Writpub Talk Descriptions (in numeric order) (count 78)

A look at what's coming from Bantam/Spectra in the coming months.

A look at what's ahead from Ace/Roc.

Me, I read e-mail. What do you do? How do you get yourself back to writing?

SF and fantasy often uses insults from present culture instead of dreaming up new and inventive ways to cast scorn upon others. Our panel will discuss a variety of new insults for general use in space-faring societies and fantasy environments. Audience participation invited. Anyone who doesn't show up is a ground pounder full of space gas!

Authors are presented with a character description for a well-known character, the setting of a (different) famous work, and a brief plot description of still another work. Without knowing their sources, they create and tell a story on the fly. After the sources are revealed, the audience votes on who did best. (Think Frodo in a tale set in 1920s New York about a young wizard-in-training who must compete in a great competition of wizards, only to be captured by his arch-nemesis... )

How to manage your life as a writer.

The current legal opinions on who owns what and how, relating to books, art, films, television, and the internet.

Some readers (and writers) seem to be all about the characters. Others are only interested in the details of the plot. Can you write for both audiences? Should you?

Young Adult writers report that it's hard to get respect from some of their peers, even though Y.A. is the doorway for many young adults into other SF and fantasy novels. Given the authors who've produced Y.A. (like Heinlein and Andre Norton) and the quality of much Y.A. produced, why doesn't it get more respect?

There's little that's more annoying then to be reading a good SF story and to come across an alien that's either `just a guy in a suit' or too far from what evolution and the laws of physics would allow to be believed. So what does it take to create a believable alien?

Everyone knows the hero/heroines journey, the basis for nearly everything written in fantasy fiction. But what about other archetypes? The Tarot has 22 in all. How do these other archetypes reflect in fiction? Forget the hero/heroine, let's talk about death, the empress, the hanged one, the universe, the priestess, the fool...

We write about alien civilizations, but there are cultures we don't know about among us. One of the ways to write alien cultures is to talk to people in cultures outside that are alien to us.

Often the difference between an amateur writer and a professional is that the pro knows how to rewrite and the amateur thinks he got it right the first time.

Drama is about conflict. With military stories, conflict and tension are pretty much automatic. But are there any rules? What do you have to get right? What liberties can you take? And if it's the future and maybe alien races, can't the military structure be different?

Hear about what science fiction and fantasy novels Warner Books has in store for the future.

What makes an unsolicited manuscript catch an editor's eye? Magazine editors discuss what they're looking for, what they see too much of, and the do's and don'ts for genre short story writers and poets.

Novels seem to always pits good versus evil, the hero/heroine (who must do battle, sacrifice endlessly, travel to the ends of the earth to save the world) and the evil protagonist. Sounds simple. But how do you define what is truly evil? And are your characters black and white or many shades of gray? How bad is the bad guy? Is evil marked by character, action, the enormity of destruction, the totality of deceit, or is it possible that evil is in the perception?

Going from amateur to professional is a big step. How do you get started? Should you write every day, whether the muse strikes or not? What mistakes shouldn't you make? Writers who have recently broken in will give you their advice today. Editors and others will advise in Part II on Friday.

What sort of rights are associated with a literary work? What sort of choices is your publisher making for you? Your editor? Your agent? How much control can you maintain over your work?

Once a book is published, how does it end up in your hands? And how has that pathway been changing over the last two decades?

You don't have the money to take out ads in "Publishers Weekly" or "Time Magazine". What do you do to build "brand value"? How do you promote yourself without turning off your audience? How do you get more sales? How can you connect with your fledgling fan base?

The Novel, Novella, Short Story, etc. Is one just longer than the other or are they really different? And what about screenplays?

Is there a market for science fiction and fantasy via podcast? Is there even an audience? Can you make money directly or is it just a way to get your material known? If you're a reader/consumer, is this a good way to find science fiction and just how do you find what you want?

Science fiction and fantasy publisher DAW Books has a lot in store in the coming months. See and hear what they have in store.

Even some of the most prominent writers don't make enough from their writing to give up their day jobs. What compromises do you have to make to make it work?

How have computers and the Internet effected publishing? The editors, publishers, and writers of books and magazines available via the Internet talk about the paperless revolution.

From small press to major publishing houses, science fiction is a popular place to be. What's it take to know the field and to get your books into the stores?

It used to be easy. This book was in that genre; this book was in this other genre. Now the lines aren't so clear. There seems to be a boom in romance novels and stories involving the paranormal, fantasy, and SF. Why is this area booming? Are romance readers looking for more? Or are the SF fans looking for romance? Or are the readers coming equally from all camps? And what does it take to make one of these work? Hear all about it from some of the people writing them.

How do collaborators work together? Is collaboration for everyone? Novelists, comic book writers, and TV writers discuss their own experiences.

Writing is hard. There's lots of work, lots of thought that goes into every sentence. But no matter how good your story is, how compelling your characters are, if your ending falls flat, so does everything else. How do you make your ending work?

What is it? Is there a market for it? How do you start?

Over the years, "Analog" editor Stanley Schmidt has discovered that there are a lot of common misconceptions about just what makes a story an "Analog" story. Along with several of the magazine's regular contributors, Schmidt will share his views of just what it is they're trying to do, how it isn't all rivets and getting the science right

Does it take special training or knowledge to write books and stories for children and young adults? Are they different from adult works in any way, other than vocabulary? How do you break in? And if you write for kids, is it hard to also write for adults?

Going from amateur to professional writer is a big step. How do you get started? In Part I, new writers gave you their advice. Today in Part II, editors and established writers give you theirs. Compare these expert's answers with those of Thursday's panel.

Panelists discuss what it takes to give a good press interview or anything involving promotion of your own works and activities.

