Deborah's Journal

Just in case you missed my blog on "Radcon Part I), here's what happened when I visited a library full of 8th graders (Radcon does an awesome job of youth outreach).

Okay, I said, let’s use something from that story to get going on our own. What should we use?

Kidnapping!

And who shall we kidnap? Anna!

Who are we? Movie stars!

Where are we holding her? At the zoo!

Why are we kidnapping her? For ransom money so we can make a movie! A zombie movie! No, a ninja zombie movie! (I am not making this up.)

Okay, what happens next? Rosie, her best friend, er, trusty sidekick, decides to rescue her! (Now both Anna and Rosie are getting into the act.)

So Rosie sneaks into the zoo…what goes wrong? She lets the Siberian tiger out of its cage!

About this stage, we ran out of time, which was really too bad because the kids were on a roll. A couple of kids, usually boys, kept wanting to kill off characters, which is something to watch out for if you try this collaborative writing yourself. They don’t yet have the sense of a whole story unfolding with rising tension and complications, but they respond pretty well if you show them how that just ends the story before it gets going. They also get it that it’s more fun to torture characters than to just kill them.

Hope any of you at Radcon will find me to say hello! I'm supposed to be doing a reading as well, but am not sure when, so there may be last minute tweakings and squeakings but all shall be well and a good time had by all.

Friday 5:00 pm Silver Front. Charades. Last year we started with one audience member but by the end had filled the room. Join David Levine and Lizzy Shannon for an hour of hilarity. I love charades and am not timid about making a spectacle of myself!

Friday 6:00 Emerald. Animals in Fiction. So you want to include horses in your epic fantasy novel, dogs in your postapocalyptic yarn and monkeys in your science fiction adventure. The only problem is that blood bays with white manes and tails don’t exist, dogs need to pant to live and monkeys aren’t nearly so cheeky. Let us tell you what’s right and what’s wrong about your preconceptions.

Friday 7:00 pm Bronze Room. Opening Ceremonies, as Writer GoH.

Sat. 9 am Cobalt. That is a Great Idea. Is there nothing new under the sun for story ideas? Can you make YOUR story stand out even if some of your key elements are standard tropes? When is a cliche just a cliche, and when are there still permutations worth exploring?

Sat 11 am Bronze Room. Lunch as Book Signing. Come and meet our author guests and get your book collection signed.

Sat. 3 pm Garnet. Women in Horror. A discussion about the role women play in the horror genre, how it could change and what has been done right. Also a chance to discuss specific women who have contributed to horror.

Sunday 10 am Amber. Religions without an Anthropomorphic God (or Gods). Both fundamentalists and atheists often talk as if religion and belief in God are synonymous and exceptions don’t matter. Bu t for a lot of people this isn’t true. What is a religion, how does it function in a society and how do those without an authoritarian entity perform that function?

Sunday 11 am Sage. Pitching Workshop. Do eyes glaze over when you try to discuss your book, story, or screenplay. Polish your elevator speech. A hands on approach in pitch techniques. Elevators are waiting. Bring pen and paper.

Sunday 12 noon Garnet. Setting The Pace In Your Writing. What distinguishes the book you can’t put down from an interesting character story or a stylistic triumph? How do they do that?