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prusikReadercon was fun as always. Spent with the people that I look always look forward to. e.g., malkingrey, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jenwrites, hysteresismonky, stealthmuffin. (This is not an exhaustive list. This is what comes to me off the top of my head.)
Met a bunch of people that I'm glad I met. In particular, I had lots of fun doing improv with Vylar Kaftan at the Improv for Writers workshop. Ellen Klages had dislocated both her knees and so couldn't do very much physical work. Vylar and I were apparently two of the very few that had actual improv experience going into the workshop. I got a chance to tell her how much I loved "Break the Vessel" which, coincidentally, was this week's PseudoPod story and had heard several hours before the workshop. (As it turns out, I didn't learn a whole lot about improv informs my fiction that I didn't already know going in. Doing improv is always fun though.)
I ended up doing a lot of the workshops this Readercon. The acting for writers workshop ended up very lecture-oriented which I think is a missed opportunity. However, it was really in a room too small for the number of people interested. Good acting is quite physical, even when it doesn't look like it. There just wasn't the room for it. ("Speech is an action." My college acting prof drilled that into my head. Everyone makes speech their first resort. Like any other action though, you speak when it's absolutely necessary. You speak because you must, just like any other action.)
Mary Robinette Kowal did an awesome workshop on readings that could have used the extra half hour she asked for, but didn't get. Her talk on "Puppetry and SF" pointed out how the two fields have the same issues of public misunderstanding and denigration and how SF can learn from where puppetry has succeeded. I also finally got to see the Campbell tiara in person. Good for her for wearing it around Readercon.
The private writers' workshop was really useful. I'm still parsing the feedback. It's clear that not everyone has the same ideas about where my story should go that I do. However, finding out what story I actually put on paper is always a good thing. After the workshop,stealthmuffin generously read through my story and gave me some feedback. That was also extremely helpful.
(stealthmuffin also asked if I'd be interested in auditioning for BRAWL if they happen to have an opening. Well, of course I'd be!)
Anyway, this is the first story I've written where "OMG, if I can make this story work, [Name of market] would love it" doesn't feel like an idle wish. This is the first time it's felt plausible. (Amusingly,stealthmuffin also came up with Strange Horizons and Fantasy. In addition, she suggested Clarkesworld.) Now I just have to make the story work. (Based on all the feedback I've received, I don't think I'm too far off.)
[Edited to fix links.]
malkingrey, jenwrites, hysteresismonky, stealthmuffin. (This is not an exhaustive list. This is what comes to me off the top of my head.) Met a bunch of people that I'm glad I met. In particular, I had lots of fun doing improv with Vylar Kaftan at the Improv for Writers workshop. Ellen Klages had dislocated both her knees and so couldn't do very much physical work. Vylar and I were apparently two of the very few that had actual improv experience going into the workshop. I got a chance to tell her how much I loved "Break the Vessel" which, coincidentally, was this week's PseudoPod story and had heard several hours before the workshop. (As it turns out, I didn't learn a whole lot about improv informs my fiction that I didn't already know going in. Doing improv is always fun though.)
I ended up doing a lot of the workshops this Readercon. The acting for writers workshop ended up very lecture-oriented which I think is a missed opportunity. However, it was really in a room too small for the number of people interested. Good acting is quite physical, even when it doesn't look like it. There just wasn't the room for it. ("Speech is an action." My college acting prof drilled that into my head. Everyone makes speech their first resort. Like any other action though, you speak when it's absolutely necessary. You speak because you must, just like any other action.)
Mary Robinette Kowal did an awesome workshop on readings that could have used the extra half hour she asked for, but didn't get. Her talk on "Puppetry and SF" pointed out how the two fields have the same issues of public misunderstanding and denigration and how SF can learn from where puppetry has succeeded. I also finally got to see the Campbell tiara in person. Good for her for wearing it around Readercon.
The private writers' workshop was really useful. I'm still parsing the feedback. It's clear that not everyone has the same ideas about where my story should go that I do. However, finding out what story I actually put on paper is always a good thing. After the workshop,
stealthmuffin generously read through my story and gave me some feedback. That was also extremely helpful.(
stealthmuffin also asked if I'd be interested in auditioning for BRAWL if they happen to have an opening. Well, of course I'd be!)Anyway, this is the first story I've written where "OMG, if I can make this story work, [Name of market] would love it" doesn't feel like an idle wish. This is the first time it's felt plausible. (Amusingly,
stealthmuffin also came up with Strange Horizons and Fantasy. In addition, she suggested Clarkesworld.) Now I just have to make the story work. (Based on all the feedback I've received, I don't think I'm too far off.)[Edited to fix links.]
