#balticon50

My review of Balticon 50 and the many writing panels and workshops I attended there. The panelists were professional writers, editors, and agents.

Balticon 50: Getting Your Work Critiqued

/ Morgan Hazelwood / 2 Comments

My critique style once made a student switch classes. I was taking a philosophy class in college where we would read one chapter of Plato’s Republic, then based on three possible essay questions, write a 350 word essay-had to be within three words of that length-argue for or against the topic. It was a very formulaic essay. Thesis, explain yourself, counter argument, then counter the counter argument. The teacher broke us into groups of 4-5 students that would meet once a week for one hour. One-two student(s) would read their essay and the others would debate/discuss it.

Well, in High School, I’d learned to write down my comments during class discussions, so I could remember what I was going to say. Thus, the first speaker had gone and I’d taken notes and given 3 or 4 comments from what I’d written. Then, the second person read their essay. I took a bunch of notes and we were almost out of time, so I asked if I could just make my comments, he didn’t need to address them. The student shook his head and fled class.

Next session, our teacher said someone had dropped out of another section and asked if anyone wanted to switch. He raised his hand, looked me down, and scurried out of the room as soon as he was excused.

I loved that class.

I don’t think I’m excessively aggressive or nit-picking, but I’ve definitely learned to only say one or two things, until everyone else has spoken up. Then, maybe, if it’s really necessary, add in another point or two.

At Balticon, my last panel was “How To Give A Good Critique” that focused on where you can get a critique and what to watch out for from bad critiquers. The most intensive with pre-vetted critiquers are the 1-6 week live in workshops, then the weekend workshops. Open local critique groups and online critique groups are more available and welcoming, but the other critiquers are less vetted, so you’ll have to learn what feedback is useful and what isn’t.

Here is some of the information they shared.

Workshop Recommendations

6 Formal Workshops:

  • Clarion and Clarion West– 6 weeks, live in, with 6 teachers (1 editor, 5 writers) that each teach for a week and critique. (San Diego and Seattle)
  • Taos Toolbox – 2 week, live in, 2 teachers, 2 guest speakers, Taos, NM.
  • Sail to Success – 5 day Bahama cruise, 4 days of classes, get your work critiqued.
  • Viable Paradise  – 1 week, martha’s vinyard (Applications for this year’s in October, due JUNE 15!)
  • Oddessey – 6 weeks, 1 main person w/ guest lecturers

2 Informal Workshops:

  • sffwritersworkshop.com – Offers Chapter critiques. (Don’t EVERY put your stuff on the internet somewhere not password protected or that counts as Publishing and will make it harder to sell.)
  • BSFS  – Baltimore Science Fiction Society hosts day long workshops, every 3-4 months

7 Recommended Sites for Querying/Submitting and Advice

  • QueryShark – ALWAYS FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES – Has advice and breakdowns of queries, pointing out the good, the bad, and the ugly.
  • The Passive Voice – has contract and writing advice
  • ralan.com  – has market links of where to submit
  • The Submission Grinder– market links of where to submit
  • The Baen Bar – You can workshop books here. (Note: Baen itself has a 7-8 year lead time between accepting and publishing a book…)
  • Goodreads – useful for networking and there are groups, like an online flash-fiction group
  • Writer’s Digest -has lots of great advice, but the workshops are less useful.

3 Types of Critique Groups

  • Southern/Northern Colorado Workshop – pre-read, round-robin feedback, writer is silent ’til end, then rebuts. Hosted in houses. (Connie Willis)
  • BSFS — You read 2-3,000 words aloud, then people give feedback (Sarah Pinsker)
  • The Writers of the Weird near NJ. Someone else reads your 2,000 word selection aloud, so you can watch reactions and listen where they stumble. (Alex Schwatzman)

2 Online Critique Groups – (NOTE: If it’s not password protected it counts as published)

6 Tips On Finding The Right Critique Group

  • Surround yourself with people who challenge you. Join a group, then just exchange info with the people you actually found useful. (KM Szpara)
  • Some groups will be more focused, some are more moral support and hanging out. Useful, but not great for a critique group.
  • Advantage: you can see how many people get what you’re trying to say. Are they the right audience or do you need to rewrite?
  • Disadvantage: some people who just want their own work critiqued and don’t put in the effort to critique others. That means they never learn how to critique themselves.
  • The feedback SHOULD be hard to hear. Connie Willis said she would seeth for a week, then end up fixing what they’d said– and sell it!
  • Worst type of critiquer – Zero Sum – they’re there to win, prove you wrong and them right.

Do you have any Workshops, Critique Groups, or other sites you’ve found that have helped you? If so, please let me know!

