Ah, Norwescon, you crazy, wonderful overwhelming con. I came home without the crud! *knocks on wood*
This year the panels I attended were almost exclusively about writing. Looking at my notes I went to fifteen panels over four days. Oh. No wonder my hand is tired. I'm breaking them up into four subject areas: Worldbuilding, Motivation and Self-Care, How-to and The Business End.
Con panels are not organized teaching events. They're basically conversations between authors around a specific topic, with time for questions from the audience. Much of what was said I'd heard elsewhere, but repetition is good (for me, anyway), and.. well, they were generally very emotionally supportive this year. (List of panelists is at the end).
The notes below are not intended to be representative of the panel discussions. They are what I liked best/learned/needed the reminder about. There's no way to include all my notes and after typing them up, well, some are more useful than others. Martinis at lunch apparently impact the quality and sarcasm content of my notes.
However.
The event that impacted me the most was one in which I took no notes; a reading by Dr. Steven Barnes. He read a powerful short story that left him, me and many others teary-eyed, and then said he'd taken a chance with that marvelous story. It wasn't "his usual style." He'd decided he wanted to be an amateur writer again, one who wrote from his heart instead of to a market, and who wrote about things that mattered deeply to him. It was the most touching and emotionally generous moment in a weekend of amazingly open conversations.
It's never too late to find and explore your own voice, to speak with your own heart.
If that heart loves Sci Fi and Fantasy, you'll need to create a world. So...
World Building
Alien Communication
This panel quickly devolved into a "what is communication?" conversation: Are pheromones conversation? How about whacking someone to indicate "stop it?" Is consciousness required? The ability to lie?
And if we can't communicate with our fellow denizens on earth (bacteria to whales) how can we hope to even recognize messages from outer space?
Favorite random facts: Giraffes hum while they sleep, dolphins have 3-D action verbs without tenses, Orcas have names for each other and their languages vary between pods.
Best (if somewhat obvious) advice: Try to avoid filing numbers off an existing religion; its adherents will recognize it and come after you. (Didn't get to hear that story...)
Our view of science fiction and religion is deeply colored by the current (U.S.) competition for resources and power.
A mythos is foundational to society, a summation of underlying patterns of belief. Religion codifies rules arising from aspects of that. Mythos involves the fears and beliefs underneath all rites and rituals; does not have to match religion. Superheroes can be viewed as our demigods, tooth fairies and the Easter Bunny as sprites or lessor beings -- even if we don't believe in unicorns, they are part of our mythos.
Nations can have a mythos: Paul Bunyan, George Washington's cherry tree. Then there are the secular myths: philosophy, goals, justice, immigrant stories. Dune is a good example.
As an author, you get to decide if Gods are real! And that depends on the story you want to tell.
Do your characters know Gods exist? Do they interact/meet/worship them? Do they and their culture "interpret" the gods' messages correctly?
Evil gods: what does it take for someone to devote themselves to a god that advertises as evil? You can make anything happen but you have to create a chain of logic in which real people make those choices. Or make god a trickster. Consider Stalin and Jim Jones: Totalitarianism with two opposite goals, opposing religious views and similar outcomes. Even Jones had good intentions on the surface. (The propaganda game)
Don't spend all your time world building, but know if you tack religion on later, it'll look like it. There are a number of things that can enrich your culture: feast days, swearing (which tells you a lot about a culture by itself). Religion is rarely homogenous; there will be conservative/fundamental interpretations and looser, liberal interpretations.
Also, religion does not happen in a vacuum; economics, political power, religious institutions all inform one another.
To create a believable alien lifeforms, ask what is its inner fish? What did it evolve from? Or what might its Earth analog be?
One picks a key feature central to human psychology, takes it away or twists it to see how it will impact everything else. Or starts with a species' fears. Or contrast human / alien reactions to the same things.
"Aliens are like trying to describe a color I've never seen. I have to start with something I know, that my readers will know." Take common touchpoints, then make changes to something that is nearly unrecognizable.
