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Confluence Conference 2017

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2017

The Confluence Conference 2017 was held from August 4 to August 6, 2017, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Introduction

I attended the Confluence Conference on August 5, 2017. I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to the conference that was located at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. The conference is run by the Parsec organization of Pittsburgh. It is a literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I was focused on attending as many panels as I possibly could on Saturday. I attended seven panels, one writing workshop, one author reading, and the guests of honor presentation.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

Summary

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 9:00 AM

At 9:00 AM Bud Sparhawk gave a presentation about Everything You Wanted to Know about SFWA. SFWA is the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America pronounced Sifwa. Bud Sparhawk is the CFO of the non-profit organization. It was formed in 1965 to protect the writer’s rights from the publishers. The organization funds three benevolent funds, a health fund, a legal fund, and a givers fund. They also give out grants for worthy causes. There are 2000 members, with 1600 members active, and about 600 active voters. They sponsor the Nebula Awards and the yearly banquet associated with them. An associate member has had one paid sale to an SFWA qualified market. An active member has had at least three such sales.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 10:00 AM

At 10:00 AM Timons Esaias gave a lecture titled On Killing: Our Misperceptions of Battle. I had enjoyed his lecture on The Basics of Ancient Warfare at Confluence in 2016, so I was looking forward to attending this lecture at the Confluence Conference 2017. He went over six instances in history where the number of casualties inflicted did not match the amount of ammunition expended. The weight of metal that it took to kill a Union soldier, Lexington and Concord, the Prussian musket fire study, the overcharged guns at Gettysburg, the battle of Zama, and historical hit rates. There were two books sited in this lecture. On Killing by Dave Grossman details the increase over time that soldiers have become more likely to fire to kill and how that increases post-traumatic stress disorder. It starts with the Marshall study about fire rates in WWII and also includes data on the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

The other book was Numbers, Predictions, and War by Colonel Dupey. I was most interested in this book because I bought a copy of it thirty years ago and recognized it from the cover. It detailed a way to numerically depict results of war based on a series of calculations. It was interesting for me because I could use the numbers in war gaming scenarios.

This was an informative lecture on the nature of killing in war.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 11:00 AM

At 11:00 AM Frederic S. Durbin presented a workshop on Doorways into Writing. His thesis is that all writing starts with character, setting, plot, or concept. The development of a character can be one way to drive a story. A setting can be the place to build a story around. Setting can be fluid to the demands of the plot. An idea can also drive a story. The workshop leader finds that setting is the thing that speaks to him. He then gave us thirty minutes to write a short story or scene of a larger piece using one of the four methods.

I had an idea about the career of a hybrid Dogman that I called Dogman. I wanted to write a narrative summary of his career. The narrative summary of an event of his career that I wrote totaled about 250 words. After I finished and edited the story, I called it Hybrid-Dog Confession. It was about 750 words and I intend to sell it as flash fiction. Two people read their work in the time remaining in the workshop.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 12:00 PM

At 12:00 PM Steve Miller presented his recollections of Clarion West, which he attended in 1973 and answers the question of Should You Heed the Call of Clarion? Clarion is a six-week-long science fiction writing workshop that was created in 1968 at Clarion State College in Pennsylvania. The workshop moved to Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan from 1972 to 2006. It is currently held at the University of California at San Diego. An offshoot workshop called Clarion West was established in 1971 in Seattle, Washington, and continues to this day.

Each week a different teacher representing a different background will teach the students. The students take classes in the morning and write at night while living on campus. The goal of the workshop is to prepare writers to become professional writers. Steve Miller says that the experience changes the students. Some become professional writers or editors, while others never write again. It was transformative for him, but he warns that the pressure can crack a new writer’s confidence.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 1:00 PM

At 1:00 PM there was a panel on forgotten fantasy classics called Help! What Should I Read Next? There were five panelists who listed their favorite novels that are not generally read anymore. Some of the highlights were Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees, The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison, The Silver Stallion, and Jurgen by James Branch Cabell, The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, and The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 2:00 PM

At 2:00 PM there was a panel on Marketing Your Work. The five panelists talked about their experiences with marketing their books. Some of their advice follows. Marketing is the author’s job because you are a business. You are the brand, not the book. Be involved in social media but stay away from politics because it limits your audience. Spend money on an editor and a great book cover. Know your audience so that you can market to them specifically. J. D. Barker was one of the panelists.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 3:00 PM

At 3:00 PM was the Guests of Honor Presentation. It was a talk and a Q and A with Steve Miller and Sharon Lee. They had met at the University of Maryland and began a friendship. Many years later they were married in 1980 and began a writing collaboration. They sold three novels in the late 80s of the Liaden Universe but did not sell enough to continue the series. In 1999, by the urging of fans, they wrote a fourth book called Plan B which was successful. The series is up to 20 novels and 21 shorter works currently.

I left the conference from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM to eat dinner.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 6:00 PM

At 6:00 PM was a panel on Avoiding Self-Pub Pitfalls. The five panelists told their tales about their experiences in self-publication. You must have a good cover, editing, and interior formatting of the book. Self-publishing gets the book to the readers who want to read it. Kristine Kathryn Rusch has a good website on the business side of publishing at http://kriswrites.com/ Writing is a business. Never use a running head; it is the sign of an amateur. Use thebookdesigner.com for interior book design. Use bowker.com to get your book’s ISBN. Send a copy of your book to the Library of Congress to get that extra layer of professionalism for your book. Find an editor. A developmental edit is the most expensive, and then comes copy edit, and the least expensive is the proofreading.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 7:00 PM

At 7:00 PM was a reading by the Guest of Honor, Steve Miller. Steve Miller read from the story called Intelligent Design by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller to a packed room. It is a story from their Liaden Universe series. It is one of the shorter works from their series. He read about half of the story in the time allotted and it was well received. The complete story can be found at this web address. It is a free story from the Baen website. Baen is the publisher of their series.

http://www.baen.com/intelligentdesign

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 9:00 PM

At 9:00 PM there was a presentation by horror novelist J. D. Barker on Making the Leap from Indie to Traditional Publishing. J. D. Barker told his story about how he became a successful writer. He stated that the presentation given was similar to what he does at book signings. J. D. Barker had been a magazine writer, a beta reader, and editor, a professional book doctor, and a ghostwriter but wanted to write something using his own name.

