Orycon report
Nov. 19th, 2010 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deborahjrossOne of the pleasures of Orycon is visiting friends who live in Portland. This year was no exception. Before the con itself, Mary Rosenblum took me up in her little plane. I'd never flown in a small craft before. We flew up the Columbia River Gorge and it was awesomely beautiful. I kept thinking, "Is this what it's like to ride a dragon?" and other fantasy-writerly thoughts.
My first event was the Writers Workshop. Orycon does this right. Carole Cole, the Workshop Coordinator, guided me to the right room, treated me like royalty, and presented me with chocolates. What more could a critiquer ask? Our group was 2 pros (me and Keffy Kehrli, who is an articulate and perceptive critiquer) and two participants, which meant every story got as much time and careful attention as it needed.
One thing the programming people did not get exactly right was to email "final" schedules and then add panels -- without telling the panelists when they checked in. I don't mind a heavy schedule, but I like to think about the topics beforehand. In my blissful trust, I came prepared to discuss (and moderate) the topics I had been previously notified of. Fortunately, (a) I checked the schedule in the pocket program and had sufficient time to make it to my first, previously unsuspected panel; (b) it was a topic I had something intelligent to say about; ( c) I have mastered the art of moderating any panel independent of subject matter -- focus on group process, listen carefully, keep the conversation moving, and when in doubt, ask for questions or start talking about sex.
My first panel was "The Physics of Magic," with Devon Monk and Mary Robinette Kowal. Conventionally, magic violates the laws of physics and has a cost -- in energy, time, etc. We disposed of those observations and went on. Mary talked about her new novel, Shades of Milk and Honey (concept: Jane Austen with magic, but magic that feels culturally exactly right for that time). It seems to me that physics has much of the wonderful and mysterious. Well-crafted magic, like physics, is lawful, even when our characters don't understand all the rules. I got to burble about the Hawking Effect (how black holes evaporate, when not even light can escape -- I had just read an explanation and was so stoked -- physics is amazing!)
In search of a dinner companion, I introduced myself to Andrea Howe, a freelance editor (her company is Blue Falcon Editing). She's been organizing charity work with the Seattle Browncoats ("Firefly" fans) and I donated copies of the first two Lace and Blade anthologies for their auction to benefit victims of domestic violence. Here's their website: http://www.sbcharities.org/
Despite my best intentions, I rarely make it to Opening Ceremonies, but this year was an exception. Said ceremonies were preceded by the Sue Petrey Auction for Clarion West scholarships. One of the items being auctioned was a 2-hour flight in Mary Rosenblum's airplane, so I got to provide a testimonial of its awesomeness. Then came a skit along the lines of "Alice in Orycon-land," with many in-jokes about volunteers and much light-heartedness.
I truly intended to attend the Art Show Reception, but could not resist actually listening to a panel: "Writing Quality Work for Young Adults" with Nina Kiriki Hoffman, always one of my favorite people, Canadian YA writer Laurel Anne Hill, and Editor GoH Sharyn November, who is the Editorial Director of the "Firebird" line at Viking. The old categories of middle-school, YA, adult are changing so that you have a 12-and-up market and a 14-and-up market, the primary difference being sex. I was most struck by the observation that other than the age of the protagonists, there is no substantive difference between adult and YA/middle-school stories. Good writing, strong characters, dynamic plots -- all the essentials are the same. Everyone agreed how important it is to not condescend to your readers.
Then to decompress and sleep. Well, try to. After specifically requesting NON-party floor in my reservation, I ended up on the party floor between the Hospitality Suite and the rest of the parties. Since this didn't become apparent until my room mate was asleep, I turned on the fan for white noise, inserted my ear plugs, and dealt. It turned out to be convenient to be able to bop next door for a snack, Continental breakfast, or fresh milk for my tea, so I can't grumble too much.
Saturday hit the ground running with a SFWA business meeting, most of which I should not comment on. However, the 2011 Nebula Awards weekend will be in Washington DC and the hotel rate is only $125/night, a phenomenal bargain. I've been to a few of these and always found them professionally productive and entertaining.