Why Teens should start writing now, scams and rip offs to avoid, and how to get into the writing and publishing business.

You spend time crafting characters, thinking about who they are, what they want, what they care about. You tell stories about them, lovingly crafted. Now it's time for them to die. How do you do it? And what can happen if you do.

Editors share their "favorite" stories of manuscripts that were a triumph of hope over talent.

Can you survive as a writer just writing short fiction? How do you know if an idea is right for a short story or should it be a novel? Or something in between? Are there real differences between short stories, novelettes, and novellas other than length?

Diana Gill and Eos authors talk about upcoming Eos books for Fall '06 and Winter '07, with signed giveaways and more.

There's a time and place for everything. Or is there? Does humor have a place in modern fiction? Can there ever be too much?

Life and living with a professional writer or artist.

One of science fiction's newest major publishers give a look at their future publications. Meet our authors.

It's 40th anniversary won't be until next year but in this, it's 40th year, the entire staff of Locus , perhaps the most influential publication in science fiction, gathers together to tell stories, answer questions, and hear what you think.

An interactive workshop on creating cultures for your work and worlds.

Some of science fiction's best poets read selections of their works.

Are they even worthwhile? People who have taught at Writing Workshops and others who have taken them discuss the benefits and pitfalls of these writing roundtables.

There used to be pulp magazines by the score publishing science fiction and fantasy, later to be supplanted by "prozines" and slick magazines. But there are fewer and fewer now. Or are there? Are the magazines surviving? Are the moving over to the internet? Or are the publications there a whole 'nother thing?

The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to be believable. Panelists discuss things which really happened but which they could not use in their writing because no one would believe they'd actually occur.

Most of us have little idea of exactly what an editor at a publishing company does. And we have no idea what an assistant editor does. Some editors and assistant editors fill us in on their place in the process.

So you've sold a couple things. Now what? How do you keep up your motivation, overcome writer's block, and reach your next goal? And what should that goal be? How do you maintain your momentum?

Inside you there's a hundred stories, crying to get out. Characters who need to be brought to life. But you still need to eat and pay the rent. What do you have to know and do (besides how to write).

Why are some people good at writing novels but not short stories? What does it take for an idea to be `novel length'? Are short stories just like novels only you finish sooner?

An exploration of minorities in Science Fiction, both the writers and their characters.

What do you need to know? Where do you find authors and artists? What niche do your books fill? Do you need a million bucks or will a couple hundred do? How do you get what you publish into stores?

the editors at Tor Books give a preview to what's coming in the months ahead.

Paying so-called agents a fee to represent them? Calling agents and editors every day to see how they like their novel? That ain't the half of it. Come hear established writers and editors give you a heads up on things you should know better than.

How to break out of that most dreaded prison of creativity: writer's block. Having trouble finishing things? Ego not getting enough strokes? Our panelists will tell you what's worked for them.

Come and hear stories about edits which went above and beyond clarity and reason. Writers discuss different editing styles they've encountered and talk about some of the good and bad experiences they've had with editors (names will be changed to protect the innocent).

Many science fiction stories have a military background. Heinlein, Dickson, Pournelle, and many others have used space-faring soldiers as the centers of their stories. But how would those tactics work in "real life"? Who gets it right? What should be done better?

We're all people so we really can't think like an alien or a demon or an anthropomorphic dog. So what do we do to make non-human characters real without making them just seem weird? How do we bring them to life?

What sort of actions and environments are most conducive to getting and staying productive? How do you tell being blocked from being too tired?

Why is the SF backlist disappearing? What does this mean to authors? To booksellers?

What can you do to help push your new book? Get your friends to turn the book "cover out" in bookstores? Get your face in Locus ? Do booksignings at Bookstar help? Will any of it do any good?

Is there such a thing as "hard" fantasy, like "hard" science fiction? Is it just a matter of research or better world building? What does it take to make a fantasy "hardcore"? Who's writing hard fantasy, what is it, and how does it work?

Many science fiction magazines include non-fiction pieces about science fiction. There are books galore that talk about the field or about individual authors. How do you write non-fiction about science fiction? How do you get into the market? Just what is the market and how do you pitch pieces?

An intimate chat with one of the field's top authors.

What's ahead from this top publisher of science fiction and fantasy.

Do editors publish what the readers want to buy or does the field reflect the editors' tastes?

No, he didn't write any but he influenced a lot. Writers talk about how Shakespeare's work influence them and their writing.

What makes a book great? Where does the editor's input begin? Where does it end? When does the author have to assert his/her creative authority? Are the relationships between editor and author today like they were years ago?

The trick to "getting it right" is doing research. Experienced researchers and writers will tell you the secrets to good research.

You can't just wave your wand and do whatever you want. Fiction that features magic as an intrinsic part of the world requires rule-setting and interweaving culture, religion, "science," and law. What are the challenges and opportunities in building a functional magical world?

Military SF is a common term for novels featuring lots of combat, but you rarely hear the term military fantasy even though works like the Lord Of The Rings feature a huge amount of fighting between individuals and armies. Why does SF dealing with war get consigned to a sub-genre while fantasies that include war are regarded as just part of mainstream fantasy writing?

Just what is it an editor does all day? Read manuscripts? Take Stephen King out to lunch? Plot nefarious plots?

Does where you write matter? How about whether or not you face a window? Authors will talk about how they set up their writing spaces -- a separate office, the living room couch, the dining room table? -- what's in the room, what they listen to, and what they wear (if they wear anything at all).

See what's coming up from Baen Books.

You've come up with the idea, worked out the story. Maybe you've written the entire novel. Just one thing left to do. Sell it. There's little harder than writing that synopsis. How long should it be? How hard should you sell? Just what will it take to get that agent, that editor, to want to read your work or to offer you a contract to write it?