P.S. My inner drama llama wants to hear about any run-ins you’ve have with ‘The Wrong Critiquer.’

3 Tips to Approaching People

/ Morgan Hazelwood / 2 Comments

At the end of the “How Do You Do It?” Creating Around a Day Job, Day Al-Mohamed  (I think), gave us 3 brilliant pointers for connecting with authors at a book-centric fan convention.[a] As conversation ice-breakers, just go up to them and say one of the following:

1 – I’m interested in writing.[b]

2 – What are you reading?

3 – What are you writing?

That’s it! Most people are there because they love books and want to share. Take no/I’m busy for an answer[d], be courteous, but be open to them.

a – Especially useful for approaching the people you fangirl/boy over.
b – Okay, this one’s more for aspiring authors like me, but hey! If you create stuff, that’s a thing to talk about.[c]
c- Not every author will be up for just chatting- they might be tired, busy, or extroverted out, but a lot of them love to talk about what they do and help people.
d-  and conscious of needing to clear a room.

Top Tips from 15 Writing Panels

/ Morgan Hazelwood / 5 Comments

Most of the panels I attended at Balticon were focused on developing myself as a writer. Some of the panels were craft focused, but many were talking about all the things OTHER than writing that writers need to learn. So, here’s my list of the panels on writing as a craft and my favorite quote/tip/message from each. It was hard to pick a favorite, but I did it for you![1]

  1. Flipping the Script: Does Gender Change the Story

    • My gender experience matters more than my actual gender. – K.M. Szpara

  2. Tales From The Slush Pile

    • “Deathbear and the Snuggle of Doom”- a title cringed at by Joshua Bilmes
    • Read and follow the submission guidelines!- everyone
    • Don’t sell on a gimmick, write a good STORY and feel free to add the gimmick.

  3. Buy My S#*%

    • The presenter was unable to make it so we ended up having a group discussion!

  4. The Craft of Writing with Connie Willis [2]

    • Meet expectations, but with a twist: you can do anything as long as you set it up.
    • “I have never read a story without a plot that would not be improved by having one.”

  5. Writers Workshop — And Here’s the Pitch 

    • Include setting, main character(s), and goal. Get in and get out because you’ve got 1 elevator floor to get them to ask for more.
    • P.S. For everyone in this workshop with me, HERE’S the Thin Mint rant.

  6. Writing: It’s My Job AND What I Do For Fun!

    • Most writers know this isn’t competitive and go out of their way to help people. – Jean Marie Ward (everyone else agreed)
    • Learned that Book Doctors will rewrite your book for you, editors suggest fixes. Follow their suggestions in ways that make sense for your story.

  7. Finding a Foot To Stand On (writing believable SF)

    • “Never underestimate the power of gobbledegook.”
    • “I lie a lot.”
    • Heinlein did a ‘how man discovered the effect’ that felt like an explanation, but wasn’t. Clever work around to satisfy the reader!

  8. Vetting the Editors [3]

    • The Cardinal Sin of Editors: Remaking your story how THEY would have written it.

  9. Finding Your Niche

    • 90% of social media is resharing. Create original content and share that.
    • “[Success] depends on how much you’re willing to give up to make it happen.” – Day Al-Mohamed
    • “You want to make people care about your world.” – Ethan Siegel

  10. Finding Balance

    • “I went into marketing because it’s really another type of fiction.” – Gail Martin

  11. The Biggest Mistakes Made by Beginning Writers [4]

    • “Delusions of grandeur.” – Mike McPhail
    • Stupid Author Tricks list by David Wood
      • To sum up: Don’t advertise your work in comment, don’t spam people, and avoid flame wars.

  12. Speak Your Words: Bring Your Written Work To Audible Life

    • Younger is typically higher pitch, older is lower pitch. – Izolda Trakhtenberg
    • Never use a falsetto or mansetto for the opposite gender.
    • Use a different tone for the narrator if they also speak dialog
    • (Plus, she had us make clouds!)

  13. “How Do You Do It?” Creating Around a Day Job [5]

    • If you’re burnt out, read and consume media, you need to feed your creative side.
    • To help change gears, have a different space/machine/music/etc than work.
    • What works for you WILL change, it’s okay to switch it up. Be kind to yourself.
    • You’ve got give something up in order to write. – Mike Luoma

  14. Consequences

  15. How to Give and Get Critiques [4]

    • “Be there to help them write their story, not the story you would have written.” – Scott Edelman
    • One “Zero-sum” person in a writing group can ruin it. – Connie Willis

1- Most of the quotes are paraphrased/hastily scribbled down and may not be exact.
2- 8am Saturday morning and this was still packed–and worth it.
3- Needs another post- They went into PRICES and SPECIFICS!
4- Many useful links that will be shared in a later post.
5- Needs another post- about approaching creatives.