He wrote a book called Forsaken. It is a ghost story involving a writer researching his next book. He spent about 12 thousand dollars in editing and formatting the novel. The problems were that he had a bad query letter and no sales to traditional publishers. He sent Arc copies after he self-published it, so there were no reviews at the beginning to drive sales. What he did do was to write a list of what authors were doing to promote their books and he did promotional ideas that no one was doing.

Social media turned his book into a success. It has sold over 200 thousand copies. On the strength of his first novel’s sales, he was able to sell his second novel, The Four Monkeys, for a million-dollar advance. His advice for writers is as follows. Social media presence is important. He puts 10% of his profits back into marketing. Novels are a product; you can’t see it as art. He writes 2000 to 3000 words every day. Use Goodreads advertising. Spend the money for good cover design and editing. Bloggers, Goodreads, and Facebook groups lead to sales. This talk was an interesting behind the scenes presentation of the writer’s life.

Wrap-up

I had a great time at the Confluence Conference 2017. I learned many things and was glad that I made the time to take the trip. Steve Miller and Sharon Lee were great as the Guests of Honor. For me, the star of the Confluence Conference 2017 was J. D. Barker. I thought the information that he presented in the two panels that I attended with him as a panelist was excellent. As a result, I have checked out his new novel The Fourth Monkey from the library and intend to read it. I plan to go to the next Confluence Conference. It is scheduled for July 17 to July 29, 2018.

Links

Recap for the Confluence SF Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.

Confluence 2016 Conference

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference

The Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2017

Introduction

The Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2017 was held on July 29, 2017, at the Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Public Library in Cleveland, Ohio.

The event was sponsored by Literary Cleveland. Literary Cleveland’s mission is to create and nurture a vibrant literary arts community in North East Ohio. The group sponsors writing workshops, author interviews, and a monthly group meeting mixer.

http://www.litcleveland.org/

Registration was on the second floor of the Louis Stokes Wing. Events were held on the second floor in five rooms and at one podium surrounded by chairs on the second floor.

Summary – Dan Chaon Interview

The events started with an interview in the downstairs auditorium. D. M. Pulley interviewed the author, Dan Chaon. Dan Chaon first read from his novel Ill Will. It was an engaging section describing when a drug-addled junkie goes into an ex-funeral parlor crack house looking for his lost friend. After the reading, D. M. Pulley asked Dan Choan about growing up in Nebraska, mixing literary and genre fiction, and his childhood correspondence with Ray Bradbury.

There were three sessions scheduled for the day. Conference participants could attend a workshop, a craft talk, or a reading in each session. None of the activities were repeated. There were a total of ten workshops, six craft talks, and five readings. I chose a workshop for each of the sessions that I attended because I was most interested in working on my writing skills.

Summary – D. M. Pulley

In session one I attended D. M. Pulley’s workshop on Facing the Blank Page. She presented this workshop using a PowerPoint presentation. It was effective. She had been a freelance forensic engineer but found herself in a case where she felt compelled to write a novel about her imaginings. There was an abandoned safety deposit room with many locked boxes that had been locked for thirty years. She came up with a story and wrote her first novel called The Dead Key. She won the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for the novel.

In this workshop, she ran the participants through a series of exercises designed to help the writer to discover the background of their novel. First, answer ten questions about your protagonist. Second, take seven minutes to write a scene using that information. Third, determine what the protagonist wants to know the most. Fourth, take seven minutes to write a scene where the protagonist overhears a conversation. Fifth, determine what is standing in the way from the protagonist in getting what they want. Sixth, write a scene where the protagonist has an argument with a family member.

Summary – Lance Parkin

In session two I attended Lance Parkin’s Workshop on The First Page of Your Novel. Lance gave the workshop attendees a handout with three sections. The first section is a page with his advice about the importance of creating a superior first page to your novel. He thinks that the first page must have a hook to get the reader to turn the page, must be bold, and must show the protagonist’s goal. He says do not waste a word on that first page. The second section is an article from the penguin random house website on what our editors look for on an opening page. They want a powerful opener, a unique perspective, a well-realized world, an authentic voice, and attention-grabbing characters.

The third section was copies of the first page of six different novels. The book titles were not noted and I recognized the four that I had read previously. In the workshop, Lance talked about the first two sections and then had two different workshop attendees read one of the first pages. The workshop discussed why those first pages worked. Lance then gave the workshop attendees thirty minutes to write the first page. At the end of that time, three workshop attendees read their work and fielded comments from the workshop.

Summary – Hillary Rettig

In session three I attended Hillary Rettig’s workshop on Values-Based Time Management for Writers. The first thing that she asked us to do was to think about what your dream schedule would look like. She said that most people would need 150 to 200 hours a week to accomplish everything that they would like to do. The problem is that with sleeping 8 hours a night, then you only have about 112 waking hours per week to accomplish the tasks that you want to do. There is a gap, so you must decide which tasks you most want to accomplish.

She had a handout called time reclamation exercise. It was used to brainstorm how the desired change could be implemented. Another handout described the five principles of good time management. They are; time is valuable, invest time and do not spend it, invest time in the things for which you most want to make progress, the purpose of time management is to eliminate the unimportant stuff, and all time is managed so choose what you want to do.

