Essay Question!
Saturday, December 8th, 2007 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniBackground:
I have received an invitation to be a panelist at Boskone, which is something I'm always pleased to see. Since 1998 I think we've only missed two Boskones -- both times because we were Guests of Honor/Special Guests at another con on the same weekend. February is a Good Time for a New England convention, the good folks at NESFA throw a great party, and it's wonderful to catch up with the traveling tribe.
Just to be clear, I adore Boskone and always have a great time, once I've arrived.
However, being the Shy, Retiring Gentlewoman(tm) that I am, the pre-con is sometimes -- OK, often -- a bit difficult.
For instance, when a convention invites you to be a panelist, they often send along a list of topics and ask you to tell them which you are expert enough to discuss with four-to-six other panelists for 50-55 minutes in front of a room full of people, many of whom probably know more about the topic than you do. They will ask you to suggest topics for discussion, and to share with them which subjects you would, for whatever reason, Really Rather Not talk about.
This is all Good. I've been to a few conventions where I discovered the panels and topics thereof when I arrived at the convention, an approach that produces interesting, if variable, results.
My particular problem is that I inevitably look at the list of suggested topics -- and wilt. There are droves of fascinating and erudite people in the SF/Fantasy community. Me? Not so much. So, I tend to say that I'll be pleased to participate in panels discussing writing, the business of, and those discussing characterization. I used to say that I'd be pleased to participate in discussions of worldbuilding, but that found me on hard science panels where the panelists were, yanno, building a world, which is not what I mean when I say worldbuilding, but I'm apparently in the minority, there.
So, finally, the question:
What would you like to hear me discuss on a panel with four-to-six other panelist? Take as much room as you need.
Special bonus question:
What topics/events are you missing in your convention diet?
I have received an invitation to be a panelist at Boskone, which is something I'm always pleased to see. Since 1998 I think we've only missed two Boskones -- both times because we were Guests of Honor/Special Guests at another con on the same weekend. February is a Good Time for a New England convention, the good folks at NESFA throw a great party, and it's wonderful to catch up with the traveling tribe.
Just to be clear, I adore Boskone and always have a great time, once I've arrived.
However, being the Shy, Retiring Gentlewoman(tm) that I am, the pre-con is sometimes -- OK, often -- a bit difficult.
For instance, when a convention invites you to be a panelist, they often send along a list of topics and ask you to tell them which you are expert enough to discuss with four-to-six other panelists for 50-55 minutes in front of a room full of people, many of whom probably know more about the topic than you do. They will ask you to suggest topics for discussion, and to share with them which subjects you would, for whatever reason, Really Rather Not talk about.
This is all Good. I've been to a few conventions where I discovered the panels and topics thereof when I arrived at the convention, an approach that produces interesting, if variable, results.
My particular problem is that I inevitably look at the list of suggested topics -- and wilt. There are droves of fascinating and erudite people in the SF/Fantasy community. Me? Not so much. So, I tend to say that I'll be pleased to participate in panels discussing writing, the business of, and those discussing characterization. I used to say that I'd be pleased to participate in discussions of worldbuilding, but that found me on hard science panels where the panelists were, yanno, building a world, which is not what I mean when I say worldbuilding, but I'm apparently in the minority, there.
So, finally, the question:
What would you like to hear me discuss on a panel with four-to-six other panelist? Take as much room as you need.
Special bonus question:
What topics/events are you missing in your convention diet?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 12:16 am (UTC)The other thing I'd love to hear you talk about is the development of the whole cultural system in your novels. There are a lot of personal level demand, then family level, then political level . . . it is rife with potential conflict, something you mine quite well. But I would talk about how to go about developing complex rules of behavior/manners/codes of honor/etc.
Just two off the top of my head. Wish I could be there.
Di
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 05:37 pm (UTC)LOL! When I first started reading in genre (the rocks were still steaming gently), telepathy, empathy, pyrokinesis and all those "esper" abilities were firmly Science Fiction. I'm not really sure when -- or why -- they backslid to "magic." Which is kind of an interesting panel question of itself.
But I would talk about how to go about developing complex rules of behavior/manners/codes of honor/etc.
Another good idea!
Thank you. I wish you could be there, too...
no subject
Date: 2007-12-10 05:10 pm (UTC)I'm thinking of works like:
The Liaden Universe(tm)
Hellspark, Janet Kagan
Swordspoint, Ellen Kushner
Drake Maijstral novels, Walter Jon Williams
Anthony Villiers novels, Alexei Panshin
Dominic Flandry stories, Poul Anderson
"Gentleman Bastards" series, Scott Lynch
Dune, Frank Herbert
Foreigner et seq., C.J. Cherryh
The Element of Fire, Martha Wells
The Five Gods novels, Lois McMaster Bujold
Witty dialogue seems to be a fundamental requirement, where "witty" does not mean "humorous". Or so it seems to me.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 05:48 pm (UTC)I'm not sure I know how we do it. But. Giving too-short shrift to supporting characters is a common writing problem, and there are some writers who think that supporting characters shouldn't be vivid, because they then take reader attention from the hero. There's a good
argumentdiscussion right there.Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 07:54 pm (UTC)I believe I know what you do - I just don't know how you do it! With your supporting characters, there's practically always a sense that this walk-on roll was just another episode in their life, not their whole reason for existence. The taxi-driver and her 'last fare to Korval' is one example - yes, the fact of the fare tells us things about Korval's valley, but it also gave us glimpse into the driver's life. I'm not certain how - by her reaction to it? I've always felt she was amused and bemused by the situation, and regretted that she'd never find out what was going on.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 02:01 am (UTC)Fascinating and erudite people
Date: 2007-12-09 04:52 am (UTC)As for a topic... How about interacting with a community of readers (fans). What and what not to do,and what you like and don't like about dealing with them. I'll go out on a limb here and presume you like that we buy your books. :)
BTW I read Misfits and liked it a lot.
Re: Fascinating and erudite people
Date: 2007-12-09 06:04 pm (UTC)Good one! Thank you.
BTW I read Misfits and liked it a lot.
Excellent!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 05:27 am (UTC)I also see culture-building, a focused part of world-building, as a topic of interest and a particular strength of yours.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 06:08 pm (UTC)Definitely a panel on the whole storyteller's bowl approach, its rewards and pitfalls.
I also see culture-building, a focused part of world-building, as a topic of interest and a particular strength of yours.
Aha! I probably should have been saying culture-building all along, to avoid confusion. *Slaps forehead*
Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-10 05:38 am (UTC)B. O'Brien
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 01:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 06:10 pm (UTC)There are? Tell, tell!
*Wonders if the hotel will let Mozart in if he's officially part of a presentation...*
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 07:42 pm (UTC)http://sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com/1891431.html
Which leads back to:
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/f-this-cat.php
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 06:11 pm (UTC)Yanno, I kinda sorta remember that...
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 06:15 pm (UTC)cats
Date: 2007-12-10 01:47 am (UTC)cats
Date: 2007-12-10 01:47 am (UTC)Writing about art
Date: 2007-12-13 07:14 pm (UTC)How do you go about putting the spark of art into a character without making raders who are artists in that particular art wince? What characters-as-artists by other authors make you nod and say, "Ooooooh." Are there pitfalls you consciously try to avoid?
Laura
Not an essay response
Date: 2007-12-25 07:37 am (UTC)The Author's Responsibility to His or Her Minor Characters
This came up in a discussion of what is going to happen to the police chief who sent the cops out in Agent of Change, if that is pertinent.