I had lunch with two delightful Darkover fans and ended all charged up about the book I'm working on. Through the blessings of netbook technology, I wrote about 20 pages over the week I was gone, and am feeling rather happy with myself.
I returned to my previously established schedule with "Women Role Models in Science Fiction" with Mary Robinette Kowal, Steve Perry, and Stoney Compton. By this time, Mary and I had gotten to know each other's panelist style and Steve Perry and I have been on panels together over the years, so we had a great time. We agreed immediately that today there are many wonderful female role models but that this was not always so. What made the difference from the sex-object/appendage/ornament of the 1930s to the strong women of later years? Steve: Rosie the Riveter! Yep, you'll never put that genie back in the bottle. Turn a woman loose with a pipe-wrench and the next thing you know, she'll be signing up for astronaut training. Or wanting to read about same.
"Medical Ethics: When Should Doctors Step Back?" (with Jim Fiscus and Janet Freeman) was one of the most heartfelt and relevant panels I've ever been on. It quickly morphed into a conversation with members of the audience who were physicians (one a hospice doctor) and people who'd faced various painful situations with loved ones. For such an emotional subject, the discussion flowed well from the price of technological medicine and how to pay for it to empowering patients so they can make informed choices to quality of end-of-life issues.
I managed to mis-remember when I was to get together with fellow Book View Café member Irene Radford and friends for dinner, but they were still eating when I showed up, so I got to chat not only with her but with Bob Brown of Radcon, where I will be Writer GoH next year. Radcon's in Pasco (Tri-Cities area) WA. Their program includes outreach to high schools -- just my thing!
Sunday was a mad scramble to get packed, checked out, and suitcase stowed with the concierge before my first panel. I did catch the tail end of "Are Book Publishers Obsolete?" (short answer: No and anyone who's ever worked with a good editor knows why.)
Then -- take a deep breath -- three back-to-back panels. Fortunately, they alternated between adjacent rooms (although, directionally challenged as I am, I always took the scenic route from one to the other).
"Focus on Synopses" included Bill Johnson, Mike Shepherd Moscoe, Gordon Eklund and Mary Robinette Kowal (can you see a trend here?) We swapped tales of synopses vs outlines vs queries, what has worked for us, how we like to do it. One way of looking at a synopsis is "the short story version" of your book, only you tell instead of show. Different editors want different lengths.
Flip rooms to "Pitch It To Me" with Sharyn November (on the receiving side) and Mary Robinette Kowal. Although we tend to think of pitches in shorthand references ("Jane Austen With Vampires," "The Napoleonic Wars With Dragons"), not all editors appreciate this approach. Mary pointed out that if you ever get a chance to pitch your project face-to-face, it's important to know when to wrap it up. She calls it "the dismount." Assuming you have your pitch line polished (and rehearsed), that gleam of interest in your editor's eye may incite you to babble on too long. An editor's (or agent's) time is precious. Saying, "Thank you for your time; I know you have other people to meet," conveys both professionalism and that you are an easy person to work with -- always a good impression!
Flip rooms again: "Behind the Curtain of Publishing" with Sharyn November and Maggie Slater, who works for small press Apex Books. We took turns describing the process of making a book from editing to printing. Even this late in the con, the audience was large and enthusiastic.
The festivities did not end with the closing of the con, for I was then transported to Powell's Beaverton for their "Authorfest," mass autograph party. I love bookstores. I love indie bookstores. I love seeing people pour into bookstores and get all excited about buying books. My books, your books, anyone's books. I autographed a bunch, including a copy of every Darkover collaboration I've done for a fan who thought the series had died with Marion and was thrilled to discover otherwise, signed stock, chatted with everyone. Two teens brought a couple of shopping bags full of Sword & Sorceress and Darkover anthologies that contained my stories. The bookstore person who organized the event was happy with the overall sales, so it was more than worthwhile. Sometimes, nobody comes. You show up in your professional best, thank everyone, and try again. But this one made up for a whole bunch of the other kind.