Conclusion

I enjoyed the programs that I attended at the Cleveland Inkubator and plan to attend next year. My highlights were Dan Choan’s compelling reading, the insightful brainstorming techniques from D. M. Pulley, realizing the importance of the first page in a novel from Lance Parkin, and the benefit of choosing to spend my time on the things that I want to accomplish from Hillary Rettig. See you next year.

Links

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2017 is held at the Cleveland Public Library while the Cuyahoga County Public Library sponsors a similar event called the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016.

Recap for the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016 on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions, and one Q & A panel.

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Winter Fiction Fest

Winter Fiction Fest 2017

Introduction

The Winter Fiction Fest was held on February 18, 2017, at Loganberry Books in Cleveland, Ohio.

http://www.loganberrybooks.com/

This is a link to the Literary Cleveland Website.

http://www.litcleveland.org/

Summary – Conference Set-Up

The events started with an interview. Susan Petrone interviewed the author, Mary Doria Russell.

Next, three different workshops were offered. Conference participants picked one workshop to attend. After the first workshop was completed, the Conference participants chose one of the other two workshops to attend.

The three workshops were as follows:

A: Beyond Motive, Means and Opportunity: How to Plot Your Mystery with Casey Daniels and Shelly Costa.

B: Turning History into Fiction with DM Pulley

C: Science Fiction: Not just for kids anymore! With Geoffrey Landis and Mary Turzillo

Everyone attended the interview first. There was about 30 people at the conference.

Summary – Interview

Mary Doria Russell has published six novels. The first two were science fiction and the other four were historical fiction. Her latest novel is called Epitaph. It details the events at the O. K. Corral.

She gets her ideas from reading biography books. She then researches her subject and looks for the moment that works as a novel. When she hears the voices, then she begins to write. Sometimes the research works like saving Italian Jews in World War II (A Thread of Grace), the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference (Dreamers of the Day), the early life of Doc Holliday (Doc), and the events at the O. K. Corral (Epitaph). Sometimes it doesn’t work like when she researched the relationship between Edgar Allen Poe and Sarah Elmira Royster. Another that didn’t work was Abe Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln.

She is currently researching a novel about the 1913 Copper Country strike in Michigan that will be called Unremembered Lives. Questions went to the audience at that point. Someone asked about agents. She has used the same agency for all her work, but she has had a dozen editors for her six novels. The novels were all published by Random House, but since she takes years to research and write each book, she has never had an editor start and finish any of her books. She doesn’t believe in outlines.

Summary – Science Fiction

I went to the C Workshop first. Nine people attended this session.

Mary had the flu so she skyped into the conference. First was a review of the subgenres of Science Fiction and Fantasy. What makes it SF or F is a speculative element. Talked about the markets and the tradition that SF and F writers start in the short fiction magazine route. Two websites that help in finding markets are ralan.com and duotrope.com. Stories have five elements including people, prose, plot, particulars, and prose.

A characterization handout was given, which encourages the writer to ask questions about the main protagonist. Another handout on character traits found at http://www.fiction-writers-mentor.com/list-of-character-traits/ Plot makes the character interact with the world. The inciting event shatters the main character’s place in the world. The plot is about the main character’s failures in trying to solve problems.

Three possible premises are What If, If Only, and If This Goes On. The last part of the workshop was a brainstorming session about the premise. We went with If This Goes On. It started with global warming and ended with The Waterlords of Cleveland. I should have taken a picture of the brainstorming whiteboard.

Summary – Mystery

I finished the Conference at the A Workshop. About 20 people at this session.

They presented a slideshow presentation and took turns explaining each slide. Most mysteries follow the conventions in one of these subgenres; cozy, police procedural, medical/legal thriller, suspense, romantic suspense, thriller, historical mystery, PI, Noir, Forensic, or YA. Setting is where the mystery starts. Your sleuth may be a member of law enforcement, have ties to law enforcement, or is an amateur. Make it matter, raise the stakes. The victim has secrets. There is an apparent reason and a real reason for the murder. The killer must be a worthy opponent of the sleuth. Everyone in the story must be s suspect. The plot is the search for the truth. In most stories, but not all, the reader discovers the clues as the sleuth discovers the clues. The solution of the crime must be surprising, plausible, and satisfying. The last twenty pages must have a resolution.

Conclusion

In review, I felt that all the authors presented their subjects with expertise, knowledge, and humor. I am glad that I attended the conference. I wish that I had been able to observe the workshop I missed. But the two workshops I attended were excellent. I am sure that it was just as informative as the others. I am looking forward to attending other events that are sponsored by Literary Cleveland in the future.

Links

A similar Conference to the Winter Fiction Fest 2017 was the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016. Winter Fiction Fest is sponsored by Literary Cleveland while the Cuyahoga County Public Library sponsors a similar event called the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016.

This is my recap for the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016 on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions, and one Q & A panel.

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Capclave Conference Recap

Capclave Conference Recap 2016.

This is my recap of the Capclave Conference Recap 2016 Washington.

Introduction

The Capclave Conference Recap 2016 was held on from October 7 to October 9, 2016, in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

http://www.capclave.org/capclave/capclave16/

I attended the Capclave Conference Recap 2016 on October 7, 8, and 9, 2016. I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to the conference that was located at the Hilton Washington DC North/Gaithersburg Hotel. The conference is run by the Washington Science Fiction Association of Washington. It is a literary science fiction and fantasy conference which focuses on short fiction. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I was focused on attending many readings and attending most of the appearances by Tim Powers, one of the guests of honor. I attended 13 panels (including 6 with Tim Powers), two interviews of Tim Powers and 8 readings.

http://wsfa.org/site/

Friday: October 7, 2016, Capclave Conference Recap 2016

Following a long drive, with a detour, I arrived at my hotel (not the one that held the conference) at 3:15 PM. The first panel was at 4:00 PM, so I thought that I would make the panel in plenty of time. Alas, my hotel screwed up at my check-in and by the time I drove to the other hotel, registered at the conference, and figured out where the first panel was located, I arrived at 4:20 PM. On top of that, there were no more chairs so I sat on the floor in the back of the room. This was rather annoying because this was one of the four panels that I was most looking forward to attending.