Favorite aliens varied with interests: one preferred alien POV because psychology interests her. For others its the mystery of figuring out the motivation behind an alien creature, or how it works, or how to solve inherent conflicts between humans and aliens when we want opposite things/ can't communicate.
What do people screw up that bugs you? Monoculture. While he understands economies of screen and TV (sets, costumes) it still bugs him; not believable. Other peeves: Aliens with humanness taped on, or who are basically human, or all have pale skin. Or instant understanding; we really shouldn't understand aliens.
Another peeve: no range within a species, just a few outliers (usually who will interact with humans) and everyone else.
Language shapes our understanding of the world. Can signal a certain foreignness, either deliberately or not--a character's confusion over the gender of another character in Ancillary Justice makes it clear how different gender is in that society. Worst case is the use of some normal noun with a "special modifier" Every. Single. Time. It's. Used. (enzyme-bonded concrete).
Read more anthropology and science.
Uh... lots of really in-depth information about the human immune system in all its acquired immunity, primary immuno-deficiency, innate systemic immunity, acquired immunity, adapted humeral system, and cell-mediated immunity glory. Wasn't prepared for a series of short biochemistry of biology discussions and took notes I don't trust.
Re-learned bunches, though. I had somehow forgotten the difference between inoculation and immunization: Immunization uses a dead/weakened virus that triggers your own antibodies; inoculation provides antibodies somebody else created when you're already sick. Inoculation was used to fight Ebola; they took blood from people who had survived and injected that blood/antibodies from it directly into ill children.
Motivation and self-care
Patterns was a very real, very honest panel that felt incredibly helpful. It started with what authors used as rituals of productivity: Tea. Coffee. Setting the laptop or desk up "just so." The right pen.
Rapidly it shifted to self-care via "failure" stories. One of the panelists was struggling years ago and asked a well-known author for advice, and the man looked at him sadly and said, "Maybe right now isn't your time," which pissed him off -- but the author was right. He needed to take care of his multitude of life roll/family issues first.
Another destroyed her wrist writing longhand with no breaks for hours -- the week before Clarion, which she then had to attend with one working hand.
So, self-care. The Overnight Success Panel quickly shifted to this as well, so this is combined info.
Writing is an incredibly idiosyncratic business. Know what you need, what trips you up, what gets in your way and what fuels you. Know how YOU get in your own way. Figure out ways to work around and cope with those things. Steal ideas from other authors and play with your process. There is NOT "one right way." There is a way that works for you, and while it may change over time (or with each book) you're the only one who can find it.
Things they've tried that work for them:
Structure, block out and jealously guard writing time.
Also block in real-life needs/family and friend time, because you are human and you want to stay that way.
Honor and celebrate all the little milestones because there is no finish line.
Recognize that brainstorming and back-brain work while doing laundry/dishes/walking is also essential writing work.
Occasionally push beyond your comfort zone, shake up things that aren't working or that have become too routine to be helpful.
Create a clear understanding of exactly what you want to do: Not "sit and write" but "craft the scene in which the protag and villain first meet, which should set up the conflict between them" or "incorporate plot points x, y and z into that scene and add world building."
Ignore the trappings of "author" and just write. (story about not feeling he could write until he had a study, the right desk, the right accessories... and then going to Dickens' house in England and seeing the Master's writing desk was essentially a TV tray on wheels.
Habitica.com (turns creating healthy/good habits into a game). Other online tools.
Know when writing/routines are hurting you. (caffeine overload, obsession with "just one more chapter" to avoid real life, discipline past usefulness (ruining good writing with over revision), physical pain.
Remember to appreciate and celebrate the small steps. There is no "made it." You will never run out of problems, just graduate to a different set (GRR Martin's "take the money and run away from the fame" Sasquan quote)
Set incremental goals. Revel when you reach them. (Being a panelist at NWSCon. Holding a book with your name on the cover for the first time. Having a booth at Emerald City Comic Con. Not being THE flaky artist at an event.)