My first event was the Writers Workshop. Orycon does this right. Carole Cole, the Workshop Coordinator, guided me to the right room, treated me like royalty, and presented me with chocolates. What more could a critiquer ask? Our group was 2 pros (me and Keffy Kehrli, who is an articulate and perceptive critiquer) and two participants, which meant every story got as much time and careful attention as it needed.
One thing the programming people did not get exactly right was to email "final" schedules and then add panels -- without telling the panelists when they checked in. I don't mind a heavy schedule, but I like to think about the topics beforehand. In my blissful trust, I came prepared to discuss (and moderate) the topics I had been previously notified of. Fortunately, (a) I checked the schedule in the pocket program and had sufficient time to make it to my first, previously unsuspected panel; (b) it was a topic I had something intelligent to say about; ( c) I have mastered the art of moderating any panel independent of subject matter -- focus on group process, listen carefully, keep the conversation moving, and when in doubt, ask for questions or start talking about sex.
My first panel was "The Physics of Magic," with Devon Monk and Mary Robinette Kowal. Conventionally, magic violates the laws of physics and has a cost -- in energy, time, etc. We disposed of those observations and went on. Mary talked about her new novel, Shades of Milk and Honey (concept: Jane Austen with magic, but magic that feels culturally exactly right for that time). It seems to me that physics has much of the wonderful and mysterious. Well-crafted magic, like physics, is lawful, even when our characters don't understand all the rules. I got to burble about the Hawking Effect (how black holes evaporate, when not even light can escape -- I had just read an explanation and was so stoked -- physics is amazing!)
In search of a dinner companion, I introduced myself to Andrea Howe, a freelance editor (her company is Blue Falcon Editing). She's been organizing charity work with the Seattle Browncoats ("Firefly" fans) and I donated copies of the first two Lace and Blade anthologies for their auction to benefit victims of domestic violence. Here's their website: http://www.sbcharities.org/
Despite my best intentions, I rarely make it to Opening Ceremonies, but this year was an exception. Said ceremonies were preceded by the Sue Petrey Auction for Clarion West scholarships. One of the items being auctioned was a 2-hour flight in Mary Rosenblum's airplane, so I got to provide a testimonial of its awesomeness. Then came a skit along the lines of "Alice in Orycon-land," with many in-jokes about volunteers and much light-heartedness.
I truly intended to attend the Art Show Reception, but could not resist actually listening to a panel: "Writing Quality Work for Young Adults" with Nina Kiriki Hoffman, always one of my favorite people, Canadian YA writer Laurel Anne Hill, and Editor GoH Sharyn November, who is the Editorial Director of the "Firebird" line at Viking. The old categories of middle-school, YA, adult are changing so that you have a 12-and-up market and a 14-and-up market, the primary difference being sex. I was most struck by the observation that other than the age of the protagonists, there is no substantive difference between adult and YA/middle-school stories. Good writing, strong characters, dynamic plots -- all the essentials are the same. Everyone agreed how important it is to not condescend to your readers.
Then to decompress and sleep. Well, try to. After specifically requesting NON-party floor in my reservation, I ended up on the party floor between the Hospitality Suite and the rest of the parties. Since this didn't become apparent until my room mate was asleep, I turned on the fan for white noise, inserted my ear plugs, and dealt. It turned out to be convenient to be able to bop next door for a snack, Continental breakfast, or fresh milk for my tea, so I can't grumble too much.
Saturday hit the ground running with a SFWA business meeting, most of which I should not comment on. However, the 2011 Nebula Awards weekend will be in Washington DC and the hotel rate is only $125/night, a phenomenal bargain. I've been to a few of these and always found them professionally productive and entertaining.
I had lunch with two delightful Darkover fans and ended all charged up about the book I'm working on. Through the blessings of netbook technology, I wrote about 20 pages over the week I was gone, and am feeling rather happy with myself.