On the other hand, I am very glad that I saw the forty minutes that I did because it was one of the best panels at the conference. The panel was about writing effective reviews and I am interested in that topic because I just started a website with a blog that includes book reviews.

Writing Effective Reviews Panel

Writing Effective Reviews was about how to write an effective book or movie review. The key to writing an effective review is to determine who the target audience is for the book and to write the review with that audience in mind. The review is for the readers. It is about the words on the page, do not make the review about the author.

Alternate History Panel

Alternate History: How to Make It Work examined how to make an alternate history plot work. Know your history and why things happen. Search history for pivot points and ask what would happen if the pivot point was changed. Give a moral, but do not preach. Historians are guided by their times, so when reading history for research understand how the interpretation of history changes based on the time the book was written.

Fictionalizing Real People Panel

In Fictionalizing Real People, the panel discussed how they used aspects of real people in their fiction. Be careful of potential defamation of character lawsuits.

Tim Powers Interview

The next program that I attended was the Fast Forward TV Interview of Guest of Honor, Tim Powers. Fast Forward is a monthly show available on the group’s Youtube channel where the host interviews a contemporary science fiction author or editor. The interviewer touched on Tim Powers’ method of storytelling and examined his background relating to his writing. For him, research drives the story. He reads history, looking for those ideas that are too cool not to use. When he finds enough of these ideas, then he has a book.

In writing his form of secret or hidden history, he creates a calendar of real events and acts as a cold case detective by taking the facts and determine what really happened. By really, he means finding the supernatural element that he wants to write about, which cannot be refuted by the historical timeline. He also talked about how his first two novels were published by Laser Books.

https://www.youtube.com/user/FastForwardCrew

Podcasts and Short Fiction Panel

At Podcasts and Short Fiction, the panel looked at how podcasts are expanding the market for short fiction. The panel consisted of two people, Scott H. Andrews, the editor, publisher, and podcast editor of Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Jim Freund, the podcast editor and host for Lightspeed Magazine. Since there were only two people on the panel, it seemed like an interview. Lightspeed does one story per week as a podcast and Beneath Ceaseless Skies does one podcast per issue. Since early on, podcasts were always free for listeners, so there has never been a monetary benefit to the podcast, but as a companion to the written word a podcast is useful. It takes about one hour to edit the podcast per one page of text, so it is a major commitment to podcast multiple page stories.

Cover Text

https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/

Saturday: October 8, 2016, Capclave Conference Recap 2016

Steven H. Wilson Reading

Steven H. Wilson read from his unfinished novel called Sacrifice Play. The novel is a space opera dealing with telepathy. It was based on the science fiction audio drama called The Arbiter Chronicles. He ran a kick-starter campaign to complete the novel in May 2016.

Books

Anthony Dobranski Reading

Anthony Dobranski read from the galley copy of his finished novel The Demon in Business Class. The novel is an international modern-day fantasy featuring office politics, demons, and psychics.

https://anthonydobranski.com/demonbizclass/

Alternate and Secret History Panel

Alternate and Secret History was a panel featuring the guest of honor, Tim Powers, and the editor and publisher of Clarkesworld magazine, Neil Clarke. The panel explored the differences between the two types of stories. Alternate history occurs when the author takes a point in history and chooses a different path for the events. Time travel and allegory stories also fall in this type. On the other hand, the secret history author takes the facts of history and tries to find a story that exists in the spaces between the facts. Conspiracy theory stories also fall under this category. The final question of the panel was to ask if history is arbitrary or intentional. Depending on the author’s answer to that question could lead to the type of story the author would choose to tell.

Writing and Selling Your Story Panel

In the Writing and Selling Your Story panel, the panelists discussed what engages them as a reader, editor, or publisher. All three areas were represented on the panel. As an editor, the reader must be engaged to care about the main character. Something about the character, world, interaction at the start, or the voice must be present. They story cannot be only competent, it must be special. The author must deliver on the hook, but also must make the ending an inevitable surprise. As an author, make your individuality show through. Read in your genre extensively. Do not be discouraged by rejection, because every author’s journey is unique.

Time to the Power of Tim presentation

The next panel was a presentation called Time to the Power of Tim. It was presented by John Ashmead with commentary by Tim Powers. This setup caused confusion in the audience. I believe some expected this to be an interview of the guest of honor, Tim Powers. It was not. The presentation was a slide show given by the presenter, with comments added by Tim Powers. It was unorthodox, but I felt that it worked quite well as giving a different insight into the author. The presenter’s thesis was that Tim Powers follows a scientific method in determining the nature of his secret history novels. His time-traveling tales follow a rigorous timeline. The presenter showed examples of three timelines for three of his novels.

The Anubis Gates has a steampunk time machine. In this novel time is explored as a river and the issue of freewill versus determinism is explored.

Three Days to Never has a bicycle time machine. The story revolves around Einstein’s daughter and explores the fate of a butterfly. It also debates the LaPlace Transforms and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.

Medusa’s Web involves two dimensional entities called spiders in the novel. The protagonists use fractured time to travel back to 1920’s Hollywood to unravel the past.

