Life, the Universe, and Everything Writing Symposium
I know this is coming a bit late, but that’s how things are when you have to juggle all your writing time with a two-year-old. About 1pm Wed, Feb 11th, my pals (and nearly ever-present traveling companions) Cody and Jenni picked me up, and we headed out to a weekend of fun and adventure.
Our first stop was Wednesday evening at the library in Hawthorne Nevada. I love doing library shows. I can get more in depth with a performance, with far more range of voice and subtlety of creating characters, than is usually possible at Renaissance Faires. I don’t have anything in the background to compete with. It’s just me and the audience. Great little show. We had dinner at the one casino in town, and then began the trek to Provo, Utah.
We arrived in Provo the next morning about 7:30 am. Yeah, we drove straight through the night, but we made it…tired and more than a little travel weary…we made it to the Life, the Universe, and Everything Writer’s Symposium.
Friday was interesting, mostly because I was in a fog of weariness. I had two panels, “Flintlock Fantasy” which I moderated and “Finding Your Muse” which the incomparable Sandra Tayler moderated. Both went fairly smoothly, though I did get into a bit of a thing on “Flintlock Fantasy” with Larry Correia and one of the other panelists over the concept of “Chekhov’s Gun.” In a nutshell, Chekhov’s Gun is a theory in storytelling that if you have a gun on the mantle in the first act, it has to go off by the end of the third act. I made mention of this in regards to including details of world building within fantasy stories, in that, any detail of the world a writer decides to include must have some affect on the outcome of the novel. Correia and one of the other panelists said that they ignored that little nugget all of the time. Well, everyone has a difference of opinion on how to approach their work. I will say that I’ve observed some fairly big names in fantasy who also seem to ignore this little bit of advice concerning the craft of fiction, and it may have something to do with the bloated size of some books in some fantasy series. So that happened.
Now, I’ve never read any of Larry Correia’s work, nor that of anyone else on the panel, however Larry’s Monster Hunter books are on my radar. I don’t want it to sound like I’m calling Correia out for his approach to writing. Writers have a multitude of methods they use in the approach of writing fiction. It’s hard to argue with the popularity of Correia’s books, and that of some of the authors whose books seem to (at least for me) get bogged down in a bunch of extraneous details that don’t seem to matter much in the overall context of their story.
Next up was “Finding Your Muse.” We gave the audience a bunch of great tools for channeling their creativity and getting through those moments of self-doubt that plague most writers. Not, that I did not say that we gave them tools to overcome writer’s block. I did give my “writer’s block is a lie” speech, this time adding that I am currently plagued by a severe case of writer’s two-year-old.
Thursday night was pretty mellow. LTUE isn’t like a science fiction convention or a comiccon. Not a lot of after-hours parties going on. Cody, Jenni, and I grabbed a table in the hotel lobby and played “City of Iron.” a less random, more awesome, steampunk version of “Settlers of Catan.” Seriously. Get this game. It’s awesome. Speaking of games, Cody and I played a bunch of “Lunch Money” while sitting at my table in the dealer’s room.
And now we’re onto Friday.
First up for Friday, we set up the table again. And we were down to three of the five exclusive books I’d brought with me for the event. For those out of the loop, I’m now bringing limited number of exclusive books to each convention I attend. Each convention has different content and different covers.
My first panel on Friday was “Rules for Writing Magic.” The moderator of this panel was the extraordinarily awesome, Howard Tayler. Joining us one the panel were: Michaelbrent Collings and L.E. Modesitt Jr. (author of the Recluse books). This was an awesome panel. I also had a disagreement with Mr. Modesitt about magic in folklore. As always happens when discussing magic in fantasy fiction, the concept of magic having a cost came up. As I do, I stated that I’m not a fan that it always has to have a cost, coming from my background as a storyteller in the folkloric tradition. Modesitt claimed that even in folklore magic has a price. I had to respectfully disagree with that, because in many folk tales magic works because it’s magic and that’s the way things happen. Sometimes magic in folklore has a cost, but most of the time, it’s people making stupid choices with the magic they are given that has a cost, not an inherent trait of the magic itself. Other than that, it was an awesome panel. The two best parts were when Modesitt claimed that Brandon Sanderson borrowed his first law of magic from Modiesitt, and when Howard Taylor declared, “I shall be the arbiter of Awesome.”