I returned to my previously established schedule with "Women Role Models in Science Fiction" with Mary Robinette Kowal, Steve Perry, and Stoney Compton. By this time, Mary and I had gotten to know each other's panelist style and Steve Perry and I have been on panels together over the years, so we had a great time. We agreed immediately that today there are many wonderful female role models but that this was not always so. What made the difference from the sex-object/appendage/ornament of the 1930s to the strong women of later years? Steve: Rosie the Riveter! Yep, you'll never put that genie back in the bottle. Turn a woman loose with a pipe-wrench and the next thing you know, she'll be signing up for astronaut training. Or wanting to read about same.
"Medical Ethics: When Should Doctors Step Back?" (with Jim Fiscus and Janet Freeman) was one of the most heartfelt and relevant panels I've ever been on. It quickly morphed into a conversation with members of the audience who were physicians (one a hospice doctor) and people who'd faced various painful situations with loved ones. For such an emotional subject, the discussion flowed well from the price of technological medicine and how to pay for it to empowering patients so they can make informed choices to quality of end-of-life issues.
I managed to mis-remember when I was to get together with fellow Book View Café member Irene Radford and friends for dinner, but they were still eating when I showed up, so I got to chat not only with her but with Bob Brown of Radcon, where I will be Writer GoH next year. Radcon's in Pasco (Tri-Cities area) WA. Their program includes outreach to high schools -- just my thing!
Sunday was a mad scramble to get packed, checked out, and suitcase stowed with the concierge before my first panel. I did catch the tail end of "Are Book Publishers Obsolete?" (short answer: No and anyone who's ever worked with a good editor knows why.)
Then -- take a deep breath -- three back-to-back panels. Fortunately, they alternated between adjacent rooms (although, directionally challenged as I am, I always took the scenic route from one to the other).
"Focus on Synopses" included Bill Johnson, Mike Shepherd Moscoe, Gordon Eklund and Mary Robinette Kowal (can you see a trend here?) We swapped tales of synopses vs outlines vs queries, what has worked for us, how we like to do it. One way of looking at a synopsis is "the short story version" of your book, only you tell instead of show. Different editors want different lengths.
Flip rooms to "Pitch It To Me" with Sharyn November (on the receiving side) and Mary Robinette Kowal. Although we tend to think of pitches in shorthand references ("Jane Austen With Vampires," "The Napoleonic Wars With Dragons"), not all editors appreciate this approach. Mary pointed out that if you ever get a chance to pitch your project face-to-face, it's important to know when to wrap it up. She calls it "the dismount." Assuming you have your pitch line polished (and rehearsed), that gleam of interest in your editor's eye may incite you to babble on too long. An editor's (or agent's) time is precious. Saying, "Thank you for your time; I know you have other people to meet," conveys both professionalism and that you are an easy person to work with -- always a good impression!
Flip rooms again: "Behind the Curtain of Publishing" with Sharyn November and Maggie Slater, who works for small press Apex Books. We took turns describing the process of making a book from editing to printing. Even this late in the con, the audience was large and enthusiastic.
The festivities did not end with the closing of the con, for I was then transported to Powell's Beaverton for their "Authorfest," mass autograph party. I love bookstores. I love indie bookstores. I love seeing people pour into bookstores and get all excited about buying books. My books, your books, anyone's books. I autographed a bunch, including a copy of every Darkover collaboration I've done for a fan who thought the series had died with Marion and was thrilled to discover otherwise, signed stock, chatted with everyone. Two teens brought a couple of shopping bags full of Sword & Sorceress and Darkover anthologies that contained my stories. The bookstore person who organized the event was happy with the overall sales, so it was more than worthwhile. Sometimes, nobody comes. You show up in your professional best, thank everyone, and try again. But this one made up for a whole bunch of the other kind.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Sounds fantastic
Date: 2010-11-20 02:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-20 04:31 am (UTC)I love indie bookstores too and support them when I can. :)
Re: Sounds fantastic
Date: 2010-11-20 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-20 06:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-20 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-20 10:35 pm (UTC)