Tweets by akmed13

A. C. Wise Reading

The author A. C. Wise read from a short story called Harvest Song. Pseudopod Magazine will publish the story in their tenth anniversary anthology called For Mortal Things Unsung. Pseudopod Magazine publishes short horror fiction. The story involved a future soldier’s experiences on an unsuccessful mission.

http://www.acwise.net/

For Mortal Things Unsung

Biggest Mistakes by Beginning Writers Panel

In the Biggest Mistakes by Beginning Writers, the panel wants new writers to put your writing journey into perspective. Know your markets. Listen to your editor, do not argue with rejection. Rejections make you improve. Don’t give up, because determining to finish the story is the first step to success. Protect your writing time, so you can finish the story. Make it a habit to write every day. Conduct yourself as a professional online with your editor and on your social media accounts. Check the submission guidelines for every market that you place a submission. Do not respond to reviews of your work, it only leads to problems. Find a great story, find out whose story it is, and combine idea with character to create the best story that you can write. Make it uniquely you.

Tim Powers Interview

The Tim Powers Interview was moderated by Mike Zipser. Tim Powers was inspired to read and write science fiction by reading Red Planet by Robert Heinlein. He looks for the magic under our lives, the supernatural, for writing material. The seeds for his books are in reading non-fiction biography and history. Powers becomes a cold case detective in identifying the screwy bits in history to create his plots. He talked about writing his first two novels for Laser Books. He mentioned that his novel Declare was inspired by the work of John le Carre. Powers talked about the inspiration of early Hollywood in writing his latest novel, Medusa’s Web.

Ask The Authors Panel

The last panel of the day for Saturday was called Ask the Authors. The five authors on the panel were asked questions from the audience. Sprinkle description throughout the scene. Description should be more than detail; it must mean something. In choosing the point of view character, you must find the character who stands the most to lose, in other words, who has the greatest journey to take. To avoid distractions in writing, set small goals, write 1000 words a day, write the first draft uncritically, and work it out in edits. Determine your goal for writing. Choose to find the time to write, do not wait to be inspired, just write it. Keep improving by writing a lot and reading a lot. Small critique groups can be useful.

Sunday: October 9, 2016, Capclave Conference Recap 2016

Jon Skovron Reading

Jon Skovron read the second chapter of his novel Hope and Red. He describes the novel as a Kung Fu pirate gangster romance epic. The reading was about the origin story for Red. He meets Sadie the Goat and they embark on their pirate adventure.

http://www.jonskovron.com/

Leah Cypess read Cupid’s Compass, a story published in the Sept/Oct issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It was about, if you could erase your memories of lost love, would you do it and what complications could develop if you did.

Free Short Story

https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/toc1609.htm

James Maxey Reading

James Maxey read the first chapter of his novel Greatshadow, book one of the Dragon Apocalypse. The chapter was called Bone Handle Knife. It was about two treasure hunters, Stagger and Infidel, who take a job to steal a dragon skull from a group of pygmies.

http://dragonprophet.blogspot.com/

Alex Shvartsman Reading

Alex Shvartsman read his story called Dante’s Unfinished Business, which was published in the September 2016 issue of Galaxy’s Edge Magazine. It is a humorous story about a pot-smoking slacker, who dies unexpectedly. He becomes a ghost and goes on a journey of self-discovery similar to the plot of Dante’s Inferno, but really funny.

https://alexshvartsman.com/

http://www.galaxysedge.com/index.htm

Dealing With Discouragement Panel

In the panel Dealing with Discouragement, the authors discussed how they have dealt with rejections. Focus on output. Reevaluate where your stories are being submitted. Authors can be a terrible judge of their work. Advice can be found in Dorothea Brande’s book Becoming a Writer. Discipline is not inspiration. Seek your truth.

Great Authors You Are Not Reading Panel

The next panel talked about Great Authors You Are Not Reading. Some were the works of Edgar Pangborn, Pavane by Keith Roberts, A Scourge of Screamers by Daniel F. Galouye, the Sentinel Stars by Louis Charbonneau, World Out of Mind by J. T. McIntosh. The works of James Branch Cabell including Jurgen, The Cream of the Jest, Figures of Earth, and The Silver Stallion. The Return of Fursey by Mervyn Wall, The Ghost Ship by Richard Middleton, and Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. The works of Charles Williams including All Hallows’ Eve, The Greater Trumps, and War in Heaven.

James Morrow Reading

James Morrow read a galley copy of a novella to be printed in June 2017 called the Asylum of Dr. Caligari. The story was partly inspired by the early horror movie called the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The sections read were about the encounters that the protagonist, Francis, had with Picasso in Paris and with Dr. Caligari in the fictional country of Weiserstadt. Dr. Caligari hires him as the painting therapist for the asylum inmates.

https://tachyonpublications.com/product/the-asylum-of-dr-caligari/

https://twitter.com/jimmorrow11?lang=en

https://www.sff.net/people/jim.morrow/index2.html

http://james-morrow.livejournal.com/

Research, Research, Research panel.

The last panel for the conference was on Research, Research, Research. The panel showed that research is essential even when writing fantasy works. The authors all use research in different ways. Tim Powers says research leads him to his stories. Brenda Clough does her research after the first draft so she knows what she needs to learn more about. Leah Cypess says research is the work and the writing is the fun. She uses research during all aspects of the writing process.

Alan Smale has researched extensively in Roman history. When he brought the Romans to the Americas in his latest novels, he researched the Indian cultures just before the era of colonization. One point that all the authors agree on is that certain aspects of description must be researched extensively because the expert readers will certainly call you out on any mistakes. Those areas are guns, horses, and sailing. It is most important to be plausible rather than accurate in writing fiction.

Wrap-up

I had a great time at CapclaveConference Recap 2016. I learned many things and was glad that I decided to come on Friday and stay all weekend. It was an exhausting full three days. I plan to go to the next Capclave, which is scheduled for October 6 to October 8, 2017.

