Ack! People keep asking me if I will be attending World Fantasy this year, and the sad, sad answer is no. I enjoy attending WFC in general and someday wish to go to Toronto (I have lived within 90 miles of Canada for my entire life except for the 9 months in Finland, and yet have visited Vancouver so rarely that it is shameful), but… finances. Woe.

Instead, I will be at Orycon next weekend, and I even have a schedule! I’m only on panels Saturday and Sunday because I was unsure of whether or not I’d be able to get down to Portland on Friday. I will, as it turns out, but I might spend the Friday of the con exploring the magical land that is Portland. I’ve only been meaning to do that for… uh… yeah. Anyway.

ORYCON 34 SCHEDULE:

Historical Figures in Action
Hamilton             Sat Nov 3 11:00am-12:00pm
What are the pitfalls of using people “everyone knows” in your fiction?
How can you get the “depiction” right?
Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Sara A. Mueller, Jim Fiscus, Louise Marley

I think the second set of scare quotes should be around the word “right.” 🙂

A touch of Farmer, a pinch of LeGuin
Morrison             Sat Nov 3 12:00pm-1:00pm
Panelists discuss their biggest influences and what books have changed the
recent landscape in SF/F/H literature.
Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Deborah J. Ross, Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Which reminds me that I need to do a rampage through my bookshelf and flip through a few things to remember why I was so taken with them. A lot of my influences weren’t SF/F, so much. THE HORROR.

The structure of writing
Lincoln              Sat Nov 3 5:00pm-6:00pm
Structurally speaking, what makes a good story?  Scenes, acts, pacing,
climaxes, dark moments, failure cycles … how do they all fit together
and when should you worry about structure?
Keffy R. M. Kehrli, A.M. Dellamonica, (*)Richard A. Lovett, Steven
Barnes
Keffy Kehrli’s Readings
Grant                Sat Nov 3 6:00pm-6:30pm

I’m not sure what I’m going to read yet. I imagine the audience for this will have some overlap with my audience  from Norwescon, so I’m wary about reading the same piece. (Even if I do enjoy going into performance fugue and screaming FUCK YOU at a crowded room.)

In any case, if people come to my readings (0r show up right afterward) we can go do dinner when I’m done! Which is much more exciting than anything I will do.

Getting your first professional sale
Hamilton             Sun Nov 4 12:00pm-1:00pm
An author can struggle for months or years before achieving their first
success, but even after writing their opus, they can be tripped up by a
process which is both entirely new to them and yet critical to their
success.  This panel describes what an author may  experience as they
revel in their first success.
Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Edward Morris, (*)J. A. Pitts

WOOHOO. I will talk about being a basket case and shooting yourself in the foot, and Pitts will talk about not being a basket case and actually building a career.

Beware newbie writers: Scams and pitfalls abound
Hamilton             Sun Nov 4 2:00pm-3:00pm
Eager new writers are always looking for a break.  And people looking for
a break are easy targets for scams that can sap both their money and their
motivation. This panel discusses professional pitfalls for new writers to
watch out for.
(*)Todd McCaffrey, Bill Johnson, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Jim Fiscus

I was on a very small panel about this at Norwescon in which there were only two audience members. Before it started, I thought, “Okay, surely this will be a very dull, pointless panel, and everyone in the room already knows everything.” It turned out that the two people in the audience actually didn’t know anything about writing scams. One of the two had gotten taken by Poetry.com, and neither had heard of Writer Beware.  So, it seems pretty basic, but hey, I figure if a writing scams panel gives one person the tools to figure out if they’re about to lose money on bullshit, it’s worthwhile.

Hopefully I will see some of you in Portland next weekend!