Worldcon diary: day 5
Sunday was pretty much a wind-down day, but I am still glad to have sat in on the panels I did.
First was "The Superior Form: How Short Fiction Remains the Cutting Edge" with Nancy Kress, Jack Skillingstead, and Paul Cornell. The conversation focused on the merits of short fiction for both writers and readers, as well as the current market situation. Short sf was described as having a "renaissance" recently, as fantasy more and more dominates the book market.
"How I Learned the Craft: Three of My Favorite Books on Writing" (Brenda Cooper, Laura Frankos, Jay Lake, and Vylar Kaftan) was interesting in that the panelists were about evenly divided on whether or not books were a good way to learn how to write. Recommendations ranged from book on the craft of writing to the life of a writer. Most were already familiar to me, but I may look into Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, which I had been avoiding because the title struck me as too hypey.
"Chronological Dissonance: Modern Archetypes and Morals in a Historical Setting" felt like a continuation of yesterday's panel on the real middle ages, although it benefitted greatly from the wisdom and knowledge of Connie Willis. Again, lots of interesting details with a bottom line of "do your homework" and some good suggestions on what types of historical sources to look to for understanding the attitudes and assumptions of earlier times.
"Discussing Best Related Work" was an odd but interesting panel on the Hugo award category with this name, which is kind of a strange miscellaneous bin when nonfiction books about the genre, art books, biographies, and other hard-to-classify works end up. Not much to take away from this one, although I enjoyed seeing Farah Mendelsohn, whose Rhetorics of Fantasy I found quite interesting and thought-provoking.
"Issues in Role-Playing Game Design" was my low-intensity exit from Worldcon.
So how to sum up? Was this adventure worth the time, money, and effort? On balance, I think so, although I don't expect I'll be repeating it any time soon. My main reason for going was to give myself a more grounded and personal picture of the world of sf and fantasy writing, editing, and publishing. Who are the people whose names I read on my books and magazines, and how do they think and work? Immersion in Worldcon this week did a good job of connecting the dots for me, and making the business seem much less remote, impersonal, and mysterious. I didn't get in anybody's face to "get my foot in the door" (it's not my style, and common sense suggests it's an approach that's likely to backfire anyway), but I did observe and listen carefully.
There was also a kind of bittersweet nostalgia in the experience. I learned of Worldcon, Hugo Awards, and all the rest when I was a teenager. At that time, my life revolved around sf and fantasy in a way that it hasn't since I entered the adult world. I had no means or opportunity to attend a Worldcon back then, and I've had so many perceptual shifts in my life over the intervening years that the experience of being here is emotional complex and not easy to assimilate.
I feel closer to being a published writer than I did a week ago, but less sure of what it would mean to me to be one.
First was "The Superior Form: How Short Fiction Remains the Cutting Edge" with Nancy Kress, Jack Skillingstead, and Paul Cornell. The conversation focused on the merits of short fiction for both writers and readers, as well as the current market situation. Short sf was described as having a "renaissance" recently, as fantasy more and more dominates the book market.
"How I Learned the Craft: Three of My Favorite Books on Writing" (Brenda Cooper, Laura Frankos, Jay Lake, and Vylar Kaftan) was interesting in that the panelists were about evenly divided on whether or not books were a good way to learn how to write. Recommendations ranged from book on the craft of writing to the life of a writer. Most were already familiar to me, but I may look into Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, which I had been avoiding because the title struck me as too hypey.
"Chronological Dissonance: Modern Archetypes and Morals in a Historical Setting" felt like a continuation of yesterday's panel on the real middle ages, although it benefitted greatly from the wisdom and knowledge of Connie Willis. Again, lots of interesting details with a bottom line of "do your homework" and some good suggestions on what types of historical sources to look to for understanding the attitudes and assumptions of earlier times.
"Discussing Best Related Work" was an odd but interesting panel on the Hugo award category with this name, which is kind of a strange miscellaneous bin when nonfiction books about the genre, art books, biographies, and other hard-to-classify works end up. Not much to take away from this one, although I enjoyed seeing Farah Mendelsohn, whose Rhetorics of Fantasy I found quite interesting and thought-provoking.
"Issues in Role-Playing Game Design" was my low-intensity exit from Worldcon.
So how to sum up? Was this adventure worth the time, money, and effort? On balance, I think so, although I don't expect I'll be repeating it any time soon. My main reason for going was to give myself a more grounded and personal picture of the world of sf and fantasy writing, editing, and publishing. Who are the people whose names I read on my books and magazines, and how do they think and work? Immersion in Worldcon this week did a good job of connecting the dots for me, and making the business seem much less remote, impersonal, and mysterious. I didn't get in anybody's face to "get my foot in the door" (it's not my style, and common sense suggests it's an approach that's likely to backfire anyway), but I did observe and listen carefully.
There was also a kind of bittersweet nostalgia in the experience. I learned of Worldcon, Hugo Awards, and all the rest when I was a teenager. At that time, my life revolved around sf and fantasy in a way that it hasn't since I entered the adult world. I had no means or opportunity to attend a Worldcon back then, and I've had so many perceptual shifts in my life over the intervening years that the experience of being here is emotional complex and not easy to assimilate.
I feel closer to being a published writer than I did a week ago, but less sure of what it would mean to me to be one.
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