My regrets are that after seeing her at the Ask the Authors panel, I wish I had followed the other guest of honor, Sarah Beth Durst.

The best readings I attended were by Jon Skovron (Most theatrical reading, Red and Sadie the Goat were very real characters), Alex Shvartsman (funniest reading, Dante was hilarious), and James Morrow (Most intriguing reading, alternate history with an on the eve of World War One setting and early motion pictures added).

The best indication of what I felt moved me the most is that I purchased the novel that Jon Skovron read called Hope and Red. I also pre-ordered the sequel called Bane and Shadow.

Links

A similar Conference to the Capclave Conference Recap 2016 Washington was the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016. Winter Fiction Fest is sponsored by Literary Cleveland while the Cuyahoga County Public Library sponsors a similar event called the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016.

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Indie Author Conference and Showcase

Indie Author Conference and Showcase 2016.

I attended the Indie Author Conference and Showcase 2016.

Introduction

The Indie Author Conference and Showcase were held on November 12, 2016, at the Parma-Snow branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Parma, Ohio.

Three lectures were presented concerning different aspects of self-publishing. Following the lectures, a showcase was presented featuring over 50 self-published authors.

The first lecture was by Dana Kaye, called “Your Book, Your Brand”.

She presented the lessons she learned as a publicist and detailed in her book. It is important to create and establish your author brand, which consists of you and your book. To find your brand search for the common denominator in your writing and distill that into a short tagline. To establish your brand, first get your online house in order. Make sure that all the platforms that you use, reflect the message that you want to convey. Update your website. Secure your online real estate. Create accounts even if you do not use them now, because at some time you might want to use them and you do not want someone else to use a site that can be confused with content coming from you. Identify your target audience. Develop a content strategy. Do not be afraid to say no, if an opportunity does not fit your brand.

The second lecture was by Deanna Adams, called “Beta Readers and Editors: Don’t Publish Without Them”.

There is more to creating your best work than just self-editing your manuscript. It is important to invest in yourself and in your book. Search for an editor because they can see what you can’t, they understand the industry, and can help you become a better writer. The Editorial Freelancers Association job listing service is a good place to look for freelance editors at http://www.the-efa.org/ Writer’s groups are a good resource for beta readers. Beta readers in your genre can give insights into where your writing is going right and going wrong.

The last lecture was by A. E. Jones on “Self-Publishing Doesn’t Mean You Have to Do Everything Yourself.”

First, every author must ask some basic questions. Why do you want to publish? Why do you write? What do you want to accomplish? How much can you afford to spend? How much time can you dedicate to writing? Depending on how an author answers these questions, determines where you go next. Everyone needs a support system. You must find your tribe. Your tribe is like-minded individuals that share your goals. Determine what you can do on your own and when you need to call on your tribe.

The following are the steps for publishing your work. Write the book. Determine your goals and motivations. Determine your publishing path, traditional, completely self-published, or independently published. If you choose Indie, then learn the process. Determine what you can do yourself and what you need help on. She handed out an information sheet which gave many examples of the websites that further expand on her steps for publishing.

She offered one of her books for free on https://www.instafreebie.com/ I have downloaded several additional books from the website. The site offers different genre books at different times.

Conclusion

The best thing for me at this conference was that I found one person from my tribe. Cat Russell, the self-described writer, reader, vegan, poetess of the Greek Gods can be found at https://catherinerussellwriter.wordpress.com/ and https://twitter.com/ganymeder

I’m glad I went to this conference, I learned a lot.

Links

A similar Conference to the Indie Author Conference and Showcase 2016 was the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016. Winter Fiction Fest is sponsored by Literary Cleveland while the Cuyahoga County Public Library sponsors a similar event called the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016.

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Confluence 2016 Conference

The Confluence 2016 Conference.

I attended the Confluence 2016 Conference.

Introduction

The Confluence 2016 Conference was held on from July 29 to July 31, 2016, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I attended the Confluence 2016 Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016. I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to the conference that was located at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. The conference is run by the Parsec organization of Pittsburgh. It is a literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I was focused on attending as many panels as I possibly could on Saturday and Sunday. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

Saturday: July 30, 2016

Ancient Wonders Panel

Ancient Wonders was a talk about the earliest science fiction and fantasy writings.

Communicating with Aliens Panel

Communicating with Aliens was a talk about how communicating with aliens can be written about in science fiction. The nature of determining intelligence is not always clear. How the author describes the communication is determined by if humans have gone to find the intelligent life or the intelligent life has found humans on earth.

The Basics of Ancient Warfare Lecture

Next, Timons Esaias gave an interesting lecture on The Basics of Ancient Warfare. He began talking about local soldiers using their locally available weapons. Professional armies were a threat to the local king, so wars were fought by mercenaries, who were paid and then dismissed after the war was over. This did not change until the development of the heavy infantry of the Greeks, which was called the phalanx. There are three types of warriors; on foot, on animals, and on a ship. Other topics in the talk were the Welsh longbow, Roman artillery, and the Huns and Visigoths use of horses to defeat the Romans.

The How (Not) to Sabotage Your Writing Panel

How (Not) to Sabotage Your Writing was a panel where the panelists gave their unique advice on how they persevered in becoming writers. That advice included; be okay with criticism, collaborate with your editor, engage your audience, know your tools as a writer, and take the time to learn to be a better writer.

Alien Worlds and Races Panel

In the Alien Worlds and Races panel, the panelists talked about they designed alien lifeforms. The P.E.R.S.I.A. acronym for determining a race’s culture was discussed. It stands for political, economic, religious, social, intellectual, and artistic institutions.