Avoid the perfection trap, recognize your work is as good as you can get it "right now."
Look at people who are where you want to be and what they're doing right that will/could work for you, mistakes they're making that you can avoid. (Write that sequel).
How-to
There are different kind of slumps but we all have them: lack of interest in story, which generally means there's something wrong with pacing; you've written self into a corner and can't find a way out; lack of enthusiasm for writing in general/this novel in particular; no one loves me and the world sucks; and the ubiquitous: this novel sucks and I'm going to throw it away.
Distance yourself from the work and remind yourself why you wrote it in the first place.
Remember that even NK Jemison almost threw The Fifth Season into the trash at the middle point. Because this is so common, in the middle of your work, YOUR VOTE DOES NOT COUNT. Shut up and write.
Things people have done that helped:
- Go write a different scene.
- Bribe yourself to keep going.
- Figure out whether it's angst or unfixable, or bring analytical skills in and make lists to push self out of emotional state.
- Try a change in venue, or writing with others instead of alone.
- Keep fan mail and read it. (Do this anyway)
- Go on vacation.
- Shift to longhand.
- Read it out loud.
- Give it to someone else to read.
- Push on through, write 100 words a day. Keep goals low so you're not practicing failure. (Write or Die or Write or Kittens websites).
Some people hide word count, others are motivated by it and force themselves to stop at a particular number so they've "done their work for the day" and can do other things guilt-free; some can't imagine walking away from an unfinished scene, others prefer to stop mid-scene because it gives them an obvious starting point. Some re-read and edit previous days; others never re-read.
You learn what works for YOU, and what works might vary depending on the kind of slump you encounter.
Whatever you do, practice writing. Every business understands value of practice except this one. "I've written four words where is my glory?" Your first million words are practice.
Outlining helps some writers prevent mid-point slumps because they always know what scene they're writing next; they know whether they are going and that keeps them moving. Doesn't help others.
Which segues us nicely into:
Look, the second book is the hardest -- you had years to perfect book one; your editor will give you nine months to finish book two. Outlines can help you meet that deadline. Tie-ins will also require an outline just to sell it. A novel takes longer to fail; an outline helps you see when it might.
Some of the most meaningful work happens in outline because that's where all the decisions happen. Several considered an outline to be their first draft. An outline creates the line drawing; drafting is coloring in the lines (and occasionally outside them). Less rewriting for some, same amount for others.
Authors on the panel varied on when they created outline; some were reformed pantzers who outlined as a first draft (JA writes a 60-page outline before writing a word); others had to get into character and world before they stopped to create an outline. CCM writes about 30K and then says, okay, where is this going? She was surprised to discover she could in fact write from an outline.
Raven said an outline meant she had no writer's block -- any excuses for writing were her, not the novel.
One will write a draft, then outline a subplot and divide it among the chapters so she reaches her word count.
Mr. 60-page outline also creates a spreadsheet with plotline, characters, POV, points of plot. Allows him to see problems like "character A shows up on page 2 and page 250... so why are they in the book at all?"
Some are linear, others write candy bar scenes when stuck.
One author started writing before Scrivener et al. so she uses the archaic form, 3x5 cards that are color coded. She's visual, so laying those out on the wall/floor is helpful for her. She writes a two page synopsis, or grocery list. A short story to explore the concepts and world. Then she decides if it will be a 3 or 5 act novel; and develops five points within each act. Single scene line for each point; I know that'll be 3-5 K each.
Pitts makes a word processing document with two columns; starts plugging scenes in as they occur to him, over the course of a few days/weeks. He knows (for his process) he'll need 65-72 scenes; each at 1-1500 words. Then he creates a spreadsheet: scenes across the top/column headings and characters, major plotlines, minor plotlines in the rows. He looks through and decides what he's missing. "After that it rarely takes more more than six weeks to draft. I already know how it's going to end."
Raven does what he does except in Scrivener and Aeon.
What about shiny new ideas? Varied options.
