OK, time for some long posts. I've been looking over the schedule, and here's the panels I may, or may not go to. The problem is that some days I haven't planned for meals. let me know what you guys think or if you plan on something I missed.
THURSDAY:
Thursday 12:00 n: Grand Openings
Once upon a time ("in a galaxy far far away")…So, how important is a good opening? What does it need to pull the reader into the story? How can it cast light upon mood, setting, character, tone, and still work as a hook for the reader? Discuss favorite openings, and tell why they work so well. And…what actually is the "right" beginning for the story? How does a writer figure out if the story on paper's starting too early, too late, or at the right time?
Thursday 1:00pm: How Does the Magic Work?
Magic needs its own rules, or it becomes a game where the author can do anything at any time. Discuss how to build and maintain a consistent and beliveable system of magic.
Thursday 2:00pm: Alternate Ecologies
Describe how they work. If possible, discuss any truly alien places on Earth (that you might have visited or heard about) that have a fairly "alien" ecology as well!
OR
Thursday 2:00pm: Mind the Plot Holes Dear, Dear
Give examples of various discrepancies/problems with details from any piece of SF/F and try to categorize them (examples: temporal, silly, boneheaded, etc.). How could the story be saved?
OR
Thursday 2:30pm: The Folklore of New Orleans
Thursday 3:00pm: Good and Evil in Genre Literature
Do science fiction, fantasy and horror have underlying moral perspectives? What are they? Do they differ? If so, why?
OR
Thursday 3:00pm: Fantasy Forensics
Real and imagined fantasy stuff—do vampires get rigor mortis? Does Cthulu have fingerprints? Analyzing a crossbow wound, etc.
OR
Thursday 3:00pm: The Seven Deadly Myths of Creativity
Thursday 4:00pm: As you know, Bob: the positives and negatives of infodumps in writing
Exposition can be quick or subtle, or straight, or with a twist. It can stop the story cold, or provide plot (and stylistic) impact. It can be smooth or lumpy, necessary or gratuitous. The panel will discuss expository theory and practice, and answer the eternal question: "What does Bob really know?"
OR
Thursday 4:00pm: A Horse is Not a Motorcycle
Many writers treat horses like motorcycles. But actually they're more like aliens who we can mostly convince to take us where we want to go if we're nice to them. Horse people talk about what horses are really like and how to use them realistically in fiction.
OR
Thursday 4:00pm: Writers' Tricks and Tips
How do you borrow from another culture? Make up an alien language? Describe something you've never seen? Authors discuss some of the tricks of the trade.
Thursday 5:00pm: Traditional Structures of Plays and Fiction
The traitional structure of a play is a build-up to a climax at the midpoint of the play (and how DO you achieve a perfect climax, anyway?) and then a slow draw down until the ending and denouement..Some works of SF and fantasy follow that model and others don't. What other models are there, and where would one of them best be used, versus the tradtional isoceles triangle structure described here?
OR
Thursday 5:00pm: The Shadow of the Torturer: The Writer as God
Do you abuse your characters? Do you do this to further the story, or because it's necessary to make the story more believable...or, to exorcise your own demons? Writing's potential for self-revelation may be its most powerful and terrifying aspect. How do you cope when your story is telling you something you don't want to know about the dark shadow of the self...?
Thursday 6:00pm: Cardboard Characters
Are They Always Bad? Old-fashioned SF used to be known for "cardboard" characters, and being plot and action driven. But, having the cardboard characters wasn't necessarily only from a perceived lack of characterization skills or interest on the part of writers and authorsà spending the time and effort to attempt to have more fully-fleshed out, multidimensional characters, might have led to different stories, not necessarily appreciated by the audience, or longer, more complicated stories, again, not necessarily desired by the audience. Then again, a lot of it may have been because of shortcoming and short deadlines for writers and publishing. But with all that, are there times when cardboard characters work and are the right way to go?
OR
Thursday 6:00pm: The Quest
For what? Irregardless…how are quests really about a search for identity and "adulthood"?
Thursday 7:00pm: The Seven Deadly Sins of SF and Fantasy
Admit it—some SF motions just don't make sense—and a lot of them become starndard background elements in the genre. Discuss a bunch of them (well, at least 7—and invent some new ones of your own, if you want!), why they're so terrible, and how they get established. Is it just that People Don't Think, or are there other reasons for these lousy ideas?