What the U.S. Navy Taught me About Starfleet Lecture

Christopher Weuve gave a lecture on What the U.S. Navy Taught Me About Starfleet. He started with giving three points about the U.S. Navy. First point, the history of the U.S. Navy starts with battleships. The torpedo and then the airplane drastically changed naval warfare. Second point, a surface ship uses hiding to avoid enemies. Third point, hydrodynamics affects the ship’s maximum speed. The, he gave three points about Starfleet. First, Starfleet is really not like the navy. It is more like the coast guard because it has multiple missions including law enforcement. Second, Starfleet has a really hard problem. Space is really big. The ships do not have shore support and there is no international law in space. Third, Starfleet has it easy because no one is incompetent and stuff doesn’t break. A final observation was that rank is not a job description.

Promoting Your Writing Panel

The next panel explored how you should be Promoting Your Writing. The panel advises starting promoting a book at least six months before it comes out. The rule of thumb is to spend 80% of your time writing and 20% on marketing. The work does not end when you turn in the manuscript. You are your brand. Plan to attend cons, do readings at bookstores and libraries, participate in anthologies, and also use targeted Facebook and Twitter ads. Create publicity by having a newsletter, an author’s website, a mailing list, a blog, make guest posts on other blogs, and create podcasts.

Mapping the Fantastic Panel

Mapping the Fantastic was about how authors invent worlds that make spatial sense. A map is a perception. Geography dictates much about the plot of a story.

U.S.S Improvise Sketch Comedy Show

The only event at this time was held in the ballroom, where many conference goers arrived to see the sketch comedy show called U.S.S Improvise. I thought that the cast was engaging and funny. Most of their riffs were from Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was a welcome change to hearing seven panels and lectures.

Writing Alternative History Panel

The next panel described how they were Writing Alternate History. It’s important to do the research. There are many pivotal historical events, when changed for fiction lead to interesting stories.

Game of Thrones Panel

The last panel I went to on Saturday was on Game of Thrones. The moderator was unable to attend, so the audience became the panel. We debated different topics on the books and the HBO show. I was exhausted at the end of the day, so I went home after the abbreviated discussion.

Sunday: July 31, 2016

The Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 lecture

The first lecture on Sunday was on The Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 presented by Timons Esaias. The Industrial Revolution led to Iron, Steel, the Steam Engine, and the Railroad Engine. In 1851, an exhibition was planned to showcase the technology of the times. Joseph Paxton designed a huge modular greenhouse to hold the exhibit in Hyde Park in London, England. It was called the Crystal Palace. The event brought people, technology, and ideas from all over the world. In effect, the exhibition was the first World’s Fair.

Indistinguishable from Magic Panel

The next panel asked when do advanced technologies become Indistinguishable From Magic? This panel takes its premise from Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law, which states that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. In other words it was suggested that magic is technology that we do not understand yet.

Near Term Technology Panel

The panelists described what Near Term Technology is available.

Getting There Panel

The next topic was on the technology of space propulsion called Getting There. In non-manned flight laser propelled sails are being researched. The biggest change in manned flight has been the beginning of commercial means of getting to space. In the NASA approach, failure must be avoided because failure leads to review boards. Commercial flight companies are willing to fail because eventual success will pay off well. Nuclear rockets are needed now, electro propulsion should be seen in the near term, and wormhole technology is a long term option.

The Economics of Self-Publishing Panel

The last scheduled panel was on The Economics of Self-Publishing. All four of the panelists have self-published and related their experiences to the audience. Authors who self-publish must design, edit, publish, and market their work. They suggest that it is vital that the author spends money on a professional editor. Book covers sell the product, so money spent on a cover designer is necessary to promote the book. Purchase multiple ISBN codes, one for each format used such as hardcover, paperback, e-book, and audiobook.

Self-publishing is easier now because of print on demand. Self-published authors no longer must pay for a print run of books and then sell them one by one. There are two main print-on-demand formats, Ingram-spark and Createspace (An Amazon Company). I was inspired so much by the panel that I purchased a book from the panel’s moderator, Chris Kennedy. The book is called Self-Publishing for Profit. He details how he became a best-selling self-publishing author.

Wrap-up

I had a great time at the Confluence 2016 Conference. It the first conference that I have ever attended. I learned many things and was glad that I made the time to take the trip. I plan to go to the next Confluence. It is scheduled for August 4 to August 6, 2017.

Links

A similar Conference to the Confluence 2016 Conference was the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016. Winter Fiction Fest is sponsored by Literary Cleveland while the Cuyahoga County Public Library sponsors a similar event called the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016.

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Introduction

The Western Reserve Writers Conference was held on September 24, 2016, at Lyndhurst, Ohio

I attended the 33^rd annual Western Reserve Writers Conference on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a key note speaker, three breakout sessions and one Q & A panel.

The conference is sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

https://cuyahogalibrary.org/

Summary – Keynote Speaker

The day began at the large meeting room which contained chairs for over 100 attendees and the tables for the presenters’ book sale. We were first welcomed by Laurie Kincer, the librarian for the writer’s center, and Deanna R. Adams, the conference coordinator. They detailed how the conference would proceed. The conference was previously located at Lakeland Community College located in Kirtland, Ohio. This is the first year that the conference has been held at this location. The keynote speaker, John Ettorre, was introduced. He spoke about his relationship with writer and editor William Zinsser. Zinsser was a mentor of his who had passed away last year. He described how Zinsser had encouraged him and many others in the craft of writing. Zinsser’s most famous book is On Writing Well.