1. If it interests you, put it in now. Don't wait. (Some people can't read Tim Powers because his books are so complicated and full of everything that caught his attention while he was drafting).
2. If it distracts you, note it for later. Stick with current outline.
You will write and rewrite at least four times .. most of the magic happens in rewrite. That's where you level up as an author. If you cannot write without being surprised, you're going to have a hard time.
Several panelists had no intention to ever write a series. An editor asked for one; another had an idea after first was published for the logical scene that follows the first book and had to write the next.
One author lays everything down in advance. She had planned one of her series for 20 years, because she wanted complicated twists that utterly revise the characters/readers opinions of everything that had come before, and she wanted that much world building; a richly developed universe. That was before the current publishing changes, she's seven novels in, and now she's stuck. Worldbuild faster.
She uses pen-and-paper techniques, timeline and arcs on a whiteboard/sheet of paper, scene cards. Character bible that has the walk on scene and description of each character and character's exit from series.
Everybody else said to use the extensive spreadsheets or paper process (above) of two of the authors because they had no system. One just uses her published, named chapters.
POV: some prefer multiple pov, small number of people, but insist villain's POV be included, because nobody is a villain in their own mind and the justifications are fascinating. One did four-book series where each book is from a different POV.
Dialog is where so much happens -- characters bounce off each other, personality is displayed, charact are developed. Dialog needs to move plot, characters, action forward. Look at theater; read plays. Normal dialog doesn't respond directly to what someone else is saying; listen to people in bars, in restaurants. They talk past each other.
One had an assignment where they had to take a 45-page stage script and write down every single intent, purpose and implied desire in each line of dialogue. Try it. It's exhausting but very illuminating.
Cut. People don't talk in paragraphs. If you're trying to remember how quotes work when you hit the return key you've already written too much.
Consider registers of discourse -- we talk differently to our bosses than we do to our children, our friends or our lovers.
To distinguish voices: different patterns of speech, different kinds of metaphos, level of grammar, dialect and formality (both can be overdone), sparing use of identifying phrases or swear words, word choice.
Follow one person all the way through a manuscript in revision to ensure the voice is consistent (although a deliberate change in word choice can display a character change).
Author possession of a character is very awkward -- don't puppet your characters to info-dump or soapbox.
Know your characters: the more you know them, the easier and faster the dialogue flows.
Panelist: I'm a really nice person, and fantasy lets me say and do things I would never say and do. (It lets us explore our fears and extrapolate trends we fear/find negative)
When we read active verbs, our brains light up in those regions as if we were doing them. So fantasy really allows us to experience different live and different worlds; alternative lives and the full spectrum of human experience (good to evil?)
How do you make sure it matters? "I don't know until I've written it. I don't try to write with a deeper purpose; I use small traumatic personal events to show larger overarching issues." Even if you're writing about Abstract Grand Evil, (personified, say, via Voldemort and Sauron) you show it through Smeagol and Umbrage.
If you start with a theme and try to beat it into a story it will feel heavy handed.
All characters, including villains, have defensible intentions. Characters are people first and archetypes (rogue, miser) second; that way they matter to readers. They have to have motivations and choices readers can relate to even when they are fucked up. People are complex. Favorite villain is Cardinal Richeleau from 3 Musketeers; he *knows* he's doing the wrong thing but he believes it is for the right reasons.
The Business End
Writing It Again (requested changes)
Referenced Jay Lake's "Draft, Drawer, Drag out and Do-Over," AND Heinlein's "Never revise except in response to an editor's request."
Various forms of heartbreak: the editor Brenda desperately wanted to sell to asking her "why did you never send those BACK to me?" when she'd interpreted his "good luck selling this elsewhere" as a final no; the editor in New York who destroyed a novel and a career by gutting a book. Unwritten rule is you're allowed one "gimme," or editor-writer marriage that doesn't work out, before you're looked upon as a problematic writer.
