We’ve got the panel list pared down — now we need people to be on them! We want a good variety of viewpoints, so creators of all stripes as well as readers/listeners/viewers are welcome to volunteer as panelists. Just check out the list below, then contact our Plenipotentiary of Panels, Steven Brust, and let him know what you’d like to share your opinions about.
There is room for more people on all of these panels, so whichever ones take your fancy, please volunteer!
The “final” panel schedule (subject to change, of course, but this is what we’re aiming for) is as follows:
Saturday
11:00 – 11:15 Opening Ceremonies
11:30 – 12:40 Just What IS Story, Anyway?: When is it just a collection of events? What does “beginning, middle, end,” actually mean? How do we decide?
12:40 – 2:00 Lunch
2:00 – 3:10 Are We Helping Too Much?: New writers are inundated with how-to-write advice. How can a new writer figure out their own process with world+dog telling them how they should do it?
3:30 – 4:40 Twisted by Knaves to Make A Trap for Fools: Let’s unknot some literary twists. Which storytellers have had works misrepresented? Which visions have been slandered by people with jaundiced eye? Can we ameliorate reputations that have had vitriol splashed on them? Can we bring some basic appreciation to neutralize acidified contexts? Whaddaya say?
5:00 – 6:10 Who Are You Permitted to Write About?: Is it reasonable to say some group “owns” a story? And that another group doesn’t? This one has the potential to get ugly, so let’s do our best not to let it.
6:10 – 8:00 Dinner
8:00 – 9:10 Recovering Your Joy: How to make writing fun again when it’s stopped being fun. Not just post-Covid, but generally dealing with burn-out, skill plateaus, etc.
Sunday
9:30 – 10:40 Four Letter Words and Ten Letter Words: How the use of language sets tone, contributes to worldbuilding, etc.
11:00 – 12:10 Beginning a New Form: Moving from novels to plays, or screenplays, or painting, something you’re unfamiliar with, how do you approach learning about that new form at least well enough to avoid embarrassing yourself?
12:10 – 1:30 Lunch
1:30 – 2:40 What is the Writer’s Responsibility in Creating a Story?: There are a lot of simplistic answers, such as, “to tell a good story full stop,” and, “the writer is responsible for everything one might take from a story.” Let’s try to get past those, and explore the question a little deeper.
3:00 – 4:10 Explain to Liz How to Plot: Our Esteemed Con Chair, Liz, does not know how to construct a plot. Neither do I, even though I’ve managed once or twice. I’d love to hear some people explain how to go about it.
4:30 – 5:40 Writing in Reader Head: The generally accepted wisdom is that you try to get into “reader head” while revising, that doing so while writing will only slow you down. I think there’s some truth in that, but it’s also more complicated–knowing what the reader is thinking as you write opens up a number of possibilities for playing with what the reader expects. Maybe the term “reader head” isn’t as precise as we think it is. In any case, there’s stuff to talk about here, so let’s talk about it.
5:40 – 8:00 Dinner
8:00 – 9:10 Writing to Your Strengths, Writing to Your Weaknesses: When do you do which and why?
Monday
10:00 – 11:10 The Long Game: Planning out the development of skills, writing “over your head” and stuff like that.
11:30 – 12:40 Chris Wallace Seminar on Self-Sublishing: Yes, we’re actually going to break down and do a business-y kind of thing. Chris has done a lot of successful self-publishing, and will talk about it.
12:40 – 2:00 Lunch
2:00 – 3:10 Craft Q & A: Panelists will attempt to answer whatever questions or suggest solutions to whatever problems those in the audience might be encountering.
3:30 – 4:40 The Different Panel: When a panel drifts (too far) off topic, we’ll bring it back by saying “But that’s a different panel.” We’ll keep track of those interesting diversions, and at the end of the convention decide which one to do, and who should be on it.
4:45 Closing Ceremonies
After Closing Ceremonies, there will be a “dead dog” session, in which we discuss what we did right, what we did wrong, what we could do differently, and why we did what we did. All interested parties welcome!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
So come on, folks, let us know what you’re up for being a panelist on! You know you want to….