SteamCon, 2011

Some panel ideas, which any convention organizer is welcome to grab.

(Writing) Making the Transition from Short Story to Novel
What are the pitfalls and what should the writer know before starting? Is it easier to do it in reverse and go from novel to short story? What’s similar and what’s different? Does it help to think of chapters as mini-stories?

(This seems to me to be harder than anyone acknowledges it to be, and I know there’s several basics I wish I’d known before I’d begun blindly floundering in the much deeper waters of a novel. I’m also pretty sure this is not a new idea for a panel, but I haven’t seen it at recent cons I’ve been at.)

(Editing or Publishing) The Architecture of the Country of the Blind
Reading blind, so you see just the story and not the name of the author with its info about gender, is something many editors and publishers agree is a good idea. What are the practical aspects of setting up such a system? What do you do if editors or slush readers recognize the story? Is it true you can tell gender by how someone writes? What about the fact that such a system removes the “name recognition” that some widely published authors hold?

(Let’s just start with the assumption it’s a good idea for once. For the love of Pete. Thx.)

(Writing) What the F*** is Flash Fiction?
Some people say flash fiction has a minimum length, such as 1000, 500, even 250 words, while others say Hemingway’s famous “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.” is a complete story. Who’s right? Where does prose poetry fit? Why are flash magazines so popular and what are the ones doing interesting things in the field? Who are the flash authors to watch out for?

(Flash seems like such a great place for new writers to start. They can get stuff out there and in circulation while the magazines constantly need new stuff. At the same time, there’s some great writing happening in this area. I’m teaching a flash fiction workshop called Sudden Fiction this Saturday at Bellevue College, so obviously I’ve got strong opinions about some things mentioned above.)

I’m headed to LoneStarCon3 at the end of August and here’s some of what I’m looking forward to:

• Participating in a couple of group readings
• The chance to pick up my copy of Beyond the Sun from Bryan Thomas Schmidt
• The Glitter and Mayhem party. I want to do something worthy of it, so I’ve decided to add a couple more colors to my usual pink (explained in The Pink Hair Manifesto) just for WorldCon and let YOU decide the color. Just vote in the comments. The top three colors will get at least a streak’s worth of hair. If you are supporting me in the Clarion West Write-a-thon, even by just a dollar (which also gets you a bonus stack of fine fiction), your vote counts ten times as much. Everyone who votes gets entered to win a copy of the book or a piece of the Near + Far jewelry.

Here’s your options, all Manic Panic colors:

After Midnight
Atomic Turquoise (currently at 4 votes)
Bad Boy Blue
Blue Moon (currently at 10 votes)
Electric Amethyst
Electric Banana
Electric Lava
Electric Lizard (currently at 1 vote)
Electric Tiger Lily (currently at 1.5 votes)
Enchanted Forest
Fuchsia Shock
Green Envy
Infra Red (currently at 10 votes)
Lie Locks
Mystic Heather (currently at 21 votes)
New Rose
Pillarbox Red
Pretty Flamingo (currently at .5 votes)
Psychedelic Sunset
Purple Haze (currently at 31 votes)
Raven
Red Passion
Rockabilly Blue
Rock and Roll Red
Shocking Blue (currently at .5 votes)
Sunshine
Ultra Violet
Vampire Red
Vampire’s Kiss
Venus Envy
Violet Knight (currently at .5 votes)
Voodoo Blue (currently at 12 votes)
Wildfire (currently at 1.5 votes)