Summary – Organizing Your Novel

At the first breakout session, I chose to listen to Julie Anne Lindsey who commented on organizing your novel. She writes young adult novels and cozy mysteries. She said that she finds that what helps in her writing is to create outlines. That way she knows that every writing day she has one chapter to write and what that chapter will contain. I thought that it was interesting that she mentioned Stephen King’s On Writing as a great resource since he advocates writing as you feel. George R. R. Martin comments on his Not a Blog that writers are either gardeners or architects. King and Martin are certainly gardeners while I would put Lindsey as an architect. Both are valid ways to write. Every writer has their own process and it was an invaluable insight to learn Lindsey’s process.

Summary – Query Letter

I listened to Deanna R. Adams at the second breakout session. Her presentation was about how to draft a winning query letter. She showed us examples straight from her book, The Writer’s GPS. In fiction writing, the author must finish and edit the work before sending out a query letter. The query letter goes to agents and not to publishers. The agent will submit the work to publishers. The query letter is a business letter, double spaced with four sections. Those sections are the lead (a hook), the body (a synopsis), the author’s credentials, and a short conclusion. Her information was clear and to the point.

Summary – Q and A

Next was a Q & A panel with three panelists. Steve FitzGerald handed out a list of upcoming Ohio writers retreats. His meet-up group is called Island Writers club found at http://www.meetup.com/Ohio-Writers-Retreats/ Deanna R. Adams talked about perfecting your first pages. Lastly, Diane Taylor talked about the benefits of belonging to a writers group.

Summary – Les Roberts

In the last breakout session, I chose to attend Les Roberts’s talk about “Using Red Herrings in Mystery Writing.” His thesis was that every character must be a suspect. All must be in some way corrupt. The reader must be surprised on every page. The writer needs to shock the reader. He advises writers to write what they want to write since he writes the books that he wants to read. He also believes that the most important writing that a writer does is the re-write. His latest novel is Speaking of Murder, the 19^th novel in his Milan Jacovich series. His session was fun with his anecdotes and informative on his thoughts about being a writer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I was very much impressed with the content and variety that was found at this conference. I will be sure to attend next year.

Links

The Confluence 2016 Conference was a writing conference similar to the Western Reserve Writers Conference. I attended the Confluence 2016 Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016. I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to the conference that was located at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. The Parsec organization of Pittsburgh runs the conference. It is a literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I attended as many panels as I possibly could on Saturday and Sunday. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.

Confluence 2016 Conference

Ohio Readers and Writers Expo

Introduction

I attended Ohio Readers and Writers Expo on July 23, 2016, presented by Ohio Expos

This was the first year that this one-day event was held. There was a book fair and panel presentations at the Holiday Inn in Fairlawn, Ohio. I am a part of a writing group meet up sponsored by Cleveland Writers Press. Amy Joy and Marie, who are two of the organizers of this event, presented what they hoped to accomplish at this conference to our group. They were interested in creating an event where North East Ohio literary writers could showcase their work and point of view. There are not many opportunities in this area for writers to accomplish this, so they have found a good niche to develop by having this conference.

Over forty writers were available for book sales and signings. The reader’s room held eight talks and panels discussing different genres. The writer’s room held six talks and panels about different aspects of writing. There were also presentations in the writer’s room by Project Learn of Summit County, Cuyahoga County Public Library, and the Cleveland Writers Press. I spent the whole day in the writer’s room, so I will comment on what I learned there.

Summary One

The first panel was “Risk-Taking in Writing and Publishing.” What was interesting about this panel was that it featured four authors from different backgrounds. Their books were a memoir, a recipe book, poetry, and contemporary fiction.

Summary Two

Next was a presentation about “Overcoming Roadblocks to Writing Success.” The presenter had all of us in the audience introduce ourselves to each other and say one specific line. We all said, “I am a successful writer.” That exercise was great for me because it got me to think. I am a writer. Just because I have not published yet doesn’t mean that I am not a writer. If you write, you are a writer. The main thing I got out of her workshop was that it is important to set goals. Think about what your goals are and set mini-deadlines so that you can tell if you are progressing in your overall goals. She advocated the S.M.A.R.T goal setting. Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.

Summary Three

There was a lecture on “From Mind to Market: Five Steps to Bringing Your Book to Life.” He stated that everyone has a book inside of them. To do that you should set a goal, choose your topic, set a schedule, gain distribution, and market your book. Very informative.

Summary Four

“After the First Draft” was the next presentation. They handed out a nice folder titled “What’s Next” with a copy of their workshop paperwork. They did a media presentation as well. After your first draft, let the book rest and do the things you need to do to make the book successful. They suggest building your writer’s platform, build a following through social media, and create a marketing plan. Then you should edit your book and use beta readers to improve it. The best thing about the presentation was a link to writerswrite This is a writer’s blog with a large amount of useful content that I highly recommend.

Summary Five

A librarian from the Cuyahoga County Public Library introduced the new William N. Skirball Writer’s Center located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch. I have registered for three events because of this presentation. The center holds a monthly self-publishing roundtable. There are fiction writing workshops held at the center. The center will host the 33^rd annual Western Reserve Writers Conference on September 24^th. I will write another post about this conference.

Link to the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

https://cuyahogalibrary.org/

Summary Six

There were four panelists for “Writing & Publishing: Risks & Rewards.” They detailed their experiences with small press and self-publishing.

Summary Seven

The final panel was on Crime and Mystery Writing. The best quote from the panel was that a writer needs four things to write in the genre: mystery, surprise, suspense, and romance.

Summary Eight

The last talk was by the Cleveland Writers Press, the group that I am a member.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, I was pleasantly surprised by this event. All the panels were informative and the location was excellent. I hope that the organizers will hold a second Expo next year. If they do, I will certainly attend it.

Links

The Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016 was a writing conference like the Ohio Readers and Writers Expo Conference linked below.

I attended the 33^rd annual Western Reserve Writers Conference on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions and one Q & A panel.

Western Reserve Writers Conference