 

Balticon 50 : Overview!

/ Morgan Hazelwood / 1 Comment

I just got back from 4 days of Balticon – A Science-Fiction and Fantasy themed convention, with the emphasis on books and the science behind it. That doesn’t mean that tv, comics, movies, anime, dancing, etc weren’t covered, though.

This year was the 50th anniversary and they had a fundraiser to bring back as many previous guests of honor as possible, plus George R R Martin. There were so many guests!

Despite some scheduling snaffus (apparently, at some point there were 3+ schedules floating around), the Guests and other panelists were great.

Last year? 19 panels attended.

This year?

21 panels attended

I may be insane.

I’ll be posting about them this week, but for starters, here’s the list.

FRIDAY

  1. Flipping the Script: Does Gender Change the Story (sadly, a fire alarm cut in about 15 minutes in, so I ended up hitting dinner) [1]
  2. Tales From The Slush Pile [1]
  3. Buy My S#*% (the panelist couldn’t make it, so we turned it into a 30 min room discussion.) [1]
  4. Created Religions in SFF [2]

SATURDAY

  1. The Craft of Writing with Connie Willis [1]
  2. Writers Workshop — And Here’s the Pitch [1]
  3. Politics, Law, and Policy in SFF [2]
  4. Writing: It’s My Job AND What I Do For Fun! [1]
  5. Finding a Foot To Stand On [1/2]
  6. Vetting the Editors [1]
  7. Peter S Beagle Concert [3]
  8. Finding Your Niche [1]

SUNDAY

  1. Finding Balance [1]
  2. The Biggest Mistakes Made by Beginning Writers [1]
  3. Speak Your Words: Bring Your Written Work To Audible Life [1ish]
  4. Balticon Short Film Festival [3]
  5. “How Do You Do It?” Creating Around a Day Job [1]
  6. Loveable Rogues in Media Fiction [2]
  7. Mythic Science Fiction [2]
  8. The Eye of Argon! [3]

MONDAY

  1. Consequences [1]
  2. How to Give and Get Critiques [1]

Balticon50_21panels

 

1 – Writing as a craft panels.
2 – Discussions about books/etc
3 – Media/Just for fun

 

Remodeling and Packing!

/ Morgan Hazelwood / Leave a comment

I’ve been a busy worker bee since last I posted! (Worker ant? I didn’t really fly or sting anything.)

I moved a pivotal scene closer to where my Main Character actually responds to it–making her more proactive than reactive. It involved cutting 3 scenes and filtering some portions of them back in later, with edits to prevent referencing events that hadn’t happened yet. Basically, it was a limb replacement surgery!

No one else has read it yet, but I assure you, it went flawlessly!

Well, mostly. I lost my USB key, so I bought a new one and I think it’s time to do another RED INK edit.

I’m on draft 4, well really, 5.

To help you understand how long each stage has taken me, I made this handy-dandy Timeline!(1)

timeLine

 

 

The rough draft was my 3rd attempt at writing this for National Novel Writing Month and I ‘won'(2). Then, I had to finish the book. 10 months later…

I did my 1st RED INK print out and 1st editing pass. Then, I sent that draft to my beta-readers.

Using their feedback, I did another editing pass, before sharing it with a new beta reader last Balticon.

Following their feedback, I worked (slowly) on my 3rd draft.

Finally, I started editing/revising my 3rd draft with a ‘quick read through’ and realized there were some plot things I wanted to change…

 

Which brings us to today. This is still gonna count as draft 4, I’m just making sure all the revisions didn’t leave me with plot holes.

Another MAJOR development this week? PACKING FOR BALTICON50!

b50_banner_1

I’m coming back! the schedule FINALLY went up today– with less than 2 days until showtime. Last year, I decided on Wednesday to attend. This year, I couldn’t begin planning until Wednesday. Apparently, that’s when I’m supposed to get my Balticon act together!(3)

My first pass through the schedule had me looking into 87 interesting panels, with many overlapping. After a few rounds, I’ve lowered my count to 5 MUST ATTENDS out of 20 panels that look good (plus the open dances/parties…) Last year, I made it to 19 panels, so 23 hours of paneling. Let’s see what this year brings!

(Jo Walton is back- I loved her character building workshop. And Denise Clemons is running her fun Building a Meal for an Imagined World panel again!)

Hope to see you all!

 

1 – In Paint, because that’s what I have.
2- Wrote 50,000 words in my story, in the 30 days of November for NaNoWriMo.
3- Does this make me the official scape-goat??