Next panel on Friday was “Action Sequences.” The first thing I will say about this panel, “Curse you David Butler for your spoiler.” Man I hate it when people spoil stuff, and David Butler talked about a major character death in one of the series I’m reading. “Curse you.” Shoulda known something fishy was going on when he said he couldn’t finish The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Other people joining David and I were: John D. Brown, Peter Orullian, and Adrienne Monson. I was the moderator (found this out about two minutes before the panel started) and boy did I have my work cut out for me. Five vary different opinions on the subject. Had to cut two of the panelist off before it got too dicey. Still, all in all a decent panel.
So here’s something for all you out there who may dream of one day being on panels as a writer someday. Please don’t come to the panel with an agenda, especially if you aren’t the moderator. When you do, you run the risk of creating tension between your fellow panelists, and it’s uncomfortable for anyone in the audience who picks up on it.
My final panel on Friday was, “Military Strategy, Tech, and Operations in a Complex World,” and joining me were Zachary Hill, Mike Kupari, and the moderator, C. R. Asay. I had no idea why I was on the panel, as I have no military background aside from a few years in Jr. ROTC in high school. As the panel went on, I found I had a lot to add, because of my studies of historical military structures and while the other panelists talked about the modern military, I was able to put a historical context on the discussion and also told the audience how to implement the points other panelists made in their writing. The moderator specifically thanked me for being on the panel and for my contribution from the writer’s perspective.
Then we had the mass signing Friday night. That’s where all the writers gather together in one big room and people rush around to get signatures from them. I happened to be right next to Tracy Hickman of Dragonlance fame. Got a picture with him. Yeah, my inner fanboy was doing a little happy dance. I had a few people come by and pick up some books from me. I think next year, I’m going to not sign books at my table until Saturday and make people come to the table at the mass signing so I at least feel like I’m someone important.
And then we come to Saturday. Last Day.
Started with the panel “Self-Promotion Through Social Media.” Fellow panelists were supposed to be Robison Wells, Natalie Whipple, Alexi Vanderberg, Laura Bingham. It wound up being Alexi, Laura, and myself, with Laura picking up moderator duties. We talked about a bunch of stuff not to do and a few things to do on social media. I’m not going to go into any of it here, because odds are, in the next few months, at least some of it is going to be obsolete.
I spent the rest of Saturday at the table and networking. Highlights include: nomming on the toes of my friends’ baby boy (and I might have nommed his tummy too.) Seeing my friends with said baby. Haven’t seen them since 2013. Getting to possibly write a module fro a stretch goal for an upcoming RPG kicksta
rter. Shall possibly be epic. Making friends with Tracy Hickman. Meeting and networking with the Wordfire press cats. Finding a pair of artists I’d like to work with in the future. Hanging out and chatting with various members of the Tayler clan. Love that family to death, and they are one of the chief reasons I decide to go to LTUE. Spending an awesome weekend with Cody and Jenni. I can’t imagine going as strong as I have been lately without their help and support. I decided to give them both field promotions in the #GallowglasArmy this last weekend. Cody is now my trusted lieutenant general, and Jenni is not the sargent major of the #GallowglasArmy. About 3pm, I headed out from LTUE for the SLC airport to meet my lovely wife for a weekend at Disneyland.
So, that’s the word from the front lines at LTUE. I’ll be heading back next year. Next stop this year: The Sonora Celtic Festival.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: If you are a budding/hopeful science fiction and/or fantasy author, LTUE is well worth going to. You’ll be surrounded by fellow writers both beginners and pros. The professionals are open and encouraging to younger writers, willing to answer questions. Panels are well thought out and full of great bits of information on both the business and craft of writing.
Who am I going to see next year?
