nominated editor (fingers crossed for this year!) Go and check out the article, and you can see the true finalized-cover of Thorn, including the DAW logo which identifies it as the 1681st book in their 30+ year history.
Fortunately, I had just been through two editing processes, and I could reassure her that it wasn't likely to be as radical as the horror stories she had heard.
In fact, I even wrote an article for Book Country on how my process was.
Everyone's writing process and editing process are different, of course. For example, I hear from a lot of writers that editing involves throwing a lot of words away and re-doing it. I, personally, could never work that way... but at the same time, in my writing process, I cannot do the "just get it on the page and fix it later" method. Not to say it's perfect when I first write it... not at all. But if you were to compare the first draft of the first chapter of Murder of Mages to the one I submitted as a final version a few weeks ago, the fundamentals are more or less the same. And almost all of my "major surgery" edits have been a matter of adding more to the manuscript, rather than throwing stuff away.
Anyhow, being edited wasn't a scary process at all, thanks to having a fabulous, Hugo-nominated editor (fingers crossed for this year!) Go and check out the article, and you can see the true finalized-cover of Thorn, including the DAW logo which identifies it as the 1681st book in their 30+ year history.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Convention Panels and Expertise
So, this was a response I got to the last blog on ArmadilloCon, specifically in response to my self-admitted lack-of-expertise in the subject of the panel I was on:
It's an interesting idea, but for a volunteer organization to implement successfully... pretty challenging. The sausage-making of coordinating the schedule of some several dozen programming participants into a cohesive set of panels, readings and events is an undertaking, especially when done almost entirely out of love. Adding another layer of democracy to that undertaking is not something I would wish on anyone.
That said, the underlying complain has validity. Lord knows that at the conventions I've attended, I've seen some panels where the members really didn't have much business being on it. Hell, I've been on panels where I didn't have much business being on it. At least this time around, my two more problematic panels were subjects I had an interest in, and had done some research on the subject beforehand.
Even if you line up participants-to-panels perfectly, however, any panel that isn't just one person giving a set lecture (and thus... not really a panel) is going to be an organic thing. Unless the moderator rules it with an iron fist, it's going to go where the people on it are going to take it.
Not to mention, any given panel usually has its title and, perhaps, a sentences or two of extra description. The programming coordinator might have had one idea of what a panel is going to be about, while the participants might-- each individually-- have another, and members of the audience something completely different from all of that. Sometimes you just ride the wave where it takes you.
On top of that, when the context is a SF/F/Genre/Lit Convention, I don't think anyone in the audience is expecting or demanding of academic credentials from the panel. They know that the panel consists of spec-fic writers who are mostly doing what they know best: speculating and story-telling. Besides, in my Alcohol In Speculative Fiction panel, I don't think anyone wanted me to drone on about the history of development of beer, wine and distilled spirits.
All that said, there's nothing wrong with just plain bowing out of a panel in which you would truly be out of your depth. I was assigned one originally at ArmadilloCon that I was totally at a loss about, and immediately asked to be taken off it.
Though, to a degree, if you're up on a panel, on some level you are presenting yourself as an "expert", and it's good to do your best to show yourself as one. Or, if nothing else, be up front about your lack of expertise. And be entertaining. That's the thing I most want from a panel, after all.
I keep pushing the idea that participation in convention panels should be open to the public, and the panels pitched SXSW-style: that is, a group of panelists puts together a panel proposal, and then members vote on the panels they want to see. All too often people in the audience (at least some of them) know more about the subject than those on stage.
It's an interesting idea, but for a volunteer organization to implement successfully... pretty challenging. The sausage-making of coordinating the schedule of some several dozen programming participants into a cohesive set of panels, readings and events is an undertaking, especially when done almost entirely out of love. Adding another layer of democracy to that undertaking is not something I would wish on anyone.
That said, the underlying complain has validity. Lord knows that at the conventions I've attended, I've seen some panels where the members really didn't have much business being on it. Hell, I've been on panels where I didn't have much business being on it. At least this time around, my two more problematic panels were subjects I had an interest in, and had done some research on the subject beforehand.
Even if you line up participants-to-panels perfectly, however, any panel that isn't just one person giving a set lecture (and thus... not really a panel) is going to be an organic thing. Unless the moderator rules it with an iron fist, it's going to go where the people on it are going to take it.
Not to mention, any given panel usually has its title and, perhaps, a sentences or two of extra description. The programming coordinator might have had one idea of what a panel is going to be about, while the participants might-- each individually-- have another, and members of the audience something completely different from all of that. Sometimes you just ride the wave where it takes you.
On top of that, when the context is a SF/F/Genre/Lit Convention, I don't think anyone in the audience is expecting or demanding of academic credentials from the panel. They know that the panel consists of spec-fic writers who are mostly doing what they know best: speculating and story-telling. Besides, in my Alcohol In Speculative Fiction panel, I don't think anyone wanted me to drone on about the history of development of beer, wine and distilled spirits.
All that said, there's nothing wrong with just plain bowing out of a panel in which you would truly be out of your depth. I was assigned one originally at ArmadilloCon that I was totally at a loss about, and immediately asked to be taken off it.
Though, to a degree, if you're up on a panel, on some level you are presenting yourself as an "expert", and it's good to do your best to show yourself as one. Or, if nothing else, be up front about your lack of expertise. And be entertaining. That's the thing I most want from a panel, after all.
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