Just as problematic is the editor who has no time to edit, "if the first thing you get back from New York is your copyedits you've got a problem" because the book has not been really edited. One author had better edits from a proofreader than from an editor on a recent book. You should get, post-contract, an editorial letter with any substantive changes, then after you send that in, copy edits and then proofs. Agents have been trying to take on that role; be careful.
Once you have a good editor, however, magazine or house, you'll want to give them first shot at your work because that's a relationship, and you want to feed it.
Don't be afraid to negotiate if they identify a solution you don't want to use... figure out what the PROBLEM is and offer an alternative solution.
Beta readers, crit group invaluable; remember to pick and choose feedback. Pick people who don't read your genre as well as those who do.
This was with the DAW editors and a small press/magazine.
Pitches belong in Hollywood. Unless you're CJ Cherryh (who they have represented for years) send a cover letter and a manuscript/whatever the submission guidelines request.
FINISH THE BOOK FIRST.
Take the time to figure out what the house represents and doesn't, and don't waste their time or yours.
Look at your fav books (published in the last 10 years.) What captured you in the first 10 pages?
Remember a publisher is a business that needs to create a product.
No inappropriate jokes/comments in cover letter. It's business communication, keep it professional. Letter is kind of irrelevant for a debut author anyway. Nobody pays any real attention to it (unless you creep them out); they need to see your work.
The field is crowded. There are more books out there than they can possibly read. Make sure that first page, and the following nine, are the best they can be; riveting, etc.
If you're bad at synopsis, be brief. Try writing a paragraph for each quarter of the book, or each act.
For short stories; start in media res. Most of the time you can cut the first three pages. Know where your story actually begins.
It's half timing and half persistence/perseverance. Learn to deal with constant and sometimes vicious rejection, some of which will be from your own perfectionist ideas.
Own your work, good and bad.
Be clear about your boundaries with yourself and others in your life up front (i.e., family never mentioned by name; certain aspects of personal life never mentioned online).
Social networking, Twitter. When commenting link back or simply sign with your blogging name. Make sure your boilerplate info is on each platform so people can find you on other platforms. Make sure you have metadata on your sites so Google and Bing can find you. You don't want your website to come up on page 2 of a search (and don't use your personal computer to check).
Retweet a lot, rather than pushing your own opinions and work all the time (help others get noticed).
If you're alone in your own niche, "release hella shit" to inspire others to do more in a similar vein/participate.
Don't forget fan service. Patreon is a good platform.
Final thoughts
Ideas are easy, Execution is hard.
Drafting notes that work [insert color of British doorknobs from 1942]
Drafting notes that don't [a miracle occurs here that resolves this plot problem]
Writers are paid to be manipulative liars.
Science Fiction is the literature of novelty; Fantasy is the literature of tradition.
Panelists
(In muddled order. please ignore the punctuation and any duplication/omissions).
Dr. Misty Marshall (GOH). Tanya Huff (GOH; several series and a trilogy committed by accident). Sheila Gilbert & Betsy Wollheim, co-owners of DAW.
Lawrence Schoen, Arthur Bozlee, Patricia MacEwen, Caroline Yoachim, Nichole Dicker, Caroline Pate, Dean Wells, Dr. Ricky, Gregory Gadow, Gregory A Wilson.
Dave Barra (Lightship Chronicles); Annie Bellet (on her 7th book?); Jenny Wurtz (Wars of Light and Shadow); S.A. Bolich (several series). Carol Berg, fifteen epic novels in five series; Frog Jones, 3 Unwise Men podcast.
Catherine Cooke Montrose, John J.A. Pitts, Django Wexler, Rhiannon Held, Jennifer Brozak, Phoebe Kitanidis. Brenda Cooper, Brenda Carre, Randy Henderson, Peter Orullian, Elizabeth Guizzetti, Cat Rambo, Spencer Ellsworth.
Jonny Nero Action Hero, Shubzilla, Dara Korra'ti, Jen K., Tori Centanni, Raven Oak. Luna Lindsey, Lillian Zerka (unofficial panelist the moderator invited), Jason Bourget, Jake McKinzie.
